Blackhawks' Teuvo Teravainen anticipates 'very high-level' hockey at Olympics

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Blackhawks believe their lack of Olympians could turn into a competitive advantage.

Almost their entire team will get to rest during the Olympic break while most opposing stars battle tooth-and-nail for a gold medal in Milan, Italy. Once the Hawks resume practices Feb. 18 and resume the regular season Feb. 26 at Nashville, almost every Hawk should feel at least close to 100% physically and mentally.

Teuvo Teravainen, as the Hawks' lone Olympian, is the lone exception. But he's not complaining about that.

"It's awesome to be seeing all the Finns, because we're already good buddies together," Teravainen said Tuesday. "It's going to be fun to try to enjoy the Olympics together. We have a really good team, so we're trying to win the whole tournament.

"All the best players are there, playing for your national teams, so it's going to be a very high-level game [with] a lot of speed. It's a short tournament, too, so you have to be sharp every game."

The Hawks and Flames are the only NHL teams with just one Olympian; the Islanders originally had one but then traded for a second in Czech forward Ondrej Palat. The Hawks also have assistant coach Anders Sorensen heading over as part of Sweden's staff.

Teravainen flew back to Chicago with the Hawks on Wednesday night. He will take a commercial flight from Chicago to New York, then travel on the Finnish charter plane from New York to Milan.

Each of the 12 nations who qualified for Olympic men's hockey will get a few days of practice before preliminary-round games begin next Wednesday. Finland will face Slovakia, Sweden and Italy — in that order — before the knockout rounds begin.

Foligno’s deadline

As the Hawks' captain, Nick Foligno will probably get to decide — or at least have some say about — whether or not he's traded ahead of the NHL's March 6 deadline, even as a pending free agent. But he hasn't thought about it.

"I haven't even had a conversation with [general manager Kyle Davidson] yet, but I don't really want to, either," Foligno said Tuesday. "I do and I don't. I kind of want to know that we're going to stick with it and go for [the playoffs]. That's my thought process now."

Foligno, after missing two games to injury, returned to the Hawks' lineup Wednesday in an urgency-lacking 4-0 loss against the Blue Jackets team he formerly captained.

"[Columbus] holds a real special place in my heart," he said. "It's a place I care about a lot...[and it's] nice to come back. Just wish we played a little bit better."