Blackhawks deal unfortunate news to Philip Kurashev moments before puck drop Thursday vs Panthers

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Joshua Deeds
November 21, 2024 (9:13 PM)

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The Chicago Blackhawks will need the big guns tonight against the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Florida Panthers.

So why isLuke Richardson making line up changes that don't yield results? There's undoubtedly a connection between Connor Bedard and Jason Dickinson.

But instead of someone like Philipp Kurashev, he has Joey Anderson once again on the top line.

Usually, when the coach brings out the lineup bender, it's to find new chemistry and connections on the ice.

However, Bedard is still drawing in on the wing, while the linemate who was a catalyst for offense last season and scored 50+ points on his right flank in 2023, is a healthy scratch.

In 18 games this season, he's only scored 4 points( 1 G, 3 A) with a -16 and his last goal came against the Minnesota Wild.

The last time Kurashev was a healthy scratch Luke Richardson said this:

Luke Richardson on Philipp Kurashev, who is likely to be a healthy scratch on Tuesday: «To me, he's a guy that I've gotten used to counting on and he can't play the way he did the last game for me to continue to count on him like that. I know he'll use it as a bit of a wake-up call and be better.» #Blackhawks

So it's obvious that this is a matter of trust, and a lack of production if Kurashev is in the press box tonight.

But it's also something to reconsider when you haven't set up Kurashev to thrive, and that would mean placing Kurashev on the same line as Connor Bedard.

Last season in November, the team looked quite different, and Kurashev was producing at a great clip. Now? Not so much.

From November 8th, 2023:

Bedard has 12 shots on goal in those five games. He had two in the previous two combined. Foligno has one goal and one assist, and Kurashev has four points (two goals, two assists), three (one goal, two assists) coming in Chicago's 5-2 win against the Florida Panthers on Saturday.

It is on the player to keep producing, but the coach always seems to escape some of the shared blame in this situation as well.