Blackhawks activate veteran defenseman

The Chicago Blackhawks have activated Nikita Zaitsev from the non-roster status and reassigned Filip Roos to the AHL. 

Zaitsev has been out of action since Thursday, stepping away from the team for personal reasons. He missed two games in that span. The rookie defenseman Roos was a healthy scratch for both games, serving as the team’s seventh defenseman.

Zaitsev has only appeared in five games this season, serving as a healthy scratch for the other eight games that he was active for. He’s scored a lone goal in those appearances, adding two penalty minutes and a +4. It’s Zaitsev’s first full season in Chicago, after joining the Hawks via trade last February. He had previously spent four seasons with the Ottawa Senators, appearing in 203 games, scoring 45 points, and recording a -33 with the club. The 32-year-old defenseman originally moved to the NHL in 2016, when he was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Toronto Maple Leafs. He had previously played in 317 games in the KHL, Russia’s top league, including 136 games with CSKA Moscow. Zaitsev scored 36 points in his rookie season, a mark that remains his career-high.

The Hawks will likely bump Zaitsev right back into the lineup, as their third pairing is currently comprised of two left-shot rookie defenders in Isaak Phillips and Wyatt Kaiser. The duo were two of four rookies on the Hawks’ blue line this weekend, alongside Kevin Korchinski and extra-man Filip Roos. The team also iced the 22-year-old Alex Vlasic, giving their defense an average age of 23.8 over their last two games. Zaitsev will bring some veteran experience back into the fold for the team’s Sunday night matchup against the Buffalo Sabres.