Andreas Athanasiou Likely To Return To Practice This Week

Injured Blackhawks forward Andreas Athanasiou aims to return to practice by the end of this week as he recovers from a groin injury, head coach Luke Richardson tells NBC Sports Chicago’s Charlie Roumeliotis. The 29-year-old has missed 12 games with a groin injury sustained on November 9 against the Lightning and is listed as week-to-week. Athanasiou recorded 20 goals for the second time in his career last season in Chicago, but offense had been harder to come by through 11 games this year, recording four assists, no goals, and seeing his ice time drop to under 13 minutes per game. He signed a two-year, $8.5MM extension last summer to remain in the Windy City.