The Chicago Blackhawks will take on the Colorado Avalanche on Monday night in Denver. The Hawks, who have been playing well lately, are taking on this Avalanche team, which has everything they need to win the Stanley Cup.
With Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar leading the way on the other side, Chicago has their hands full. Their youth would need to pull off one of their best collective games of the season to win.
The Blackhawks do have a wrinkle in their lineup on Monday night. Artyom Levshunov, the second overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, will make his NHL debut.
Levshunov, a standout at Michigan State University last season, has had a great start to his pro hockey career with the Rockford IceHogs. His offensive game has had ups and downs but his work in the defensive zone is notable.
Chicago called Levshunov up during the AHL’s All-Star break but he never got in a game. Now, they feel he is ready to play in the NHL for a bit. Levshunov was called up on Sunday and was confirmed to be debuting on Monday.
Levshunov will skate on the third pair with Alec Martinez. Having a three-time Stanley Cup champion veteran to play with is a great way to break into the league.
He is also going to get some power play time with the second unit which is a great way to get him some touches in a controlled situation.
This is how the lines will look including Levhunov on the third pair:
Dach – Bedard – Dickinson
Teravainen – Donato – Teravainen
Slaggert – Nazar – Foligno
Bertuzzi – Veleno – Reichel
Vlasic – Kaiser
Del Mastro – Murphy
Martinez – Levshunov
Knight
Jason Dickinson is going to return to the lineup after missing the last few weeks with injury. He will play on that first line with Connor Bedard and Colton Dach. That moves Frank Nazar down to the third line but he will be tested to drive the line as a center. He deserves it with the way he’s played lately.
Patrick Maroon and Philipp Kurashev are going to be the scratches for this one when it comes to the forwards.
Louis Crevier is coming out of the lineup to make room for Levshunov on defense but it is still a very young group on the blue line. TJ Brodie is the other scratch.
Joe Veleno is going to play in his second game with Chicago while Spencer Knight will make his third start in net.
Part of the rebuilding process is seeing guys come up to make their NHL debut from time to time. Often times, that is the most exciting part of an otherwise painful process that involves a lot of losing.
To say that Levshunov is excited would be an understatement based on his quote from after Monday’s practice.
“I’ve dreamed about this all my hockey life.” Levshunov said on making his NHL debut. “It’s unbelievable to make my debut tonight. It’s incredible.”
As mentioned before, Colorado is no joke. The Blackhawks are throwing Levshunov into the fire with this matchup but that’s the NHL. To stick around in this league, you must play against top teams loaded with talent.
“Yeah, let’s get after it. This is the NHL, right?” Interim Head Coach Anders Sorensen said on Levshunov making his debut against the mighty Avalanche. “You want to be in the NHL, you’re gonna play the best.”
They could have kept him out of this game and let him go against the San Jose Sharks to make his debut on Thursday but they feel it is better to let him see what elite opposition looks like. Everyone is good in the NHL but some teams are even better than good. Levshunov will see that in the opponent on Monday.
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