CHICAGO -- Chicago Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville doesn’t guarantee ice time to anyone in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Brent Seabrook, Nick Leddy, Kris Versteeg, Viktor Stalberg and others have discovered that the past three years. Antoine Vermette could be the next on the list.

Vermette skated outside the team’s top-4 lines during practice on Monday. The Blackhawks play the Nashville Predators in Game 1 of their first-round series on Wednesday.

Quenneville wouldn’t say Monday whether Vermette would play in Game 1.

“We’ll see,” Quenneville said after practice. “We know he’s got some experience there in the middle and you’ve got some experience there as well. Depth is something organizationally you need and some guys are ahead of other guys now based on performance. We got to make decisions.”

Vermette was considered one of the best available players at the trade deadline this year, and the Blackhawks acquired him from the Arizona Coyotes for a 2015 first-round pick and defenseman prospect Klas Dahlbeck.

Quenneville said the fact the Blackhawks gave up so much to trade for Vermette could play into his decision, but mostly it was about performance.

“It can and it could,” Quenneville said. “I mean, there’s a process. We always say it doesn’t matter how much money you make or who you are. Your performance is going to dictate everything you get and everything you’re going to earn.

“On a need basis, I think organizationally depth you get tested and challenged as you move along here in playoffs. We’re going to need everybody, and everything changes instantly in our game. That’s being prepared and having some versatility in your lineup choices is always something you got to look at. That’s kind of where we’re at.”

Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman was ecstatic in March to be able to acquire Vermette. He thought Vermette could help the Blackhawks in a number of ways.

“When you get close to a deal, you really want to close it because he was the No. 1 forward we were targeting,” Bowman said on March 2. “I think he brings a lot of versatility to the group. You look at what he can do, Joel likes to have players that can play on both ends of the ice. He’s got the faceoff capability. He’s always been one of the top-10 faceoff guys in the league. I think sometimes his offensive game gets underrated a little bit, but we expect him to contribute in both ends.”

Vermette hasn’t blown Quenneville’s socks off with his play since coming over to the Blackhawks. Quenneville first tried him at second-line center, but Quenneville was displeased with his play there and moved him to the right wing, a position he hadn’t played in five-plus years. Vermette played center the last three games after Brad Richards suffered an upper-body injury.

Vermette admitted recently he was disappointed in his own production, but he was surprised how Quenneville had been using him. Vermette had zero goals, three assists and was a minus-2 in 19 regular-season games for the Blackhawks. He had 13 goals and 22 assists in 63 games for the Coyotes this season.

Vermette has nine goals and nine assists in 58 career playoff games. He had five goals and five assists in 16 games during the Coyotes’ run to the Western Conference finals in 2012.