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Seabrook rebounding from injury

Brent Seabrook, Steve Mason

Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook, right, shoots and scores the winning goal past Columbus Blue Jackets goalie Steve Mason during an overtime shootout of an NHL hockey game Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2009 in Chicago. The Blackhawks won 4-3. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

AP

Just a few days after receiving a hit to the head that drew an 8-game suspension for former teammate James Wisniewski, it looks like Chicago defenseman Brent Seabrook is starting to recover from possible concussion symptoms. Chris Kuc has the story.

“I worked out (Thursday night) and felt good and felt good enough to skate (Friday) and take the (concussion) test this morning,” Seabrook said. “I feel a lot better.

"(Thursday morning) I rode the bike and did a workout and didn’t feel comfortable and didn’t feel right and took the res tof the day off and just sort of relaxed and felt better (Thursday night). The symptoms have been going away pretty quickly. When you get hit in the head that you want to take as much rest as you can and just relax. Any exertion is going to build up headaches and make you feel not great.”

It looks like Seabrook is still “day-to-day” but hopefully his concussion was mild (a Grade I?) at worst. The one bright side of the situation seems to be that Dustin Byfuglien is flourishing since being placed back on defense. Here’s what the Chicago Tribune wrote about Byfuglien’s return to the blueline.

“I don’t want to make an official announcement about Byfuglien being a defenseman, but we really liked what we saw,” coach Joel Quenneville said. “He really looks comfortable back there. Him and ( Niklas Hjalmarsson) looked like they’re a nice pair. As a group, we’re thinking, let’s keep (Byfuglien) on ‘D’ and see how it goes.”

Byfuglien played 20 minutes, 56 seconds against the Kings and had a team-high six shots and five hits while adding an assist. The extra room along the blueline has allowed Byfuglien to unleash one of the Hawks’ most lethal weapons - his slap shot.

While it’s great that Chicago “re-discovered” a valuable defenseman, I’m sure that they are eagerly awaiting Seabrook’s return. Hopefully the young defenseman will be back in action soon.