A new player, center Tyler Arnason, joined the Blackhawks at practice Monday.
Arnason leads the Hawks’ Norfolk farm team in goals (23) and assists (29) and is tied for 10th in the American Hockey League in points. He is scheduled to make his NHL debut in Wednesday night’s game against the Florida Panthers.
Coach Brian Sutter had Arnason working as the third-line center with Mark Bell and Igor Korolev on the wings. Korolev’s natural position is a wing, but he has spent most of the season centering the third line.
“Iggy is a special player,” Sutter said. “Very few people can do what he does. If you walk into our dressing room, how many wingers can you move to center and say, `Do a job.’? But you can move any center to the wing and he can do a job.
“Tyler is a natural center–one of the top players in the American Hockey League. He has come a long way. We want to see where he’s at.”
Getting stingy: The Hawks’ defense has shown significant improvement over the past month. They’ve given up only 23 goals in the last 11 games, and one was scored on an empty net.
In the third period of Saturday’s 3-2 victory in Colorado, the Hawks held the defending Stanley Cup champions to two shots and, according to Sutter, “both came on the power play from the point.”
