Not only is Quintin Laing returning to the site of his first NHL game (he played three with the Blackhawks, including his first here at United Center against Florida) he will also be returning to the lineup after sitting out the past four games as a healthy scratch. He said he didn't know who would be skating with, and Bruce Boudreau is not here at the arena (only a small group of players and the assistant coaches are here, in fact), so I won't find out who is out until 5:00 (or 6:00 or whatever, I've only been out of the time zone for two days and I am already screwed up). A few Blackhawks players stopped by the Caps dressing room to say hello to Laing, because he played with some of them at Norfolk, Chicago's AHL affiliate.
"No, it's not weird because I never really got use to that other dressing room," Laing said.
On his first NHL game:
"It was cool. It was nerve-racking. Putting the jersey on for the first game made me really nervous and not getting a lot of sleep made me really tired but I was really excited though. It was just the adrenaline that got me going."
On Dustin Byfuglien, one of the league's biggest surprises with 17 goals in his rookie season after shifting from defense to forward:
"You always knew with him that he had the talent to do it and it was just a matter of time. He just needed some time to get use to being a professional and he had some good coaches [at Norfolk]. You knew he was going to be good, although he was only on defense [when Laing was a teammate]."
Byfuglien [it is pronounced BUFF-LYNN, by the way] is one of several current Blackhawks that played with Laing, who spent parts of six seasons at Norfolf. Others include Brent Seabrook, Duncan Keith, Rene Bourque, Dave Bolland and James Wisnewski.
He tried to downplay it, but I think it is easy to surmise that this is a big one for Laing tonight.
