With the way he has been working in practices and morning skates, games are going to feel like a day off for Blackhawks rookie defenseman Cam Barker.
Now all he has to do is get into a game.
Four games into the 2005-06 season, Barker has yet to make his NHL debut. He spends game-day mornings skating, then practices long after the regulars have left the rink.
“No doubt I want to be in the lineup, but you have to work for every inch you get, and that’s the way I’m approaching it,” said Barker, 19. “You have to pay your dues.”
Barker spent Tuesday night doing what he’d done the three previous games–watching from the press box as the Hawks played. But coach Trent Yawney said Barker might see his first NHL action on this four-game trip, which continues Friday night against the Avalanche.
Yawney said it’s valuable for Barker to be in the NHL rather than with his junior team in Medicine Hat of the Western Hockey League.
“I want to keep him around so he’s around the guys and practicing, but also watching,” Yawney said.
“You can learn by watching, and I think he’s starting to see now how some of the other guys who have been around have adjusted.”
The Hawks are in an awkward situation. Ideally, Barker would be at Norfolk, playing 25 minutes a night. But rules bar 19-year-olds from playing in the American Hockey League.
If they send him back to juniors, they can’t recall him unless an emergency arises, such as having every defenseman in Chicago or Norfolk unavailable to play.
Barker has already played three years in juniors and has accomplished about all there is to accomplish. Yawney said the main improvement Barker needs is in his pace, which he can’t gain playing in Medicine Hat.
“This is where I want to be, there is no doubt in my mind,” Barker said.
“It’s just a matter of me proving to them that I can stay here and play at this level.”
Until he gets that chance, he’ll continue to sit and learn. And skate.
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rfoltman@tribune.com
