Blackhawks add Jonathan Toews, Henrik Borgstrom to growing COVID listBen Popeon October 26, 2021 at 10:44 pm

Jonathan Toews missed practice Tuesday due to COVID-19 protocol. | Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

The Hawks now have five players, including Toews and Patrick Kane, and three assistant coaches on the COVID list.

The Blackhawks’ apparent COVID-19 outbreak keeps getting worse.

Jonathan Toews and Henrik Borgstrom were added to the NHL’s COVID protocols Tuesday and missed practice.

Although the news has been drastically overshadowed by general manager Stan Bowman’s departure in the wake of sexual assault cover-up findings, the fully vaccinated Hawks are somehow now missing five players and three assistant coaches due to COVID.

Toews, Borgstrom, Patrick Kane, Jujhar Khaira and Riley Stillman are the absent players; Tomas Mitell, Marc Crawford and Jimmy Waite are the absent coaches.

Sheldon Brookbank was the only typical assistant at practice Monday and Tuesday, with player development advisor Chris Kunitz and AHL goalie coach Peter Aubry filling in underneath coach Jeremy Colliton.

Placement on the COVID list doesn’t necessarily mean one tested positive, but if all five players remain unavailable Wednesday, the Hawks will face the Maple Leafs with only 20 players on the roster and neither of their two star veteran forwards among them.

And if Mike Hardman — who missed the last two games with a concussion but returned to practice Monday — can’t play, the Hawks will be shorthanded, able to dress only 11 forwards.

Toews’ placement on the COVID list comes just six regular-season games into his return. On Sunday, he finally registered his first NHL points since August 2020, tallying two assists.

His medical absence last season was partially due to long-haul COVID symptoms, he has said previously.

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