Scarcely an hour after the Blackhawks’ two injured forwards — Kirby Dach and John Quenneville — finished a light skate at Fifth Third Arena’s east rink, goaltender Robin Lehner left practice early with a health concern of his own Tuesday.
The Hawks’ big summer signing was seen walking after practice but was not available to the media. Coach Jeremy Colliton said he didn’t have much information yet but wasn’t overly concerned.
“Obviously, he did leave, so it wasn’t perfect, but I haven’t got an update yet,” Colliton said. “I don’t think it’s a serious thing, but obviously serious enough that he had to leave.”
Lehner has stopped 54 of 58 shots — a .931 save percentage — in two preseason appearances. At even strength, he has saved an even more impressive 49 of 51 shots — a .961 save percentage.
The Hawks will need to quickly get a read on his health because they’re scheduled to depart Thursday for the preseason finale in Germany and the regular-season opener in the Czech Republic.
They’ll need to bring three goalies on the trip. If Lehner can’t travel — although that seems an unlikely worst-case scenario — Kevin Lankinen presumably would be recalled from Rockford, joining Corey Crawford and Collin Delia.
The same must be said for Dach and Quenneville.
Dach remains in the concussion protocol but has skated on his own the last several days. He has participated in only low-intensity drills, such as puckhandling between cones, and hasn’t taken part in any full team practices.
Still, the third overall pick is slowly getting better.
“[It’s] progress that he’s out there, no question,” Colliton said. “That’s certainly positive. There’s no hurry. He’s a kid, and it’s a tough league. So we want to make sure he’s totally 100 percent.”
Quenneville suffered a hip injury last week, shortly before he was scheduled to make his Chicago preseason debut, and Tuesday’s skate was his first since the incident.
He’s in a tough spot, as a new player who likely needed a strong camp to make the team.
“Both of those guys are getting closer to potentially skating with us,” Colliton said. “That’s a long ways away from playing with us, but we’ll see how it goes.”
