The Rockford IceHogs are in a bit of a dry-spell when it comes to offensive production. Over their last three games, the IceHogs have only scored three goals, once each game, and have failed to gain any points in the standings. While roster turnover and injuries are inevitable, such is life in the AHL, the current state of the IceHogs roster could be contributing to their current skid.
Rockford IceHogs Roster Turnover Taking Its Toll?
One reason that the IceHogs are having trouble getting the most out of their offensive chances could be attributed to the changes in coaching staff and roster recently. Since the beginning of November, Rockford has seen former head coach Jeremy Colliton leave to become the Chicago Blackhawks head coach and assistant coach Derek King take the interim reigns as head coach. While King has been with the team for some time, the change at the top can bring its struggles early on in the transition.
Along with a coaching change, the IceHogs have been bit by the injury bug early on this season. Jordan Schroeder missed a decent chunk of games, just returning this past weekend. Tyler Sikura, another key point-producer for Rockford, has missed that last four games with an undisclosed illness. The most damaging injury loss for the IceHogs came this last week when Matthew Highmore underwent shoulder surgery and was ruled out for the next four-to-six months of action.
With the slew of injuries hitting the IceHogs, a number of AHL-maybes have been brought in to the roster to try to spark something offensively on their own, or jump-start the current roster players. Players like Justin Auger, Hunter Fejes, Nick Moutrey, and Brett Welychka have been brought to Rockford to try to push the competition internally for head coach Derek King. From those four players, a combined 20 games have been played and it’s only Auger who has any points (2 goals).
With the newly added players not jumping up the charts offensively, the IceHogs are forced to rely on their top-tier players to drive offense. Dylan Sikura leads Rockford in scoring this season with 13 points in 18 games played. Defenseman Darren Raddysh is second in scoring with 12 points, while Anthony Louis and Victor Ejdsell are tied with 10 points each for third on the team in scoring.
While all four of those players are doing their part in leading the team in point-production, they all combined for just three assists over the weekend. Rockford’s three goals over the last three games coming from Carl Dahlstrom, Jacob Nilsson, and Jordan Schroeder. If the IceHogs are going to snap their current three-game skid, the top-tier players are going to have to be the ones to drive the offense.
“Power”Play
The Rockford IceHogs recent offensive struggles mirror their current issue on the powerplay. Over the current three-game skid, the IceHogs have gone just 1-for-14 on the man-advantage with the lone powerplay goal coming from Dahlstrom against the San Antonio Rampage on Saturday night. Over the last six games, the IceHogs are just 3-for-29 (10.3%) on the powerplay and have seen their powerplay unit fall into the bottom-third of the AHL ranks.
Although the penalty-kill has been a bright spot for Rockford this season, ranking 4th in the AHL (86.1%), the powerplay has faded into 22nd in the league (15.1%) with the third-highest amount of powerplay chances (86).
While the struggles offensively are hurting the IceHogs, the goaltending behind Rockford has done all it can. In the recent absence of Anton Forsberg due to a non-injury issue, Collin Delia and Kevin Lankinen have done all they have been asked over the last handful of games. In the last three games, all getting just one goal of insurance, Delia has made 67 saves on 74 shots faced (0.905 Save%) and Lankinen made 19 saves on 21 shots against the San Antonio Rampage. Delia ranks inside the top-10 of all AHL goalies for both GAA (2.61) and Save-percentage (0.927) this season.
What’s Next?
The IceHogs finish a season-long six-game road trip on Tuesday night as they take on the San Antonio Rampage. Puck drop in San Antonio is set for 7:00 pm CT at the AT&T Center. Following a return home for the American Thanksgiving holiday, the IceHogs will tackle a three games in three days set of action starting on Friday, Nov. 23 against the Chicago Wolves.
Rockford will host the Wolves on Friday at 7:00 pm CT at the BMO Harris Bank Center on the team’s first ever Hockey Fights Cancer night. Following Friday’s home contest, the IceHogs travel to Milwaukee to take on the Admirals and finish the weekend in Rosemont against the Wolves once again.