Blackhawks forwards must earn minutes

Updated: January 17, 2012 10:14PM

Coach Joel Quenneville wouldn’t exactly call it a competition at first, but with an extra healthy forward on the roster, there’s no denying that there will be some battles to play regularly.

With winger Daniel Carcillo put on injured reserve Tuesday, Ben Smith rejoined the team. It’s the first time in a couple of weeks that there’s an extra forward to push others for playing time.

Rookies Andrew Shaw and Jimmy Hayes are outperforming more seasoned players such as Bryan Bickell and Michael Frolik, both of whom have been dropped to the fourth line. In only seven games, Shaw has tied Bickell (40 games) with four goals and trails Frolik (44 games) by one. Hayes has three goals and two assists in nine games.

“You look at these guys moving up, they’re taking advantage of not just playing, but playing a little bit more and getting more responsibilities, be it special teams or more ice time,” Quenneville said. “It’s an internal competition, but at the same time, we want everybody to be playing their best, and we want to max out our team.”

Bickell gets stitches

Bickell said he briefly left Sunday’s win against the San Jose Sharks to get stitches on his left foot to repair a cut suffered when he blocked a shot.

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