Patrick Sharp expected to return to Chicago: How will latest Blackhawks reunion go?

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The Blackhawks have had a habit of bringing back former players lately. It appears Patrick Sharp will be the latest they return to the fold.

A source confirmed what multiple reports stated late Friday night, that Sharp will return when free agency opens late Saturday morning. TSN’s Bob McKenzie first reported on Friday that Sharp — who the Blackhawks traded to the Dallas Stars on July 10, 2015 — would likely be returning to Chicago.

The 35-year-old Sharp is coming off season-ending hip surgery he underwent in late March. At the time of that surgery, the Stars said Sharp’s expected recovery time was between four and five months. He’s coming off a frustrating season, injury-wise. Besides the hip issue that finally led to surgery, Sharp was out on two separate occasions due to a concussion he suffered early in the 2016-17 season. In a February interview, Sharp talked about how difficult it was to deal with those concussion issues.

“Emotionally I had a lot of anxiety, whether that was from not playing or the (recovery) timeline, there were a lot of unknowns,” he said at the time. “But once I got back on the ice and around the team and into the normal pro hockey player routine, things cleared up.”

Now the question is: How will Sharp be following this hip surgery? The Blackhawks have gone down this road before with re-signing former players. Since 2013 they have welcomed back forwards Andrew Ladd and Kris Versteeg, goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin and defensemen Johnny Oduya and Brian Campbell. The results have been mixed, at best.

As of now, Sharp will likely be part of the Blackhawks’ bottom six. Brandon Saad, re-acquired last Friday, will start the season as Jonathan Toews’ left wing on the top line. Last Saturday coach Joel Quenneville said Nick Schmaltz would probably get first crack at second-line left wing; Schmaltz subbed for an injured Artem Anisimov twice last season and had pretty good chemistry with Patrick Kane. Granted, we all know how lines change with this team.

The Blackhawks have tried this reunion thing before; we’ll see how it works with Sharp.

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