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Trickling Down Into Some Tragic Casual Corner – Free Agency Shopping List: The Rest

By Sam Fels 1851 0

Now that Cam Ward is officially here, and we can all dry heave at the thought of him having to start when it turns out Corey Crawford was buried in the Meadowlands endzone all along. $2.5M is an overpay, possibly a massive one, for a goalie that just may be like the octopus who plays the drums. While we may put all of our hope in not playing behind Carolina can cure him of something to some measure, it’s hard to see how the Hawks are going to be a better defensive unit that Carolina was. The Hawks xGA/60 was 2.54 per 60 at evens last year. The Canes was 2.29. That’s 25th vs. 9th. So this whole “Carolina is terrible on goalies” might actually be a load of horseshit and Ward and Darling just might blow the very biggest chunks you’ve ever seen. Now, the fact that both Darling and Ward had some of the biggest differences in their actual SV% and xSV% might indicate something was rotten in Carolina, but still…I’m not going into this with any confidence.

Anyway, let’s run through some other names out there just in case that comes up:

Mike Green – Old and hurt, and he actually wasn’t even that good in Detroit when you look at the metrics. If he’s real cheap maybe… and also if you could put him in a time machine to four years ago.

Tomas Plekanec – He’s dead, just no one’s told him yet.

Toby Enstrom – See Green, Mike. Better metrics, but also old and hurt a lot. Again, if real cheap could be a bargain, but the Hawks need more on the puck-moving side than “good ol’ rock” side.

Valterri Filppula – Please no, especially because after 11 years doing this spelling his name is a like a prostate exam.

James Neal – Expensive, and solves basically none of the Hawks major problems.

Jason Garrison – If this happens I’m going to throw myself into the river and Matt’s going to have to find a new home of PJ.

David Perron – You’re not funny.

So basically the free agency class sucks deep pond scum, and at this point I’m not sure the Hawks are going to do much more than sign Ward. They’re clearly trying to wait out the Canes on Faulk, but nothing is going to move on that front until Erik Karlsson is moved, because a smart team (and there’s no guarantee the Canes are anywhere close to that), is going to go to any team that loses out on Karlsson and offer them the poor man’s version. Which might drive up the price higher than the Hawks want to go.

Look what I’m saying is it might not be the most active of Sundays for the local hockey club, that’s all.

 

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Trickling Down Into Some Tragic Casual Corner – Free Agency Shopping List: Jonathan Bernier

By Sam Fels 1669 0

Now that we’ve had our say on what the Hawks are going to do at goalie, and hence making this post somewhat moot, let’s explore the options we’ll be bitching about when Cam Ward is throwing up odd colors in the United Center crease as the Wild traipse off with yet another undeserved 3-1 win in December.

I’m always about taking on a goalie that Toronto threw out with the bathwater, because nothing entertains me like watching Leafs fans tie themselves into an origami crane over players who leave and they then claim they always liked. James Reimer has been perfectly serviceable in Florida splitting starts with Roberto Luongo, but hey, I’m here for more Freddie Andersen Game 7 meltdowns.

Which brings us to Bernier, who was drummed out of Toronto for Andersen and has spent the past two years backing up either John Gibson in Anaheim or Semyon Varlamov in Colorado. Thanks to both being ouchy, he’s had to make over 30 starts in each of the past two seasons.

And his even-strength SV% in those two years is .923 and .924. Now, doesn’t that look a whole lot better than Cam Ward? He’s even been decent enough on the PK, with SV%s of .892 and .886 the past two seasons. He’s just been comically bad when facing short-handed chances, which is basically noise and due to systems or whatever. It’s not make-or-break.

Bernier isn’t the biggest at 6-0, 184, and we know the Hawks prefer their goalies to be bigger. Hell, pretty much everyone does. But that hasn’t stopped him from being a decent NHL goalie, and the Hawks need “representative” behind, and possibly next to, Crawford.

Bernier may want a chance to start somewhere, but at 30 when the season starts and doing this role for the past two years, the die may have been cast. There aren’t that many starters jobs open either. Vancouver? Do you want to go there? If you want to eat shit in Ottawa for 80 games that’s probably available to you. The Islanders are one. St. Louis might be another. With Crawford’s status a complete mystery, the Hawks would probably be in that second-tier of teams for a goalie where there’s a good chance they might need you for 30-40 games instead of a backup’s normal 20-30.

The one problem is Bernier’s high-danger SV% is not good, basically .778 the past three seasons. And we know the Hawks are going to give up more than their fair share of high-danger chances. For comparison, Ward was at .804 last year, Hutton .787, and Lehner at .778. Basically, what separates starters from backups is how they do on these. The Hawks aren’t going to find another Crawford, and Bernier is about what you can do.

He’ll be more expensive than the $1M Ward is reportedly going to get. He made $2.7M last year, but coming off two years as a non-starter and not really looking like one in waiting, he can’t really expect to get much more. The extra $1.5M would buy the Hawks a lot more security than Ward would. But they’ve apparently made up their mind.

And now we can stop wasting our time.

Everything Else

So You’ve Decided To Sign Cam Ward…Because You’re Blind…Or Dumb…Or Both

By Sam Fels 3256 0

When you’ve got Jay Zawaski, Elliote Friedman, and Bob McKenzie all saying that the Hawks are going to move for Cam Ward come Sunday, you have to take it as pretty much gospel. Congratulations, Sweet Jay. You’re among the big boys now. We always knew, don’t forget us when you’re chilling in the hotel bar at the GM Meetings one day with Ken Campbell, Jim Matheson, and whatever other blowhard you can’t escape. We knew you when.

So now it’s up to us to figure out…why?

No, seriously, I’m at a loss on this one. Anything the Hawks do at the goalie spot is a comment on what they actually think Corey Crawford’s status is. Seeing as how they’ve been rumored to be after a “tweener” for a while–that is, a goalie who can easily be shuffled to backup but can step in for a time as starter if Crawford is not ready–our suspicions that they have no idea if Crow will play at all or when.

The idea of Darling was weird, because as nothing more than a 1B, he is awfully expensive. If Crow returned, you’d have $10 million tied up in your crease. Ward at least will be very cheap, seemingly coming in at $1M. Which is basically nothing.

Which is good, because Cam Ward is nothing.

It has been four seasons since Ward managed a SV% over .910, and it was just .910. It has been seven seasons since Ward managed a SV% that was above league-average. It has been seven seasons since he managed an even-strength SV% over .920. There quite simply is no other way to phrase it…Cam Ward is terrible. He sucks. He’s bad. He’s pungent. He’s odorous. He is acrid. He is fetid. Shoddy. Inexpert. You want me to keep going? Because I can, I just worry about what it would do to you.

So let’s squint real hard and see if we can’t identify what the thinking would be. There is a theory that Carolina is just a bad place for goalies. That despite the ridiculously talented blue line, and it was, Bill Peters played a system that exposed his goalies. There is some validity to that. We saw Scott Darling be more than competent here. At times really good. He couldn’t stop a discarded hot dog wrapper last year. Eddie Lack sauntered into Carolina after a .921 season in Vancouver. He basically looked like the Terminator when frozen for the rest of his career. We’ve been over Cam Ward. Maybe there’s just something rotten in the water in Raleigh for goalies. It’s possible.

So the argument is that there’s something here that can turn him around. Jimmy Waite was Darling’s coach, and that went well. Corey Crawford became one of the league’s best under him. So while he’s only been around four years, you could argue–if you really, really wanted to–that he has a chance to be something of a whisperer and can rouse something out of a project. Look, I’m really having to wheel pose to make that case for you, but it’s there.

The Hawks might also think that behind their team and their system, it would be better for Ward. This, unlike the first theory, is patently false. The Hawks were one of the worst defensive teams in the league last year, and once Crawford wasn’t going Copperfield/Houdini/Penn & Teller every night you saw just how bad. However they’re deployed, the Canes defense is miles better than whatever the Hawks are going to throw out there. And the Hawks, to maximize what they have and might will have at forward, are not going to change to a conservative approach. In fact, they might have to go even more Hell or High Water. They will need their goalie to make saves, and big ones. The last time Ward did that there was a Daley in power. Or at least officially.

Maybe the Hawks really do know that Crawford is going to be healthy, and they’re not full of shit. And maybe Ward transitions well into a backup role, sending him out there against weaker opposition and only once a week. Maybe he can do that. He certainly wouldn’t be the first former starter to then do well in a backup role in the second half of his career. And really, if you can get your backup to .915, if your starter is healthy and starring, you can live with that.

Go back through this and count the maybes, though. There’s far too many to be comfortable. The only surefire positive is that he’s so cheap, it allows the Hawks to do other things in free agency or take more money in a trade, whatever that might be.

If Crow is healthy, Ward won’t torpedo the team. If Crow is not…

Everything Else

Trickling Down Into Some Tragic Casual Corner – Free Agency Shopping List: Tyler Bozak (wait, what?)

By Sam Fels 1820 0

I can’t believe I’m about to write any of this.

Tyler Bozak used to be a joke in the NHL. That’s probably giving him the best of it. He was among the best pieces of satire and a huge piece of evidence of what was wrong with the Leafs, the league, and quite possibly the world itself. This is back when the Leafs were using Bozak as a #1 center and he held onto it by basically being Phil Kessel’s buddy, whom everyone hated anyway. So naturally, the knives, pitchforks, torches, and trained badgers were all out for Bozak for years in Toronto and he didn’t even sell the hot dogs. He was basically blamed for all he wasn’t, which was all the #1 centers Leafs fans just assumed would come traipsing into Toronto because no one would ever want to play anywhere else, of course. Leafs fans have never gotten around the truth that most every player would rather gnaw their own balls off instead of ply their trade in front of that baying horde of fuckwits who will curse out the player’s ancestors the minute they turn the puck over in a preseason game against Ottawa.

BUT THAT’S NOT WHY YOU CALLED.

Anyway, Mike Babcock arrived and after exclaiming, “Just what the fuck have they been doing with this guy?!” got Bozak some proper usage. And then Auston Matthews arrived, slotting Bozak perfectly behind him and checking center Kadri. And lo and behold, for about three seasons now, Bozak has been a really effective player.

On Toronto’s third line for the past two seasons, Bozak has paired with JVR to form a pretty in-your-face weapon. Bozak piled up 55 points two seasons ago, dropped to 43 this year which can almost be solely attributed to his SH% cratering from 12.1% in ’16-’17 to just 7.1% last year. Bozak is a career 13.8% shooter, so even the mark from two years ago is low. All that considered, you can basically bank on Bozak giving you around 18 goals and around 35 assists and that’s a 50-point player and yeah, you take that below your #1 center.

Metrically, Bozak has been kick-ass for three seasons as well. Since Babs showed up and quickly declared him not a #1 center, Bozak had a +4.5% Corsi-relative last year, +1.4% the year before that, and +3.8 the year before that. But this is where the caveats come running in from behind the stove, waving their arms in protest.

There’s no point in signing Bozak unless you’re going to try and mimic the usage he’s had lately at the ACC. Bozak and JVR have started a majority of their shifts the past two years in the offensive zone. When Bozak has been asked to start more shifts in his own end than the other, it has not gone well, save for the Season-In-A-Can of 2013 where basically nothing made sense and God took his leave of all of us (I mean, I was even happy then). Granted, those were worse Leafs teams than these current ones, but it’s best to view Bozak as an offensive weapon and not much else.

Which makes him a tough fit here, even if you could make the money work (we’ll get to that) and pair him with his running buddy JVR. Because those “hammock” shifts have to go to Nick Schmaltz, who weighs 89 pounds. You can’t ask Schmaltz to start more in his own end to accommodate Bozak, because that’s going to devolve into recess time at that hippie preschool down the street. And if you’re going to consign Toews and whoever’s with him to the dungeon all season, you’re probably not going to get first line production out of that unit. Again.

Still, if you could only slightly tilt Bozak’s zone-starts and assignments toward the harder and slightly farther from the other goal, you can probably get away with it. It would be a delicate balance.

The problem is what he’s going to cost, and this is the same problem a team would have with Paul Stastny. Whatever team doesn’t get Tavares is going to feel a need to sign any center to make themselves feel better as they hug their John Tavares-adorned pillows at night. He seems gone out of Toronto, but you could easily see San Jose or Dallas wanting to slot him behind Thornton or Seguin or another team behind whoever else. Which means he’s probably getting more than the $4.2M he just had in Toronto.

Trying to find comps are hard. Kadri’s $4.5M would almost certainly barely be a starting point. He could easily make a case for Derek Stepan’s $6.5M, which is right out. Kyle Turris just signed for $6.0M per year, and honestly his numbers aren’t that much better than Bozak’s (which makes it all the more funny). If there’s any kind of competition for his services, $5.5M seems like the low end and somewhere north of $6.0 seems possible.

If the Hawks could get him between $5-5.5, I’d be inclined to give in a whirl, along with shipping out Anisimov’s bloated ass to the first port that’ll have him. Also, Bozak wins a ton of faceoffs which makes Q’s mustache flutter even if it isn’t that important, and Bozak is more mobile than Arty. You get a shooting spike with him and you’ll get the same 20 goals that you would from Arty, with far better playmaking. Yeah, the Schmaltz-Bozak Usage Conundrum (St. Vincent’s next album) is a concern, but isn’t that why Quenneville is the richest coach in the league?

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Trickling Down Into Some Tragic Casual Corner – Free Agency Shopping List: Thomas Hickey

By Sam Fels 2183 0

If you came here looking for names that are gonna set your soul on fire, I’m afraid I can’t help you all that much. It’s the story of my life. As we inch toward Canada Day and the opening of free agency, the longer the Hawks go without making any sort of move the more you’re convinced that they’re not going to do something considered “major.” That doesn’t mean they can’t get better, it just means your friends at work who don’t really know much about hockey are going to ask what’s going on. You won’t enjoy it. This is why I don’t have a job.

Thomas Hickey is a name that won’t go up in neon, nor cause anyone to shake their hands muppet-style at the Convention. But he just might be a help.

Hickey’s numbers over his career aren’t earth-shattering. His 25 points last year are a career-high, and he’s never really been a top-pairing guy. His metrics aren’t groin-grabbing either, until you look a little deeper.

Hickey carried a possession mark above the team rate, though only just barely at 0.4%. However, he and rookie Adam Pelech, when healthy, were taking the most defensive zone starts of anyone on the Isles. Doug Weight didn’t necessarily deploy his defense according to competition but more by zone, as all the six d-men mostly used by the Islanders have the same quality of competition. Perhaps this is why the Isles had their issues on the defensive end. Well, that and they got all the goaltending they might have out of a rodeo clown down and out in Brooklyn. Because how else would a rodeo clown end up there?

So considering he was starting in his own zone more than half the time, Hickey got the play to the other end more than his teammates a lot.

On the downside, Hickey has rarely gotten any power play time, if any at all. So he’s not going to take over either PP QB spot, which the Hawks desperately need. He is lefty and plays the left side, so you’d only be able to pair him with Connor Murphy, and not Duncan Keith unless one of them flips. And as Keith has never flipped sides in his 13 years here, you can guess which one.

Still, if he wasn’t the only move Hickey could certainly help, and he shouldn’t be that expensive. He’s coming off a deal that paid $3.1M a year, and with a 25-point season to his name he’s not going to get more than that. If you were to have him be one of two additions on the blue line, you’d live with that. Say the Hawks did acquire Faulk and went something like:

Keith-Faulk

Hickey-Murphy

Gustafsson/Jokiharju/Some Doofus-Seabrook

Well, you could live with that. On its own a Hickey signing isn’t enough. Along with others it might be a sneaky effective one.

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Trickling Down Into Some Tragic Casual Corner – Free Agency Shopping List: James van Riemsdyk

By Sam Fels 2150 0

If the rumors are true and not only has Artem Anisimov been asked to submit the list of 10 teams he will accept a trade to, but the Hawks are able and inclined to act on it, we know their coach, vociferous fans, media, and maybe some woodland creatures are going to stamp their feet, wave their arms, and declare loudly, “But who I say, what squire will we find to play the part of ‘Annette Frontpresence’? Wherever shall we locate such a burly fellow to blot out the sun, entrench himself in the depths of the slot, and rabble-rouse our worthy and formidable foes?! WHERE I SAY?! ANSWER ME HEATHENS!!!”

Yes, that’s exactly what they’ll say.

Well fear not, members of the court. There is a solution out there. And we know the Hawks love anyone named “van Riemdsyk.” The only fear is that Q will think it’s Trevor again and play him on defense, and way too much. Hell, this was the same team and fanbase that thought Trevor Daley was the same thing as Johnny Oduya because they were both black, remember.

You don’t have to do much to sell JVR to anyone. 65 goals the past two seasons, when the Leafs were finally worth a shit. He’s scored at a 25+ goal pace for six seasons now, though three seasons ago only played 40 games due to injury. If it’s metrics you want, and I know that you do, he was an absolutely dominant possession player last year in T.O, with a +7.4 relative Corsi on a Mike Babcock team, which is not easy to do. That was his second +7% or better relative-Corsi season in the past three.

The caveat here is that he did that while playing with Tyler Bozak and Connor Brown, which basically was the Leafs third line. Which meant cherry zone-starts, as Nazem Kadri and his non-stop yap were used as a checking line. JVR started 62% of his shifts start in the offensive zone, after 57% the year before. It also meant that JVR saw some of the easier competition among Leafs forwards, though not the easiest.

Another one is that JVR’s goal-total this season was “inflated” by 11 power play goals, though it’s not like those count for less. The Leafs’ power play worked a lot better than the Hawks, but you’d like to think with the right defensive signing/trade the Hawks’ PP could unfuck itself. But then again we’ve thought that a lot and we’re up to a decade of Duncan Keith shots into shinpads and Patrick Kane doing a James Harden impression for the truly deranged. JVR’s 14.5 SH% was a career-high, and you’re right to be somewhat leery of that, but it’s not wholly out of line with his career 11.5%. If he had managed only the latter number last year that still would have meant 28 goals, and the Hawks could use 28 goals (Yale could use an international airport…).

You can see sticking JVR on the left side of Kane and Schmaltz, having him clear some space for their speed and handling, and banging home loose change and rebounds until his heart’s content. You could see him as a Saad replacement if Saad has to be dealt for Justin Faulk or something similar. The appeal is quite obvious.

So the question becomes cost. Well, it just so happens another winger with a big man’s game went on the market last year after a SH%-spiked career season, and his name was Timothy Jimothy. He got $5.75 million for forever, and he was one year older than JVR is now at the time. Now, you and I may blech at giving JVR seven or eight years until he’s 36 or 37. But as we’ve discussed many, many times, that might not really matter to Stan Bowman because the likelihood of him still being GM then is nearly nil (not Jim Nill). If he were still here in eight years that would be a 17-year stretch as GM, which is basically unheard of. Either the Hawks suck again and he’s out on his ass, or they spasm one or two more good seasons out of this group before returning to the depths and he’s fired then. So if JVR has been identified as a “must have,” then the Hawks are going to toss whatever years at him and not even worry about it because hey, that’ll be someone else’s problem and dumping it off on someone else is the American dream.

So really, JVR shouldn’t come in at anything more than $6 million, though he’s probably asking for $7M and maybe some team is dumb enough to give it to him If he can be had for somewhere between $5-$6M, you probably pull the trigger. A top six of Top Cat-Toews-Saad and then JVR-Schmalt-Kane looks pretty tasty from where where I’m standing.

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Trickling Down Into Some Tragic Casual Corner – Free Agency Shopping List: Calvin de Haan

By Sam Fels 1927 0

As we continue to take a tour of the NHL’s free agency market, we come to a d-man that has been rumored to be high among the Hawks’ wishlist. He’s also one that’s not going to get the pulse racing for any fans, and that just might be why he’s on the Hawks’ radar.

Short of trading for Justin Faulk or Erik Karlsson, the Hawks aren’t going to be able to find a top pairing d-man. Which means they can’t fashion a typical top pairing. Which doesn’t sound great, and it isn’t. But that doesn’t mean it has to be fatal. The Hawks might be better readjusting their sights to raising the floor of the blue line instead of the ceiling. The Caps just won a Cup with two pairs at the top that were basically the same. So while the Hawks might not have a your normal #1 and #2, maybe they can figure out three second pairings or something like it.

Nothing stands out about de Haan, other than he’s got some funky capitalization. He’s got decent size at 6-1, 198, but isn’t a plodding bruiser. For that size, he’s a plus skater though that doesn’t translate into dynamic offensive play. He probably would infuriate some in the Hawks’ front office by not playing to that size, but his skating ability and good eye for a first pass diffuses a lot of that. He’s not going to jump in the play and blast home slappers on the break, but he can spring the team the other way.

There also might be some diamond-in-the-rough possibility here. Last year, de Haan only played 33 games last year, and spent most of his season with Adam Pelech. Pelech is all kinds of promising but had some growing pains, and they were both playing under Doug Weight whose defensive system would be politely described as “anarchy if it was even that existent. Two years ago de Haan had to drag around the corpse of Denis Seidenberg for a whole season. If you go back three seasons when he was paired with a still useful Travis Hamonic, he was a pretty useful player taking on top assignments for a playoff team. He wasn’t dominant possession-wise but ahead of the team-rate with the hardest assignments. It’s been a while, but it’s still there.

de Haan is only 27, so he’s not out of his prime yet. As for cost, he made $3.3M against the cap last year, and coming off an injury-ravaged season he might be hard-pressed to get more than that. There’s also plenty of other mid-range defensive options for teams, which also might keep his price down, like Toby Enstrom, Mike Green, Jack Johnson, John Moore, and others. He’s certainly not getting more than $4M, which the Hawks can fit.

It’s still something of an odd fit. de Haan is lefty but has played the right side, so you could conceivably pair him with Keith. He’s certainly got the mobility to cover for the mobility that Keith has lost. If he doesn’t play there, he could play with Murphy though it would lack a little get up and go, though might look something like his pairing with Hamonic from the past. But then there’s no one to play with Keith, without another move. Conceivably you could pair him with Gustafsson if you’re buying Goose as a top four on this team, but boy is that a leap.

It’s not the sexiest option, but it’s an option.

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Trickling Down Into Some Tragic Casual Corner – Free Agency Shopping List: Paul Stastny

By Sam Fels 2126 0

Your most ambitious/erotic hockey free agency dreams are dead. The Hawks will not get John Tavares. They will not get John Carlson. Those were the biggest pieces out there, and one is staying put while the other won’t entertain the Hawks into his sewing circle. And while the consensus is still that it will be via trade through which the Hawks make changes, that doesn’t mean there aren’t things to be found on the free agent market.

One name that hasn’t been linked to the Hawks is Paul Stastny. Now, maybe he really is a good St. Louis boy and would never dare pull on the red of the dreaded Blackhawks, Maybe he just wants to stay in Winnipeg because he has massive brain damage or something. But they’re going to struggle to find the space to keep him, and if they were going to they probably would have already. He’s out there, he’s better than serviceable, and he solves a lot of problems.

Is Stastny a dynamic scorer? No, and the thing is he never really was. His 28 goals as a rookie are the most he’s ever managed. He hasn’t eclipsed more than 20 in five years. But he consistently gives you 50-60 points if he’s got the talent around him (which he didn’t really in St. Louis as he didn’t play with Tarasenko or Schwartz much and it’s the Blues). He still has a 200-foot game and can kill penalties for you, and while not being the biggest he can play the role of “Annette Frontpresence” pretty effectively as his performances in the playoffs showed.

Under the surface, there are some concerns. Stastny had been a dominant possession player n the past, while taking on the tougher zone starts in St. Louis. But that changed last season, as he started more shifts in the offensive zone than before, and his Corsi went down, even on Winnipeg which itself was a dominant possession team. At 32, that doesn’t figure to get better. He’s also left-handed, and we know that right-handed centers tend to do better with Patrick Kane, which is probably where you’d slot him. But he’s a smart enough player to make that work.

The question is, as always, the money. Stastny just came off a deal that paid him $7 million per season and he’s coming down from that. The issue for the Hawks or anyone else is that any of the teams that get close to John Tavares but don’t get him are going to view Stastny as a Plan B. He makes sense in San Jose. He makes sense in Dallas. Going back to Colorado makes some sense. Quite simply, any team that feels it has to do “something” after losing out on JT is going to drive his price higher than you want.

Second problem is term. At 32, you ideally don’t want to be handing Stastny anything more than three years if you can help it. But as this is almost certainly going to be his last BIG DEAL, he’s going to want to get as many years as possible. Looking at some comps from the past, Martin Hanzal last summer got a three-year deal for $4.7M a year. He was two years younger than Stastny is now. Anisimov’s $4.5M hit seems a decent comparison as well. But given what some teams are going to want to do, you feel like Stastny’s number is going to puncture $5 million, and he may get four or five years.

As for where he fits on the Hawks, he wouldn’t displace Toews as a #1 center and maybe not even Schmaltz as a #2. If you just want a third center, someone that allowed Schmaltz to get the hammock shifts, then there are probably cheaper options. If you want something a little more dynamic and just have three really good centers, Stastny can probably still give you that.

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High On The Hog: A Look At Forward

By Jon Fromi 2116 0

There were many new faces at forward for the Rockford IceHogs in the 2017-18 season. On a roster that went through some changes in the latter half of the campaign, there was a lot to cover in this area.

I’ve previously cast a magnifying glass on the goalies and defensemen in recent posts. For now, let’s move forward with the forwards from Rockford’s big season.

Rookies

Matthew Highmore-64 games, 24 G, 19 A, minus-six

Rockford’s rookie of the year was the big story throughout the first half of the season. Highmore epitomized the fast-paced style Colliton emphasized, with 15 points (9 G, 6 A) in his first 21 games. His nose for the net resulted in Highmore pacing the team in goals.

An appearance at the AHL All-Star Classic, coupled with a spring call-up to the Hawks made for a memorable first-year of pro hockey for the free-agent signing. Highmore is definitely in the mix of prospects who could find themselves in Chicago in the coming years.

Like a lot of the prospects, Highmore’s numbers dipped just a bit with the veteran influx in February. By the playoffs, he was skating on one of the lower lines while still playing solid hockey. In 13 postseason games, he was a plus-eight to go with a pair of goals and seven helpers.

 

Anthony Louis-70 games, 14 G, 30 A, plus-six

Louis was Rockford’s point leader (44) in the regular season, though the addition of the veterans had a big effect on his game down the stretch. To say his role was diminished is probably an understatement.

Skating a little lower in the Hogs lineup, Louis still managed 14 points (5 G, 9 A) in the last two months of action. However, the physical nature of the playoffs seemed to take a toll on his effectiveness. After five assists in 9 games, Colliton sat Louis in favor of Samuelsson three games into the conference final.

Louis is a strong passer and can flourish with linemates who can finish the chances he creates. I think he’ll be a player to watch as he makes the adjustments to raise his game in his sophomore campaign.

 

Alexandre Fortin-53 games, 4 G, 17 A, minus-one

Based on the expectations of a player who had such a strong training camp in 2016 before being sent back to juniors, Fortin was an under-performer in his first season with the IceHogs.

To be fair, he missed a couple weeks in January and three more in March due to injury. His speed was often on display, though there were many instances of Fortin streaking out of control and committing turnovers. A shooting percentage of 4.3 did him no favors; finishing scoring plays and playing under control should be at the top of Fortin’s list of improvements heading into next season.

 

Matheson Iacopelli-50 games, 11 G, 7 A, plus-seven

The real head-scratcher among the piglets. Iacopelli brought offense, scoring 20 goals between Rockford and Indy, where he had nine in ten games for the Fuel. He is arguably the best sniper the IceHogs had this season. So…why couldn’t he find a place in the lineup?

With someone to get him the puck, coupled with a net hound who can convert on rebound opportunities, Iacopelli could be a dangerous AHL forward. He is going to have to improve on his skating as well as find a way to create space for his shot. The question will be if he can do that at age 24.

Iacopelli often found himself on the bottom line with players more suited for checking roles. He’s not that type of player right now. Hopefully he got a list of things to work on this summer. If he can carve out a steady spot on a scoring line, we could see big numbers out of Iacopelli.

 

Graham Knott-70 games, 4 G, 5 A, minus-one

There isn’t much offense to Knott’s game. He had three separate 11-game pointless streaks while skating fourth line minutes and killing penalties. In his final 38 games this past season, he had three goals and no apples.

Knott held down the fourth line through the regular season; he did not appear in the playoffs for Rockford. On the other hand, he was a frequent winner of the Schnucks Grand Prix over speedier teammates Alexandre Fortin and William Pelletier.

Knott is still just 21 and has two more years on his entry deal to develop at both ends of the ice. With most of the new faces coming in on defense, he may still have the spot in the lineup to do so next fall.

Nathan Noel-17 games, 1 G, minus two

Noel really deserves a redo button; his season never really got on track after being injured in training camp.

By the time he was set to return, there was no spot in Rockford to be had. Noel went to Indy, where he played 17 games before getting hurt and missing a couple of months. He was brought up to Rockford in mid-February and had limited chances to develop into the IceHogs agitator.

Until Chris DiDomenico arrived, that job was up for grabs. A healthy Noel might have run with that role. My interest was peaked in the short stint Noel was with the IceHogs.

Finishing the regular season with the Fuel, Noel played well in Indy’s short playoff appearance. If Noel is in game shape to start 2018-19, he may be able to find his niche.

 

Call Ups

Vinnie Hinostroza-23 games, 9 G, 13 A, plus-seven

Tomas Jurco-36 games, 13 G, 12 A, plus-four

David Kampf-33 games, 7 G, 11 A, plus-one

Laurent Dauphin-33 games, 4 G, 10 A, minus-six

These players, Hinostroza in particular, carried Rockford in the first couple of months. Hinostroza was recalled by the Hawks December 8, Kampf on December 27 and Jurco on January 8.

Kampf returned in April to finish up the season and playoffs for the Hogs. In 16 games, he managed just a goal (Game Five vs Texas) and two assists (in Chicago in the last game of the regular season).

Dauphin, who played with a full face shield following a altercation in San Antonio December 15, was traded back to Arizona in the Anthony Duclair deal. Adam Clendening came to Rockford was a key part of the spring resurgence; Dauphin played 17 games for Tuscon (5 G, 10 A) before being recalled to the Coyotes. He was injured blocking a shot March 11 and missed the rest of the season.

 

Reinforcements

Chris DiDomenico-22 games, 8 G, 15 A, plus-three

All this guy did was spark Rockford into its late-season push to the Calder Cup Playoffs. Once there, he was the league’s top point producer (7 G, 11 A in 13 games) until the final games of the Calder Cup Final. If anybody saw this coming, step forward and be called Fibber McGee.

Returning to AHL rinks after several seasons abroad, DiDomenico was obtained for Ville Pokka in a trade with Ottawa in mid-February. Along with a heavy dose of veteran leadership that was injected into the piglets, DiDomenico brought a chippy element to a club that had practically none before he arrived.

By the time the playoffs started, you had skaters of all shapes and sizes finishing checks all over the ice. The motor was still firing, but the Hogs picked up a definite snarl that was a major part of the playoff success.

DiDomenico rides off into the sunset, having signed to play in the Swiss League for two seasons soon after cleaning out his locker at the BMO. One richly deserved stick tap, coming right up.

 

Lance Bouma-20 games, 7 G, 7 A, plus-seven

Chicago sending the physical forward to Rockford in February proved to be good for the IceHogs. Like DiDomenico, Bouma added veteran grit that was in short supply at that point of the campaign. Like DiDomenico, I would not expect to see Bouma in a Hogs sweater next season.

 

Tanner Kero-36 games, 8 G, 12 A, minus-ten

I’m finding out about the Hawks trade with Vancouver just as I was set to ponder Kero’s season for this post. Basically, Kero’s 2017-18 season has produced Michael Chaput.

Kero came to Rockford in December. He was out for about a month after an injury against San Antonio on February 18 and also missed a few games at the close of the regular season.

 

John Hayden-24 games, 5 G, 12 A, even

Arrived January 10 when he was assigned to the Hogs by Chicago, playing through the beginning of March before being recalled. Hayden was also with Rockford once the Blackhawks season ended.

Hayden was physical for sure…but he just didn’t seem to make the impact I imagined when he was sent to Rockford. That goes double in the playoffs; he delivered his share of hits but accounted for just three goals in 13 postseason games.

 

Henrik Samuelsson-25 games, 9 G, 3 A, minus-one

The former first-round selection of the Coyotes was skating in the ECHL for Idaho when Rockford inked him to a PTO in February. The move became a permanent arrangement when the IceHogs signed him through the 2018-19 season.

Samuelsson found the net in each of his first three games with Rockford, including a game-winner against San Antonio February 18. He worked his way onto a power play unit and was a steady presence through the rest of the regular season.

Samuelsson showcased some offensive know-how to go with a strong presence in the corners in his stint with the Hogs. After sitting out the first two rounds of the postseason, he was inserted for the last four games of the conference final with Texas.

 

Viktor Ejdsell-five games, 1 A, minus-three

Ejdsell, of course, made his mark in the postseason, where he totaled 12 points (7 G, 5 A) in 13 games. The lanky forward displayed a nice shot and enough skating ability to keep up with his linemates. He certainly didn’t look out of place in the smaller North American rinks.

The 23-year old Swede had a good sense of timing. Four of his postseason goals were game-winners, the most notable being the one that ended the Game 3 triple-overtime affair with the Wolves. Another came in an elimination game with Texas, where he had a three-point Game 4.

A full season in Rockford could prove to be very interesting, as Ejdsell could probably use a year to hone his skating before hitting NHL ice. Depending on the makeup of the Hawks roster, he could see himself riding the I-90 shuttle for parts of next season.

 

The Vet

Andreas Martinsen-64 games, 12 G, 16 A, plus-seven

So far as early season veteran presence, Martinsen was about it through the first months, save for Jurco and Dauphin. The big Norwegian was key to any physical element to the piglet’s game until the latter part of February when guys like DiDomenico and Bouma showed up.

Obtained for Kyle Baun just before the start of the season, this trade was a definite win for the Blackhawks. Baun wasn’t terrible this season, with 22 points (5 G, 17 A) in Laval and the Toronto Marlies (with whom he won a Calder Cup despite not playing in the playoffs). For the IceHogs, however, Martinsen brought more to the table and was a good fit.

Aside from a spell in Chicago this spring, Martinsen was a mainstay in the lineup, often teaming with Sikura and Alexandre Fortin on what proved to be a very effective group. The 6’4″, 230-pounder re-upped with the Blackhawks for 2018-19. He should be able to skate fourth-line minutes in Chicago if needed and is a nice piece for Colliton to have in Rockford.

 

AHL Standouts

Tyler Sikura-74 games, 23 G, 16 A, plus-24

Sikura failed to stick in three AHL cities following his college career at Dartmouth. Before signing with Rockford, he was still looking for his first AHL point. This season, he earned the team MVP award and an NHL entry contract to boot.

Sikura was a hard worker in the first two months of the season, but it wasn’t showing up on the scoreboard. Through November, he had three goals in 19 contests. In fact, it wasn’t until the post-Christmas part of the schedule that Sikura started seeing the fruits of his efforts.

Starting on December 28 until signing his NHL contract for next season March 6, Sikura put up 13 goals and six helpers in 29 games. To celebrate his new ink, he had 14 points (7 G, 7 A) to close out the last 17 games of the regular season.

Sikura proved to be quite the redirection artist throughout the season. By the spring, not only was he killing penalties but was on the red-hot first power play unit. Sikura also showed that he can create scoring chances on occasion when away from the net.

This was by far the most productive season by a Hogs AHL-signing in the history of the franchise, eclipsing P.C. Labrie’s 2015-16 34-point explosion. Labrie, however, was between NHL deals at the time. Sikura truly announced his presence with authority in his rookie season.

What lies ahead for the elder Sikura brother? I don’t know if he can match last season’s 18.3 shooting percentage, but he’s welcome to try. It will be interesting to see how he follows up such a remarkable performance.

 

William Pelletier-69 games, 14 G, 15 A, plus-13

Another AHL rookie that kept several Hawks prospects out of the lineup was Pelletier, who came out of Division III Norwich looking to prove he could skate at this level. He did.

Pelletier’s wheels allowed the Hogs to send pucks way down the ice, knowing the 5’7″ forward could negate icing and chase down the biscuit. His fore check was tenacious all season and as the playoffs got underway, he started bringing the action to his opponents along the boards.

This was good to see, because Pelletier was a guy opposing teams loved to target on the ice with big hits. Dishing back a little physical business didn’t hurt his effectiveness. Pelletier earned an extension of his AHL deal with Rockford for his efforts and should yet again be a fun player to watch zooming up and down the ice.

 

Luke Johnson

Luke Johnson-73 games, 13 G, 17 A, minus-four

I’m giving Johnson his own category in this review. On a roster of first-year prospects and veteran additions, Johnson perhaps had the most to prove out of any of the returning players.

In last year’s season recap, I suggested that Johnson needed to step up his game from a 17-point rookie campaign in 2016-17 to avoid being pushed to the bench by all the new faces in Rockford. I’d say that Johnson took that step and then some.

Johnson was a steady producer at both ends of the ice for Rockford. He also was a player who took on some big dance partners when circumstances dictated. Four of the IceHogs league-low 11 fighting majors were attributed to Johnson.

In a very quiet manner, Johnson raised his position within the organization. He drew praise from NHL veteran Cody Franson as well as with coach Jeremy Colliton. John Dietz of the Daily Herald got both men to open up about Johnson’s game during the playoffs.

If Colliton names a captain for the 2018-19 IceHogs (after not doing so this past season), don’t be surprised if the C is slapped on Johnson’s sweater.

 

Coffee Cups

Alex Wideman

Tommy Olczyk

Kyle Maksimovich

These three players produced a grand total of zero points for the IceHogs this season. Wideman (13 games in Rockford) did have another good season with the ECHL’s Indy Fuel, with 16 goals and 32 assists. Most of his time in town came in January and February.

Olczyk saw action once for the Hogs, skating in Grand Rapids January 20. Maksimovich was signed to an ATO in March after scoring 31 goals in the OHL for Erie. He got into four games late in the season and was inactive once the playoffs got underway.

 

Unlike a year ago, there should be lots of returning faces up front for the Hogs. Depending on what kind of veteran skaters Rockford is afforded, there could be several players who could make big strides in their games. Like last season, it should be exciting to watch.

I’m sure there will be some activity worth shouting about in the coming weeks. Follow me @JonFromi on twitter just in case I think of something. I’ll be back in a couple of weeks to sort through the summer.