Morning Skate Update: Philp to make NHL debut

The summer signing will play in his first NHL game on Tuesday night.

Another Chicago Blackhawks player will make his NHL debut on Tuesday night when the team faces the Vancouver Canucks.

Luke Philp gets the nod for this one, a summer free-agent signing who’d been playing with the Rockford IceHogs all season.

It’s probably not accurate to term Philp as a “prospect,” considering he’s already 27 years old and almost certainly is not a part of the team’s long-term plans. But after spending three-and-a-half seasons in the AHL, he’s about to accomplish the dream of every young hockey player by skating in an NHL game — plus he’s doing it not too far from his hometown of Canmore, which is in far western Alberta, near the border with British Columbia (BC, of course, being the province where Vancouver is located, for those unfamiliar with Canadian geography. Don’t say SCH never taught ya nothin’!)

Elsewhere in the Chicago lineup, Ian Mitchell remained in with Isaak Phillips returned to the IceHogs, although Filip Roos — who was recalled on Monday — appears destined for the press box initially:

As for the Canucks, an old friend will be manning the Vancouver net, based on the morning skate:

Here’s a rough idea of the rest of the Vancouver lineup, based on its Monday practice: