Today opens Chicago Blackhawks training camp at the MB Ice Arena in Chicago. Yes, real hockey is almost here. The Blackhawks open camp with a plethora of questions to answer ahead of the 2018-19 season. Earlier this week, the organization released their training camp rosters, including 31 forwards, 20 defensemen, and 7 goalies with the late addition of a player with the best name in camp, Shaw Boomhower, to the roster for a total of 58 invitees. Of those invitees, there are more than 30 who could play in a Rockford IceHogs sweater this season, but who will they be?
Who Will Be IceHogs, Who Will Be Blackhawks?
Below you can find the full list of the Blackhawks training camp roster, excluding Boomhower:
Of note for the training camp roster, there are a large number of players that can factor into the regular lineup for the Rockford IceHogs in the AHL. While every player in camp is going in to try to play their way in to the Blackhawks roster, there are only so many spots open. A few will be filled by players from the IceHogs roster last season, and some who will have the opportunity to jump right into the NHL.
There are 33 players that fit the bill as potential Rockford IceHogs players for the 2018-19 season, but where do they really fit into the organization?
Forwards Present Few Top-Level NHL Options
The most spots to fill for the Blackhawks come up front in the forwards group. With the loss of Marian Hossa still trying to be reconciled, the Vince Hinostroza and Ryan Hartman trades happening over the course of the last few months, regular NHL spots are open for competition in training camp.
Dylan Sikura of the Chicago Blackhawks at the Traverse City Rookie Tournament. (Courtesy: Rockford IceHogs)
Players like David Kampf, Victor Ejdsell, and Dylan Sikura have been key figures that the Blackhawks organization have looked at to fill those open roster spots. During the Traverse City Rookie Tournament, Sikura and Ejdsell stood out for the Blackhawks as the drivers of the offense for the rookie forwards group. Both made their NHL debuts last season and in small sample sizes, look ready to be regulars in the NHL this season. Kampf also made his NHL debuts last season, playing 46 games and tallying 11 points.
Along with those three players, another forward figures to be in the mix to fill-out a porous bottom six lineup in Chicago with John Hayden being ready to make the jump to full-time NHL player. Hayden has bounced between the NHL and AHL in the two years and change he has been with the organization. He jumped into the lineup in Spring 2017 after four productive years at Yale, but couldn’t find the regular spot many thought he would have last season.
Hayden ended up playing 47 games for the Blackhawks and 24 for the IceHogs, including all 13 Calder Cup Playoff games for Rockford. One would expect Hayden to have a bottom six roster spot out of camp in Chicago after the development he showed late last season in the AHL.
- NHL Caliber (4)
- NHL/AHL Fence (4)
Victor Ejdsell of the Chicago Blackhawks at the Traverse City Rookie Tournament. (Courtesy: Rockford IceHogs)
- AHL Top Six (5)
- AHL Forward (6)
Dominik Kahun of the Chicago Blackhawks at the Traverse City Rookie Tournament. (Courtesy: Rockford IceHogs)
Players more on the fence between the NHL and AHL include Blackhawks-maybes like Dominik Kahun and Matthew Highmore. Kahun, a free agent signing out of Germany, is thought highly of by the organization ever since his breakout performance at the 2018 Winter Olympics. While there has been a report that he would return to Germany if he did not make the Blackhawks roster out of training camp, many feel that he will be in the mix for the NHL lineup in a top-nine forward spot.
Highmore could very well be the Hinostroza of last season. A bottom-six ready forward, who was the odd-man out to begin the season. Highmore showed flashes of being a reliable NHL forward in a small sample size lat last season. He led the IceHogs in goals as a rookie last season and could begin the season in Rockford but be a mid-season call up for Chicago.
UPDATE:
#Blackhawks say forward Jordan Maletta will not attend training camp. Roster is back at 57 players.
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) September 14, 2018
The IceHogs forward group will then return top players like Anthony Louis, who led the team in points last season, Tyler Sikura, Luke Johnson, and Jordan Schroeder. Add in Alexandre Fortin as a key player as well. After a season slowed by injuries last year, Fortin again is looking like one of the players to be in the mix for a spot with the Blackhawks. But he is buried behind other players who have shown more in regular season and playoff games than he has since last training camp. Fortin should be a leader in Rockford and could translate to an NHL call-up later this year as well.
Defense Loaded With Potential
The Blackhawks blue-line is stacked with potential. The 2018-19 group will hopefully be a forgotten memory once the defensive group of Henri Jokiharju, Adam Boqvist, Nicolas Beaudin, and Ian Mitchell are running the show in the next two or three years. Until then, the defensive group for Chicago is some sort of 6th-7th defenseman log-jam that will be hard for the young talent at training camp to crack. With Gustav Forsling recovering from surgery and expected to miss the first month of the regular season, there’s really only one player who is a legitimate candidate to make a full-time NHL jump.
Henri Jokiharju has a lot of pressure on his young shoulders to be great for Chicago. The organizations defense has been one of its strong-points over that last decade, but has stalled over the past three years since Duncan Keith’s magic in late 2015. Jokiharju may not make the jump and end up in Rockford, which could be better for the young blue-liners development, but some want him rushed into the lineup right away. If he blows everyone away in training camp, Jokiharju could be in the regular defensive lineup to begin the year, but only if.
UPDATE:
#Blackhawks announce Connor Murphy will be out eight weeks with a back injury and Brent Seabrook will be out one week with an abdominal injury.
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) September 14, 2018
This also helps Jokiharju’s case to make the NHL roster for Day one.
Henri Jokiharju of the Chicago Blackhawks at the Traverse City Rookie Tournament. (Courtesy: Rockford IceHogs)
With Connor Murphy going through a surgery recovery as well, the blue-line doors are opening for the Blackhawks. Outside of Jokiharju, players like Carl Dahlstrom and Blake Hillman, who both made their NHL debuts late last season, could be in the mix to make a jump to the regular NHL roster. If Chicago is comfortable with their rotation, expect Dahlstrom to lead the group in Rockford this season on defense.
- NHL Caliber (2)
- NHL/AHL Fence (2)
Joni Tuulola of the Chicago Blackhawks at the Traverse City Rookie Tournament. (Courtesy: Rockford IceHogs)
- AHL Defenseman (6)
Adding in a veteran presence like Andrew Campbell helps the experience-level of the IceHogs defensive group, but players like Hillman, Dennis Gilbert, and Joni Tuulola will be making their full professional debuts this year and should factor in to large amount of ice-time. Add in Lucas Carlsson making his North American debut and second-year players like Darren Raddysh and Luc Snuggerud and the IceHogs blue-line will experience the same style of log-jam that the Blackhawks will experience. But as IceHogs head coach Jeremy Colliton has expressed, it is a welcomed problem.
Goalies Facing Biggest Questions
So, this is a great way to open up Blackhawks training camp after the roller coaster that the last nine months have been for Chicago, as it pertains to the goaltender position:
Crawford taking shots pic.twitter.com/yMIlRk3D9B
— Scott Powers (@ByScottPowers) September 14, 2018
More good things:
Corey Crawford working on drills: pic.twitter.com/IFYgteIo3V
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) September 14, 2018
This is good, too:
Corey Crawford: pic.twitter.com/qThNOOGl51
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) September 14, 2018
Having Corey Crawford back on the ice and working drills at Blackhawks training camp is a fantastic sight. A healthy Crawford is the backbone to the team.
But, these are BABY STEPS. Crawford is not practicing with the team currently and we are to believe this is the first time he is stepping back on the ice in nearly nine months. It would be surprising to see Crawford open the season as Chicago’s starting goalie.
That being said, Cam Ward still looks to be the defacto starter with the possibility that Anton Forsberg or Collin Delia will be the backup to begin the year. Forsberg was brought in to do just that last season and he did not do a great job as a fill-in starter for the injured Crawford. He is not an NHL starter though, and to be called upon to play that role was a bit much. Forsberg will have to be dethroned, though, to truly lose his spot in the goaltending rotation heading into camp.
Forsberg is a good NHL backup or a great AHL starter option, while his counterpart in camp, Collin Delia is a more unknown commodity at the NHL level.
Collin Delia of the Rockford IceHogs. (Courtesy: Texas Stars)
Delia had a great game against the Winnipeg Jets late in the season, coming in just before the game started after Forsberg injured himself during the pregame, only to fall to the injury bug himself and have his performance in net overshadowed by an accountant, turned one-time NHL goalie named Scott Foster. Delia’s best moments came during the second half of the AHL season with the IceHogs, helping propel Rockford into the Calder Cup Playoffs and back-stop two series sweeps before losing in the Western Conference Finals.
- NHL Caliber (0)
- …
- NHL/AHL Fence (2)
- AHL Goaltender (2)
Delia will more than likely start the season as they IceHogs starter with either Kevin Lankinen or Matt Tomkins behind him, but it is a real possibility that he could out-play Forsberg in camp and make the jump to NHL backup to start the year.
What’s Next?
A whole lot of “maybes” and “what ifs” are next, thus is the nature of an NHL training camp for a team that missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in a decade.
Below is the full schedule for camp, which is open to the public at the MB Ice Arena (except for preseason game days):
Welcome to the 2018-19 Hockey Season. Be prepared to strap in.