Between the Circles

No shocker here. Andrew Ebbett is on waivers.
Ebbett had 12 games to show the Blackhawks he deserved a spot on the roster, but the forward made little happen, even when given the chance to take over at center for Dave Bolland on the second line.
Marian Hossa is coming back soon so there’s no need to keep Ebbett around. And until Hossa is ready, Bryan Bickell is a better alternative than Ebbett.
The Hawks are also looking to shed some payroll in order to re-sign Duncan Keith, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, and every little bit helps – even Ebbett’s $447,000 cap hit.

What separates the Blackhawks from most other teams in the NHL is their versatile and mobile defense.
Yes, that includes Brian Campbell, folks. Like him or not, and putting his $7.1 million salary aside, the Hawks wouldn’t be as complete a team without him.
The Hawks’ defensemen did it all in Thursday’s 7-1 rout of the Calgary Flames.
Duncan Keith was awesome with 3 assists and 3 blocked shots.
Niklas Hjalmarsson blocked 2 shots and delivered a massive check on Rene Bourque that helped turn the game the Hawks’ way in the second period.
Brent Seabrook fought the overrated Dion Phaneuf.
Campbell and Cam Barker each had 2 assists and combined for 3 blocked shots.
And Brent Sopel was solid in 17-plus minutes with 2 blocked shots.

TSN.ca’s Bob McKenzie is reporting Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane will get five-year contract extensions averaging more than $6 million a season.
The Blackhawks have yet to announce new contracts for Toews, Kane and Duncan Keith and they might not make them official until after the road trip.
According to Canada’s TSN, Keith’s deal could be for as many as 13 years, which would lower the defenseman’s cap hit, likely to less than $6 million.
The NHL is expected to take a hard look at Keith’s extension before giving an OK because of it’s length.

Let me state, for the record, that Jeremy Roenick was one of my all-time favorite Blackhawks, right there behind Bobby Hull and Denis Savard.
But when it comes to retiring Roenick’s No. 27, I can’t jump on that bandwagon.
He just didn’t play here long enough, or win a Stanley Cup.
How can you retire Roenick’s number, or even Chris Chelios’ No. 7, if you don’t hang Steve Larmer’s No. 28 or Doug Wilson’s No. 24 up there as well?
Larmer and Wilson never won a Cup here either, but they had longevity and were special, special players.
There’s no way Roenick or Chelios get their numbers retired ahead of Larmer, who ranks third all-time in goals with 406 as a Hawk, behind only Hull and Stan Mikita.
Larmer’s 923 points rank fourth behind Mikita, Hull and Savard.

In Sunday's paper, I wrote about the Blackhawks possibly having an interest in Carolina Hurricanes center Matt Cullen as a replacement for Dave Bolland.
Who knows if this will happen, but the 32-year-old Cullen would be a nice fit playing on the second line.
Things are going from bad to worse in Carolina, where the Hurricanes were off to a 2-12-4 start going into Sunday games, and changes are believed to be coming.
Forget this year's stats (3 goals, 4 assists, minus-9) - Cullen is a responsible player with good offensive upside and does not come with a long-term contract.
Cullen has a $2.875 million cap hit and will be an unrestricted free agent after the season.
Before this year, Cullen averaged 19 goals and 45 points over the four previous seasons and was a plus player each year.

If Andrew Ebbett can’t cut it at center on a consistent basis in the absence of the injured Dave Bolland, there’s always Marian Hossa, right?
Well, sort of.
Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville has tinkered with the idea using Hossa at center, although the plan right now it so play Hossa at his customary right wing when he returns from shoulder surgery within the next two weeks.
“We want him playing first and let him get comfortable with his game,” Quenneville said Friday morning. “We’ll see if that’s even an option. On a need basis, maybe that’s something you entertain later on, but that’s not in the foreseeable suture.”
Quenneville has a lot of options before using Hossa at center in Ebbett, Kris Versteeg, Patrick Sharp and Tomas Kopecky.

A month ago we were trying to figure out what to do with struggling Blackhawks goalie Cristobal Huet - bench him, send him to the minors, whatever.
Now there's only one thing to do with Huet. Keep playing him.
Huet appears to have turned things around after his horrendous start.
Since that ugly loss to Dallas on Oct. 17, Huet has gone 5-2, allowing only 11 goals. And in those two losses, the Hawks were shutout 2-0 at Nashville and lost 3-1 at Phoenix.
Huet has improved his goals-against average to 2.21 and brought his save percentage back over .900 at .901 from a low of .844.
“I feel loose, ready to compete every night and help play the best we can and win some games,” Huet said following Wednesday’s 3-2 win over the Avalanche in a shootout.

Center Dave Bolland underwent successful back surgery for a herniated disk Tuesday afternoon at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and will be sidelined 12-16 weeks, according to Blackhawks team physician Dr. Michael Terry.
Bolland tried to play through the pain since training camp, getting at least three cortisone shots in the back. His last game was Thursday at Phoenix.
"It was something he was dealing with throughout most of last year," Quenneville said. "We tried a lot of different things so that's where we're at today."
The earliest Bolland could play again if all goes well with his rehab is early February, although a likely return would be following the Olympic break on March 2.

No real news from Monday's morning skate...
Toews and Eager are playing, as expected.
Hendry is out.
Huet starts in goal.
Bolland didn't skate.
In fact, coach Joel Quenneville said Bolland's back hasn't gotten better in the last few days as the Hawks move closer to having to make a decision on what to do with their second line center - shut him down indefinitely or have the surgery that could have him back playing in a few months.
"We're going to go day-by-day and where he is right now, he hasn't made any progress today so we'll see how his health is going," Quenneville said. "It's just more rest right now."

Expected forward line vs. the Kings:

Sharp - Toews - Byfuglien
Ladd - Versteeg - Kane
Kopecky - Madden - Brouwer
Eager - Fraser - Ebbett

It was a quiet Sunday morning practice for the Blackhawks - on and off the ice.
Coach Joel Quenneville wouldn't confirm if Jonathan Toews and Ben Eager would be back from their concussions Monday night against Los Angeles, but look for both of them to play.
Toews skated on a line between Patrick Sharp and Dustin Byfuglien and was also back in the power play mix (thank goodness).
Eager skated on the fourth line with Colin Fraser and Andrew Ebbett.
As for Dave Bolland, he didn't practice and won't play Monday because of his back.
While Quenneville continues to call Bolland day-to-day to the media, like we wrote Friday the Hawks are discussing shutting Bolland down and even surgery.
Quenneville was asked Sunday if the team was considering shutting Bolland down.