Blackhawks' Nikita Zaitsev returns but Andreas Athanasiou not quite ready

Erin Hooley/AP Photos

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Considering how long Andreas Athanasiou's groin injury has dragged on and on this season, it shouldn't be too surprising the Blackhawks' target return date for him proved slightly too optimistic.

Athanasiou, who has been sidelined since Nov. 9, won't play Saturday against the Capitals after all, missing his 52nd consecutive game. Reese Johnson will instead fill the forward spot opened up by Anthony Beauvillier's trade departure.

Athanasiou did still skate Saturday morning, so it doesn't seem like he suffered a significant setback. It's a good bet he'll return during the Hawks' four-game homestand this week against the Coyotes, Ducks, Kings or Sharks. In practice Thursday, coach Luke Richardson put him on the left wing of a line with Tyler Johnson and Taylor Raddysh, giving a rough idea how he'll be initially used.

"He might have to just work his way up and get some feel out there," Richardson said. "But wherever he goes, he’s always a dangerous asset because of his speed and his offensive intuition. He always seems to get breakaways, even though every team always talks about [defending] those types of guys."

Defenseman Nikita Zaitsev, however, will return to the lineup Saturday as hoped after missing 19 games with a knee injury and bone fracture.

"It's hard to not play, [to] basically just work out and do some stuff every day," Zaitsev said earlier this week. "But now it's better to be around the boys."

Glance at summer

Hawks general manager Kyle Davidson's extremely quiet trade-deadline week meant there wasn't too much for him to break down at his news conference Friday, so many of the later questions focused on how he's planning ahead for the offseason.

He didn't offer many specifics about his plans, but nothing he said contradicted the expectation the Hawks will be fairly conservative again this summer. They realize they need to upgrade their team somewhat, but they're not going to be pursuing big-name free agents or handing out big contracts — because they're not trying to become a playoff contender as soon as next season.

"You don’t want to make a jump too soon and then limit your ceiling on what you can be, or sign something too early and then want to try to move it later on," Davidson said. "We want to be careful how we spend our money, because it’s a really hard thing to get that flexibility in this league once you don’t have it anymore. We’ll be reluctant to give that [flexibility] up until it really makes sense."

This and that

Davidson said he's "working through" deciding whether to pursue a long-term contract or a bridge contract with breakout defenseman Alex Vlasic, who will be a restricted free agent for the first time this summer.

Davidson also praised how prospect defenseman Ethan Del Mastro has "grabbed hold of" his opportunities during his first pro season with Rockford, emerging as a first-pairing stud for the IceHogs. Del Mastro will likely contend for an NHL spot in training camp next season.

Richardson liked how Connor Bedard made a couple smart decisions to dump the puck in — rather than trying to beat guys one-on-one — during the final minutes of the Hawks' win Tuesday against the Coyotes, whom they'll rematch Sunday. He showed the team video clips of Bedard doing so.

"He had his two nice assists on the power play, [so] I said, 'You already got your work done. Now it's time to preserve that and win the game for the team,'" Richardson said. "That's great growth in a young player."