The Chicago Blackhawks lost both the game and two lineup pillars, in Saturday night’s matchup against the Winnipeg Jets. Starting goaltender Petr Mrazek suffered a lower-body injury just 10 minutes in after getting his leg inadvertently swept from under him by Jets forward Mason Appleton – captured by Charlie Roumeliotis of Chicago’s WGN Radio. Mrazek was in pain immediately and left the game after a few minutes of trying to play through the injury. Two periods later, defender Alec Martinez seemed to suffer a face injury on an Adam Lowry shot that deflected under his visor. Martinez went to the ice immediately and was helped to the locker room by trainers.
Interim head coach Anders Sorensen shared in his first post-game press conference that both players would miss “a little bit” of time, per Ben Pope of The Chicago Sun-Times.
It’s polarizing injury news for both players, for opposite reasons. Mrazek has been an iron-man in Chicago’s net, not suffering a notable injury since a groin injury limited him through the first half of the 2022-23 season. He was placed on injured reserve twice that year but still played in 39 games – recording 10 wins and a .894 save percentage. With a bill of full health, Mrazek did much more to embrace Chicago’s starting role last season, netting 18 wins and a .908 save percentage in 56 games. He was on track to repeat those numbers this year, with seven wins and a .906 in 20 games so far, but could now be headed for another extended absence due to a lower-body injury.
Mrazek’s absence would bump Arvid Soderblom into the Blackhawks’ starter’s crease, giving the 23-year-old a chance to build on his .915 save percentage through eight games this season. It’s Soderblom’s first NHL season with a save percentage above .900 – though he has a measly 1-6-1 record to go along with it. A chance at the starting role would be a chance for Soderblom to gain ground over Mrazek and injured backup Laurent Brossoit, who isn’t expected to make his season debut until late January due to a knee injury. Brossoit posted a .927 save percentage in 23 games with the Winnipeg Jets last season.
Meanwhile, Martinez is once again set to miss time with injury. The 37-
year-old defender spent just under a month on injured reserve with a groin injury earlier this season, forcing him to miss 12 games. It’ll be a second year of multiple injuries for Martinez, who missed 27 games of the Vegas Golden Knights season last year with lower-body injuries. He signed a one-year, $4MM contract with the Blackhawks this summer, set on providing a much-needed veteran presence on the Chicago blue-line. He’s been heavily utilized when healthy, averaging over 20 minutes of ice time through 15 appearances this season, though he only has four points to show for it. That includes Martinez’s first goal as a Blackhawk, which he scored in the first period of Saturday’s game.
Chicago will need to lean even further on their young, depth defenders with Martinez set to join top defender Seth Jones on the absentee list. Nolan Allan has stepped into the lineup for Jones, while Louis Crevier will likely be the first to receive minutes in place of Martinez. Chicago could also call-up Wyatt Kaiser, Ethan Del Mastro, or Kevin Korchinski to fill-in, depending on how much time Martinez is expected to miss. Allan leads Chicago’s injury fill-ins in games and scoring, with four assists through 20 appearances this year.