The Chicago Blackhawks are finishing the preseason at the United Center with one more look at the St. Louis Blues, and this one comes with a lineup built more for evaluation than for an Opening Night dress rehearsal.
That’s partly by design and partly by rule. Players with more than 100 games of NHL experience can’t appear in more than two of the four preseason games, which takes Frank Nazar, Landon Slaggert, Kevin Korchinski, and Wyatt Kaiser out of the mix. Chicago is also keeping Patrick Kane’s first home appearance reserved for the regular season, so he’s not dressing either.
The Blues are bringing a mostly NHL group into Chicago as they try to get their own roster ready for the real thing. These two teams already met two nights ago in St.
Louis, when the Blackhawks used a lineup that was about half of their opening-night group. Chicago was without Robert Thomas, Dylan Holloway, Philip Broberg, and Jimmy Snuggerud among others that night, and some of those players could be back in the lineup here.
Jordan Binnington started that last game and shut out the Blackhawks, which makes Joel Hofer the expected starter at the United Center.
Chicago’s projected lineup looks like this:
Bertuzzi-Frondell-Mangiapane
Donato-Moore-Greene
Teravainen-Kantserov-Lardis
Boucher-Toninato-Smith
Vlasic-Byram
Del Mastro-Levshunov
Cole-Rinzel
Knight
There’s still something to be gained here for a few Blackhawks trying to push their way into the picture. Andrew Mangiapane, Teuvo Teravainen, and Ethan Del Mastro all have one more chance to make an impression before the staff starts making harder calls.
One of the more interesting wrinkles is Roman Kantserov getting a preseason look at center for the first time. He’s viewed in North America as a goal-scoring winger, but he spent most of last season at center in the KHL, where he led the league in goals.
Anton Frondell and Oliver Moore are listed ahead of him in the middle, with Dominic Toninato behind them. Toninato is expected to be with the IceHogs this season and brings veteran presence to that group.
Bowen Byram will again skate next to Alex Vlasic after his last preseason outing turned into a show. Monday at the United Center, Byram scored a hat trick and finished it off with an overtime winner.
In net, Spencer Knight is set to play the full game for Chicago. Arvid Soderblom was excellent in St.
Louis on Thursday, and Knight gets the start here. For now, that’s the tandem the Blackhawks are carrying into 2026-27.
The puck drops shortly after 6:00 PM CT. Local radio coverage is on AM 720 WGN in the Chicagoland area, with the game available locally on CHSN and nationally on NHL Network.
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