Puck Chatter / The Third Man In Chicago Blackhawks, Rockford IceHogs blog, news, podcast analysis

Time 2020-07-28 22:02:40

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Puck Chatter / The Third Man In Chicago Blackhawks, Rockford IceHogs blog, news, podcast analysisJeremy Colliton reacted to his Blackhawks opening theseason with losses in Prague and to San Jose in Thursday’s home openeressentially by blowing up the lines he had stuck to since the beginning of trainingcamp.It’s a sign that Colliton is fully aware how crucial thiscurrent seven-game homestand and eight October home games will be. The schedulegets mightily tougher as they get into November, so Colliton can’t pretend likethings will magically come together if he just stays the course.Considering Alex Nylander was yanked off the top lineafter twenty minutes Thursday, then skated just two shifts in the third period –which included being on the ice drifting around, puck watching with his stick gluedto his waste on the Sharks game-winning goal – and was out of the top 12forward group altogether at Friday’s practice, you can probably declare the AlexNylander honeymoon period expired.After a summer of having his competitiveness and heart bad-mouthedin the wake of his tenure as a Buffalo Sabres prospect coming to an end, itsalarming that Colliton is turning to rattling Nylander’s cage just two gamesinto the regular season. It’s not all that surprising though. Nylander had hismoments during the preseason, but was just okay overall. Nothing we’ve seenfrom him in two regular season games wasn’t already apparent during hispreseason appearance. It’s just comes down to how close you were watching.Nearly six months of anticipation for a fresh slate and new beginning for the Blackhawks arrived Friday in Prague with a lot of eerie similarities experienced over the 2018-19 version of Chicago’s NHL franchise.Chicago opened the 2019-20 campaign with a 4-3 regulation loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. Alex Nylander, Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane tallied for the Hawks, who never led in the game and trailed the Flyers by two goals midway into the third period when Corey Crawford allowed his fourth and final goal against of the night on a wraparound chance he never reacted to.Seven new players suited up for the Blackhawks in the seasonopener before an arena record-setting 17,463 at the O2 Arena in Prague onFriday.Another who is sort of new, Dennis Gilbert, fillingin on an already injury-depleted Blackhawks defense corp, got off to an auspiciousstart in his season debut when an unforced turnover as Gilbert was trying toexit his own end landed on Travis Konecny’s stick. The Flyers’ forward gladlyaccepted Gilbert’s gift and fired a wrist shot from the left circle far sideand under Corey Crawford’s glove from forty feet out. It would be Crawford’sfirst ugly goal allowed of the Prague evening.By Chris BlockAhead of the first round of roster cuts expected on Friday, Blackhawks head coach Jeremy Colliton split his practice groups Thursday into squads that appear to be destined for the AHL and a group of those who are either locked into the opening night roster, or still in contention for one of those spots.Thursday’s first practice included the ‘AHL’ group. Meeting with the media later in the day, Colliton downplayed the groupings as an indicator of who is in or out of contention for the NHL roster, but it’s impossible not to draw conclusions based on these considering how short training camp is and how quickly the roster is expected to shrink to more closely resemble the eventual Opening night team.Scott Powers of The Athletic reported this group included some surprising names. Continue reading By Chris BlockBlackhawks’ fans got their first in-person view of their 2019-20 team as the preseason scene shifted to the United Center on Wednesday for the team’s third game in as many days.Brandon Hagel capitalized on a fortunate bounce early in the second period and Duncan Keith blasted what would stand as the game-winning goal later in the frame as Chicago bested the visiting Detroit Red Wings by a 2-1 score before an announced crowd of 20,523.Corey Crawford stopped 23 of 24 shots in his first action of the preseason. The 34-year old veteran, entering the final season of his six year contract, looked as sharp as he was forced to be, which wasn’t much.The Red Wings sent top forward prospects Filip Zadina and Joe Veleno in for this game along with a veteran defense group that included Mike Green, Jonathan Ericsson and former Blackhawk, Trevor Daley.  Wednesday also brought the debut of Detroit’s 2019 first-round draft pick, 6’4’ German born defenseman Moritz Seider, who was quite impressive.Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane made their preseason debuts. Continue reading By Chris BlockAfter a 4-3 preseason opening loss at Washington on Monday night, the Blackhawks jetted to Detroit on Tuesday to face off with the Red Wings at the freshly reupholstered Little Caesars Arena.Tuesday’s ultimate result was similar to the previous evening. Though the Blackhawks sent their expected second line to Detroit, they were unable to handle a ragtag roster of Red Wings for the majority of the night and fell by a score of 5-3.Robin Lehner made his preseason debut and allowed 2 goals against 17 shots in taking the first half of the game. He was replaced by Kevin Lankinen in a pre-planned switch for remainder of the game. Lankinen was pelted with shots and was the more impressive goalie of the two on this night, finishing with 19 saves and 2 goals against.Lehner was sluggish and slow to react and track pucks for much of his first taste of preseason action.Newcomer Dominik Kubalik was the biggest story on the Chicago side. Kubalik notched two goals on five shots in his Blackhawks debut. Kubalik’s power play blast in the third period tied the game at 3-3. His first tally came when Calvin Pickard gave a gift rebound off a routine save late in the second period.It was Kubalik’s release, willingness to play between the dots and eagerness to engage physically when the Red Wings were running the Blackhawks all over the opening period that made the 24-year old Czech born winger stand out.Other than Kubalik, there were few bright spots. Detroit came out early with a physical approach, running the Hawks all over the ice. Only Connor Murphy and Kubalik had much of an answer to any of that. Detroit made this Hawks group look slow and bewildered for large portions on this night. Continue reading By Chris BlockThe Blackhawks opened the preseason Monday night with a 4-3 overtime loss at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.Aleksi Saarela, Alex Nylander and Adam Boqvist notched the goals for Chicago while Collin Delia played the full game in net and stopped 25 of 29 Capitals’ shots.Nylander was mostly impressive in his first look in a Blackhawks’ sweater, adding an assist on Saarela’s re-direct tally in the opening frame.Washington dressed a group void of most of its anticipated roster, aside from Tom Wilson, who won the game with an individual effort in the three-on-three overtime.Ryan Carpenter, John Quenneville, and Anton Wedin also made their team debuts. Kris Versteeg, who is pegged for a veteran spot on the Rockford IceHogs roster, was in the lineup as well.Game rundown, in, and post-game analysis below…. Continue reading By Chris BlockWhether Chicago is just no longer a desirable destination over other franchises, or the Blackhawks had little excitement over the crop of free agents found on this July 1, Stan Bowman and company made quick work of the opening day of NHL free agency.They came away with very little.It appears the Blackhawks are no longer a player in big player free agency. Even the players who figured to be within their reach – be it Carter Hutton, Ian Cole, Michael Grabner, Tobias Rieder, Tomas Plekanec, Greg Pateryn or Winnetka native John Moore they all went elsewhere for relatively little money. Some, likely, got longer term than the Hawks would have been comfortable handing out.The Hawks did manage a depth forward and defense signing on Sunday, but not names you heard rumored to them anywhere, or that fans were pining for leading up to UFA frenzy day.And because the Blackhawks decision-makers have found it difficult to move Artem Anisimov’s $4.55M cap hit (through 2021), the next tier of unrestricted players were going to be out of Bowman’s bidding range.James van Riemsdyk (Philadelphia, 5yrs $7M cap hit), Paul Stastny (Vegas, 3yrs $6.5M cap) and Tyler Bozak (St. Louis, 3yrs $5.0M cap) were all quickly swooped up once the market opened.  Continue reading By Chris BlockWelcome to this not exactly live, live blog of the first round of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft.My intention was to do this live but I wound up watching this almost entirely on a little delay.The Blackhawks come into this draft on Friday night with the 8th and 27th selections.The 8th is their own, while the latter came to them from the Nashville Predators in the February trade that sent Ryan Hartman to Nashville. The Hawks also got Victor Ejdsell in that exchange. Ejdsell had an encouraging run in the AHL playoffs with Rockford. He was impressive when he had the puck. Ejdsell has a great shot.  If he has the puck with time and space he is dangerous. He needs that space though to be effective for the most part. His skating is okay for getting up and down the ice but its below average overall. It’ll be interesting to see him in training camp and if or how much that’s improved.I came in at the very end of it, but the broadcast began with Gary Bettman giving the Humboldt Broncos the E.J. McGuire Award of Excellence.Bettman is now at the podium doing an introduction speech. The audience at American Airlines Center in Dallas does not like him and is letting him hear it. You should probably know by now that Bettman loves this. Boo him. He’s filthy rich and you’re not.As soon as Bettman made his first mention of the City of Dallas, the crowd cheered. You know, because hockey fans are people of unwavering principles…. Bettman egged them on some more. He wraps up with announcing that Buffalo is on the clock with the 1st pick.1st overall – Buffalo Sables – D-Rasmus Dahlin [Frolunda Indians – SHL]Kim Pegula is up to the podium first. She’s attractive so the crowd is whistling and cheering for her. She thanks the league and the Dallas organization before handing off to Sabres’ GM Jason Botterill for the inevitable announcement of Dahlin becoming a Sabre. Continue reading By Chris BlockOn Friday, the Rockford IceHogs released names of the 11 opponents they’ll face-off with during the 2018-19 American Hockey League regular season.Rockford’s home schedule will open on Saturday October 13th.  The opponent for that game will become known when the AHL releases its full schedule next month.  Teams began building their schedules months ago. However, the AHL takes a little longer to finalize its trek, mostly due to its franchises that share buildings with major professional teams; Cleveland (NBA), Manitoba (NHL), San Antonio (NBA) and San Jose (NHL).The IceHogs will begin their season on the road. Rockford’s past two seasons began with games in Cleveland.The 2018-19 AHL campaign will start on Friday October 5th.Per information shared from May’s AHL Board of Governor’s meeting in Chicago, the Pacific Division will continue to play a 68-game schedule for 2018-19, while the rest of the league skate a full 76-game schedule. Continue reading Photo by Alec Reicher, Courtesy of Rockford IceHogsBy Chris BlockHaving accomplished what no other IceHogs team in the 11-year AHL franchise history had done before, get past two rounds in a postseason, Rockford is set to face the Texas Stars for the Western Conference championship.The IceHogs have done so with a power play that has scored 15 times in 7 games and rookie Collin Delia, whose stingy play in goal may be the surprise of the postseason.Rockford’s power play ranks far above any team in these playoffs, at 37.5% efficiency. Their penalty kill has been equally dominant, killing of 26 of 28 chances (92.9%).That special teams play has led the IceHogs to a 7-0 postseason record. Rockford has outscored opponents 29-13. They’ve been aided, no question, by a power play differential of +12 (40-28) over the seven games.Rockford and Texas met four times during the regular season with the IceHogs going 3-1-0-0 in those matchups. Matt Tomkins was in net for the only loss, a 4-3 defeat on April 7 in Austin, Texas.Texas will be Rockford’s toughest test so far, having eliminated the Ontario Reign in the first round and Tucson Roadrunners in the Pacific Division Final.The Rockford-Texas series begins on Friday night in Austin. Game 2 is Sunday at 5pm in Texas as well. The setting will then shift up to Rockford for Games 3 through 5 beginning Tuesday May 22nd at the BMO Harris Bank Center. Game 4 is Thursday and Game 5, if necessary, is next Friday May 25th. A full series schedule is listed below.The Stars have a great mix of young and veteran forwards. They’re quick and have several players who have already won an AHL Championship in their careers. Continue reading

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