Blackhawks’ Artyom Levshunov, Matt Grzelcyk out for season
The Chicago Blackhawks will have to finish up their season with a depleted blueline.
On Tuesday, head coach Jeff Blashill revealed that defensemen Artyom Levshunov and Matt Grzelcyk will miss the rest of the season with injury.
Levshunov and Grzelcyk are both out for the season, Blashill said
Levshunov, 20, suffered a fracture in his left hand during Chicago’s 4-3 win over the New York Islanders on March 24th. Despite the injury, he played the Blackhawks’ next two games before missing Sunday’s 5-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils.
In 68 games this season, the Belarussian national has two goals and 22 assists for 24 points while averaging just over 19 and a half minutes of ice time.
Selected second overall by Chicago in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft, this is Levshunov’s first full-time NHL season. Last season, he registered six assists in 18 games for the Blackhawks, but spent the majority of his time with the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs, where he notched five goals and 17 assists for 22 points in 52 games.
Grzelcyk, 32, has not played since suffering an undisclosed injury during Chicago’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Nashville Predators on March 22nd.
In 69 games played this season, the Charlestown, Massachusetts native has no goals and 12 assists.
Grzelcyk joined the Blackhawks’ training camp on a professional tryout (PTO) prior to this season, and ultimately signed on with a one-year, $1 million deal. He is set to become an unrestricted free agent (UFA) this coming offseason.
Initially drafted by the Boston Bruins in the third round of the 2012 draft, Grzelcyk spent his first seven full-time NHL seasons in Boston before joining the Pittsburgh Penguins as a UFA before last season. He had his most productive offensive season in Pittsburgh, notching a goal and 39 assists for 40 points.
Chicago, who sits last in the Central Division, will host the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday.