Chicago Blackhawks place Tyler Johnson on injured reserve with right ankle injury

The Blackhawks have placed center Tyler Johnson on injured reserve after he suffered a right ankle injury.

The injury occurred in the third period of Tuesday’s game against the Florida Panther when Tyler Johnson collided awkwardly with Aleksander Barkov and fell awkwardly feet-first into the boards. Johnson had to be helped off the ice, and was later seen in a walking boot that night.

Chicago will replace him with another Johnson in the lineup (and it’s not Jack either), with Reese Johnson skating on the fourth line in practice. Jujhar Khaira will take Tyler Johnson’s spot on the second line alongside Jonathan Toews and Taylor Raddysh, with the team seeming to not want to break up the third line of Philipp Kurashev, Jason Dickinson, and Sam Lafferty, which has combined for six goals and 14 points so far.

It’s a tough blow for Tyler Johnson, who was off to a strong start this season. Johnson has two goals, four assists, and six points through six games so far, leading Chicago in scoring. It was a big improvement on last season, where he had just three goals, four assists, and seven points total in 26 games in his first season with Chicago. Johnson was dealt to Chicago in the 2021 offseason from the Tampa Bay Lightning in a cap dump deal, with Chicago also getting a second round pick in exchange for Brent Seabrook’s contract.

It’s also a big blow for Chicago, who was off to a surprisingly strong start this season. They are currently 4-2-0 to start the year, good enough for third in the Central division, and a significant improvement on their seventh place finish in the division last year, as well as being the sixth worst team overall last year. Many were expecting a continuation of last year, especially with how many parts the team sold off in the offseason, but so far it looks like Chicago is exceeding those expectations.