It's too soon for Blackhawks to panic about Toews being 'unfit to participate,' but time is dwindling for Crawford to return

CHICAGO — Time will tell if Tuesday’s bad news about Jonathan Toews overshadows the good news regarding Chicago Blackhawks defensemen Calvin de Haan and Connor Murphy.

First the good news: de Haan and Murphy worked out by themselves on the ice at Fifth Third Arena, a step toward their potential return for at least one of the last four practices before the Hawks travel to Edmonton for their play-in series against the Oilers.

Murphy missed four days of training camp after being ruled “unfit” to play, while de Haan had been excused for a family emergency.

“Great to have Murph and de Haan back on the ice. We’ll see,” said coach Jeremy Colliton, whose defensive depth has been hamstrung throughout the season and camp. “We’ll get them going as quick as we can. When they’ll join the full group, I don’t know, but it’s certainly a great sign that we’ve got them.”

Now the bad news: Toews, who left Monday’s practice early — a decision Colliton said he made to “keep him fresh” — was out again for Tuesday’s scrimmages. Meanwhile, the window to work out is closing for goaltender Corey Crawford, who has missed all of camp.

The Hawks have a day off Wednesday.

Colliton declined to give details about Toews’ absence, citing the league’s and players union’s return-to-play privacy policy that prevents disclosing the nature of a player’s injury or illness, including whether he has tested positive for COVID-19.

“As far as Toews, the term we’re being asked to use sort of as a blanket is ‘unfit to participate.’ So that’s how we’ll phrase it,” Colliton said.

Colliton was asked about the last time Crawford took the ice as well as how quickly he could get ready. The Hawks fly to Edmonton on Sunday.

“I don’t know exactly the last time he was on, (and) as far as his timeline to get up to speed, we don’t know that either,” Colliton said. “Whenever we get him back, if we get him back, it’s our job to get him ready as quickly as we can and we’ll go from there.”

The opportunities for Crawford to get up to speed are dwindling quickly. The Hawks are scheduled to practice Thursday through Sunday in Chicago before traveling to the hub city. They haven’t plotted out their practice schedule in Edmonton.

They play the St. Louis Blues in an exhibition game July 29 before the best-of-five Oilers series opens Aug. 1.

The Hawks can bring a maximum of 31 players to Edmonton, and general manager Stan Bowman indicated it would take extraordinary circumstances, such as a rash of injuries, for the NHL to allow a team to bring replacements into the “bubble.”

“My understanding from the NHL is that the players you go to Edmonton with when you leave this Sunday, that’s your group for the duration of the playoffs,” Bowman said. “They don’t anticipate bringing (new players). … They don’t want players coming in from outside.

“If you have 10 guys get hurt in the first round and you’re six weeks into the playoffs, they’ll have to revisit that. But that’s not the plan right now.”

Would the Hawks gamble a roster spot on Crawford?

“Yeah, at this point nothing’s been ruled out,” Bowman said. “We still have a fair amount of time before Aug. 1 and the first game. We’re not thinking that far ahead right now. … Right now Corey’s not here, so we’re focused on the other four goalies (Malcolm Subban, Collin Delia, Kevin Lankinen and Matt Tomkins).

“If and when Corey’s ready, we’ll have that conversation. I think it’s best to just stick with where we are today and not jump too far ahead.”

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