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Well, this isn’t the news you want to see when starting the 2024-25 hockey season. Ahead of the first prospects practice before the Tom Kurvers Rookie Showcase in St. Louis, the Chicago Blackhawks announced that rookie defenseman Artyom Levshunov would not be participating after sustaining a foot injury.
Levshunov was taken with the No. 2 pick by the Blackhawks in this past June’s NHL Draft after a highly successful freshman season at Michigan State. He signed his entry-level contract back on July 6 and is expected to play the majority of this season in the AHL with the IceHogs.
The initial expectations are that the injury (a right foot injury) is not serious. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that a walking boot could be in the future for the 2024 second-overall pick as part of his recovery. Following Wednesday’s practice at the Fifth Third Arena, Rockford IceHogs head coach Anders Sorensen didn’t have a timeline for Levshunov’s recovery, but said it didn’t “seem too bad.”
For more on the impact of Artyom Levshunov’s injury, see Jay Zawaski’s analysis here, only for our CHGO Diehards.