OK, when you lose a star player like Marian Hossa for a couple months at the start of the season, you hope one of your remaining top 6 forwards gets on enough of a hot streak, or the hot streak changes hands, to carry the scoring load until Hossa's ready to play.

When you lose your #2 center, Dave Bolland, for pretty much the entire preseason, you hope the Hawks are just being cautious, and Bolland will be ready in Helsinki next week.

When you lose an energy line/penalty killing role player like Adam Burish for virtually the entire regular season, you hope whoever steps into that role does more good than harm.

When a career minor leaguer is finally going to get a shot, and he gets hurt after everyone else, it's just re-goddamn-diculous.

Skille left last night's game against Washington in the first period with a lower-body injury. The fact that they then called up two minor league forwards, Rob Klinkhammer and Bryan Bickell, this morning can't be a good sign.

Bickell, I remember from a couple years ago when there was a constant shuttle between Chicago and Rockford. He'll take the body, and has a pretty heavy shot. Unfortunately, he also carries a rep for not always being a vessel of ambition. As for Klinkhammer, he seems to fit more into the Burish-type mold, a player who doesn't posess the most ability, but busts has ass.

One thing we know for sure...these two kids are big. Bickell stands at 6'4, and Klinkhammer is 6'3. If they make the team, Klinkhammer instantly becomes the Blackhawk with the most awesome name as well.

After Sunday night's chippy game with the Wild, it could very well be that Coach QStache wants a couple big bodies to keep everything honest. However, neither of them really fit into the enforcer mold, despite their size.

Of course, the best scenario would be for Bolland and Skille to be ready to go, and these two behemoths to go back to plying their trade in the exotic locales of the AHL.