Goalie Cam Ward will play his first game for the Chicago Blackhawks when they open the regular season against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday.
Ward signed a one-year contract with the Blackhawks as an unrestricted free agent July 1. He will start Thursday because Corey Crawford is out continuing to recover from a concussion.
Backup goaltender Anton Forsberg was injured during the morning skate and will not play. Chicago recalled
Collin Delia
from the Rockford IceHogs of the American Hockey League to take his place.
Defenseman Dylan DeMelo and forwards Mikkel Boedker and Chris Tierney each will play his first game for the Senators, who will be playing their first game since trading two-time Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson to the San Jose Sharks on Sept. 13.
Ottawa received Tierney and DeMelo, forward Rudolfs Balcers and Josh Norris, a first-round pick in the 2019 or 2020 NHL Draft, and a second-round pick in 2019 for Karlsson and forward Francis Perron. The Senators traded forward Mike Hoffman, defenseman Cody Donaghey and a fifth-round pick in 2020 to the Sharks for Boedker, defenseman Julius Bergman and a sixth-round pick in 2020.