Blackhawks forced to go with 11 forwards, seven defencemen vs. Flames

Injuries have hit thee Chicago Blackhawks so hard, they are playing with an 11-forward, seven-defence lineup against the the Flames on Sunday, according to Mark Lazerus of The Athletic.

Chicago recently lost rookie sensation Connor Bedard and veteran forward Nick Foligno to injury, putting the team’s Injured List at nine players. Bedard suffered a fractured jaw on Friday night in a loss to the Devils and Foligno followed him with a fractured finger when he fought Brendan Smith — the man who’d laid the hit on the rookie.

Bedard and Foligno joined a list that already included Taylor Hall (knee), Andreas Athanasiou (groin), Seth Jones (shoulder), Tyler Johnson (foot), Anthony Beauvillier (wrist), Taylor Raddysh (groin), and Joey Anderson (shoulder).

Those nine players represent $35.4 million in salary. The players who remain on the active roster? They are worth $34.1 million.

In addition to those nine, the Hawks had Luke Philp (achilles) and Samuel Savoie (lower body) on the season-opening injured reserve list.

The game against the Flames can be seen on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ at 3 p.m. ET / noon PT.