Morning skate notebook from Chicago: A top defenseman could return tomorrow

CHICAGO – Hello from the City of Big Shoulders, the Windy City, etc. etc.

There was a bit of news from the Avs’ morning skate today at the United Center, including:

Erik Johnson could return to the lineup tomorrow night against Carolina, coach Jared Bednar said. That’s obviously good news. EJ has been out for about three weeks, since that shove from behind by “old friend” Alexander Kerfoot.

Cale Makar? Well, Bednar said he’s “feeling better every day”, but he won’t play tomorrow. Bednar said he just doesn’t know exactly when Makar will return. It’ll be two weeks on Saturday that Makar will have missed since taking that hit from Brad Marchand in Boston.

I think it’ll be soon with Makar; I mean, a serious shoulder injury would be pretty easy to diagnose. If it were really serious, he wouldn’t be out there skating every day. It just sounds like it needs a little more time to where he can shoot pucks effectively and just not worry about a re-injury from some routine hit.

About tonight’s game: Pavel Francouz is in net. Philipp Grubauer is expected to start against the Hurricanes.

Anton Lindholm will get a start on defense tonight too, with Calle Rosen a healthy scratch.

Duncan Keith will return to the Blackhawks lineup. Brent Seabrook will be a healthy scratch. Corey Crawford starts in goal for the Blackhawks.