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Decision to healthy scratch Saad wasn’t tough, says Quenneville

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On Sunday, sophomore forward Brandon Saad was dropped from the Chicago lineup as part of a “coach’s decision,” per Joel Quenneville. Following the game -- a 4-2 win over St. Louis -- Quenneville set about explaining the decision, and the ease with which he made it.

“We like tough decisions and we welcome them. This wasn’t one,” Quenneville said, per CSN Chicago. “So we’re looking for tougher ones as we go along. When we put the lineup together we want consistency and playing the right way.”

Saad, who missed three games recently with an upper-body injury, has been invisible over the last two weeks -- just one point (an assist) in his last nine games and an ugly three-game stretch versus Boston, Ottawa and Pittsburgh in which he went minus-6 (all three were Chicago losses, coincidentally).

Production-wise, it’s been a pretty big decline. Saad’s one of the better offensive players on the roster and sat fifth on the team in goals (19) prior to the skid and eventual healthy scratch. It’s a level Quenneville wants to see the 21-year-old get back to.

“Guys who are scorers and productive, they’re used to getting that good feeling when you have something to measure your play with,” Quenneville explained. “But playing the right way is something we reinforce, and he never got one of those shifts or games where he was rolling, comfortable with the puck and playing with the pace we’re accustomed to seeing.”

“We expect him to be a big piece of our team. We expect him back the next game [Wednesday, vs. Montreal] and playing his game.”