Everything Else

High On The Hog: Wiping The Slate

By Jon Fromi 2329

The Rockford IceHogs look to be shaking the Etch-A-Sketch that was the 2016-17 season and attempting a more acceptable work. So far this summer, management seems to be set on a big-time makover.

That shouldn’t come as a surprise; Rockford suffered through a franchise-worst campaign, leading to the dismissal of long-time head coach Ted Dent. With a load of fresh prospects coming to town, it’s as good as time as any for a reboot.

The arrival of free agency this weekend will have a big effect on the organization, not only at the NHL level, but at your friendly neighborhood Hawks affiliate. Along with addressing needs in Chicago, there will also be several players signed who you will likely never see…unless you come out to the BMO Harris Bank Center.

The Hawks will be shopping for mentors for what is shaping up to be a very young crop of Hogs this fall. The emphasis in Rockford has always been player development over competing for a Calder Cup; I would not expect that to change despite GM Stan Bowman’s comments earlier in the offseason about wanting to win in Rockford. (You can find that quote and my take on them in this post.)

Maybe Bowman will put his money where his mouth is. To do that, he would need to bring in the type of players who pile up big AHL numbers year after year. Forwards Cole Scheider, Chris Mueller, Kenny Agostino and former Hog Bracken Kearns are examples of UFAs that fit that description. Think of a guy like Martin St. Pierre, who couldn’t produce in the NHL but was a point-a-game scorer in the AHL.

These are players who, for one reason or another, are missing something that prevents them from success at the top level but can dominate at the lower levels. If I see two or three of these types signed by the Hawks, I will assume that Bowman recognizes the need for solid veteran scoring in order to seriously compete.

It’s more likely that the Hawks go with more rugged, less-skilled veteran types to skate alongside the rooks. It will be fun (for me, at least) to see what the team’s depth signings will be, especially since it doesn’t look as if Bowman or the Hogs are keen on bringing back the old gang.

For instance,  Rockford will be skating with a new captain this season, as Jake Dowell will not be back in a Hogs sweater this fall. The veteran center signed to play in Austria for Black Wings Linz on May 12.

You can also cross Martin Lundberg off the list of possible returnees. He is returning to his homeland; back on May 5, he signed a two-year contract to skate for the Vaxjo Lakers in the Swedish Hockey League.

That also appears to be the case in the Hogs AHL signings, with only defenseman Robin Press (who was signed midway through last season) being re-upped.

On June 19, the Hogs re-signed Press to an AHL contract. Management must believe that this converted forward has something worth developing. To be honest, I haven’t seen it.

Press couldn’t win playing time in the Swedish League and spent most of his time in ECHL Indianapolis once the Blackhawks brought him to North America last season. When on the ice in Rockford, he looked out of place and overwhelmed in the defensive zone.

To be fair, it’s hard to judge Press based on nine appearances late in a disappointing Hogs campaign. He’s 6’3″ with a right-handed shot. That’s apparently enough for the Blackhawks to see what could develop. Let’s see if he can break into the Rockford lineup and how he fares with a full season of ice time.

The day after retaining Press, Rockford inked the OHL’s Outstanding Defenseman, Darren Raddysh, to a one-year deal. The 21-year-old Raddysh will be looking to secure an NHL contract, much like former Hogs forward Andrew Shaw did several years ago.

Another free agent that was signed by the IceHogs was William Pelletier, who impressed me with his play-making ability in a short ATO stint to end last season. I’m sure a lot of Rockford fans are happy to see the speedy center officially in the fold.

Tuesday, the IceHogs brought in two more players on one-year AHL contracts. Recent Ohio State grad Matt Tomkins is a goalie drafted by Chicago in the seventh round of the 2012 NHL Draft. Rockford also signed center Tommy Olczyk, son of Hawks broadcaster Eddie Olczyk. Olczyk, 26, spent last season in the ECHL, where he had six goals and seven assists in 44 games with the Alaska Aces.

We may see another player or two signed by Rockford, but they should be close to finished with their summer dealings.

With the Hawks picking up netminder Anton Forsberg in the Columbus trade, there may not be a need to re-sign goalie Lars Johansson. Forsberg, who anchored Lake Erie’s Calder Cup Champions two seasons ago, is a younger option.

He’s been impressive in the AHL portion of his career and looks to be in line for a shot at the backup role in Chicago. No doubt the Hawks will get this RFA inked to an inexpensive deal (which they did on Monday). That may well leave Johansson as the odd man out.

With Tomkins signing an AHL deal, I would expect the Hogs to sign one more goalie to fill spots at their ECHL affiliate in Indianapolis. Maybe one more goalie garners an NHL two-way deal to fill the ranks in net.

At defense, Ville Pokka was re-signed for one season. Nolan Valleau was not tendered an offer. Again, maybe a player of two on this side of the puck is brought in, though the Rockford blueline has been crowded in past seasons.

I would expect two or three forwards to be signed by Chicago to fill out the roster. The Hawks did not tender an offer to RFA Michael Latta; just one more example of the massive turnover up front. How does that bode for UFAs Brandon Mashinter and Pierre-Cedric Labrie? We’ll see.

The new gang will be coached by former Islanders prospect Jeremy Colliton, himself a veteran of six AHL campaigns. Despite being just 32, he does have experience behind the bench. Concussion issues brought an early end to his career, and the former center has been coaching in Sweden the past four seasons.

I am positive that there will be a flurry of activity this weekend, during which the remainder of the IceHogs roster will take shape. Once the ink dries on some contracts, I’ll be back to offer some thoughts; possibly in the next week or so.

If I feel any need to spout off on free agent moves over the weekend, I will send out thoughts on twitter @JonFromi if you care to follow.

 

 

Everything Else

Scouting Report And Possibilities

By 1897

We’ve all gotten a few days here to catch our breath before the gates open on Saturday to free agency. Even if the Hawks don’t do anything (they will), and even though the market is pretty weak compared to other years, the action will fly thick and fast.

Still, it’s probably good to look back for a second and see what the Hawks got. Reached out to Sarah Hall over at FiveForHowling.com to get what they thought of the two former Coyotes headed our way:

Everything Else

Just Another Friday Morning

By 2229

Full disclosure, I’m writing this wearing my Brandon Saad Saginaw Spirit jersey, so that’s where I am emotionally.

Ok… let’s see if we can parse this altogether. It’s not going to be easy. So here’s the facts. The Hawks first traded Niklas Hjalmarsson to Arizona for Connor Murphy and Laurent Dauphin. Then, presumably getting buzzed on the fumes from that, Stan Bowman turned around and traded Artemi Panarin, Tyler Motte and a pick to Columbus for Brandon Saad, Anton Forsberg, and another pick.

Well…. well… let’s get to it, shall we?

I’m not going to bury the lede here on how we feel. The Hammer trade has the potential to be a very good one. Yeah I know, you’re throwing something at the screen right now, hoping it will somehow be absorbed by the internet and then spit out through my screen and hit me in the face.

But I know what I’m saying. Put the sentiment aside. For the second half of last year, Niklas Hjalmarsson was not good. Where before he could smother the best any opponent had to offer, he couldn’t do that last year. It wasn’t just Seabrook getting torched by the Predators last year. It was Hammer too. And as we’ve said repeatedly the past couple years, the aging curve on a less-than-mobile puck bag that Hammer was can get very ugly in an awful hurry. Think Rob Scuderi. Think Robyn Regehr. Think Niklas Kronwall. Think Brooks Orpik. Not pretty, no?

Everything Else

Hossa Fallout, Schedule, And Argle Bargle

By 1659

Few things to clean up today:

-Stan and Q had their press conference today to discuss Marian Hossa and the draft. Q had the look of a man who just saw his one top six winger who can backcheck effectively ripped away from him, because he is. There’s not much Q can do at the moment, as we get the feeling he’s going to be less involved on free agency and trades and personnel decisions than he’s been.

So it came to Stan, who had to wax poetic about how complicated it’s going to be using Hossa’s cap space in LTIR. And he’s right, it isn’t as simple as most believe.

Everything Else

Skin Failure

By 1623

Ok, I know. I shouldn’t joke about this. It really isn’t funny, and I’m sure if I were going through it I would probably gut anyone making a joke about my skin literally peeling off.

So there’s a couple things this post is not going to be. One, I’m not going to try and convince any Hawks fan who thinks this is totally on the up and up that it isn’t. Nor am I going to try to convince anyone outside our bubble that is convinced this is fishy that it isn’t. I think if you want to Occam’s Razor this, it’s probably something of both. Hossa has been dealing with this for a few years, and now that the medication is A) less effective and B) possibly poisoning him to the point they have to blood test him regularly (think Iron Man 2, though we all know that Hossa is more a Steve Rodgers, organic lab experiment type thing instead of a machine but stick with me here). And now that his salary is dropping to $1M, and he’s won just about everything there is to win, and his Hall case is pretty secure, maybe he figures it’s not as worth it to torture himself and put his health at risk for it anymore.

It’s easy to sit here and say we’d do anything for a million dollars, but why is it Kevin Durant can eschew millions more to keep the Warriors together and everyone pretty much shrugs and agrees that a few million more won’t make any difference to him, but everyone outside of Chicago is crying foul on Hossa when his actual health is at risk here? Strange, no?

Everything Else

Replacing Kruger

By 1796

Sometimes you just have to face reality. And while I would like to sit here and stamp my feet and throw my toys out of the crib, screaming to everyone how important Kruger has been for six years, that’s not going to do anyone any good. Though it might feel good. As previously discussed, there really isn’t anyone in-house who can pick up the slack. The Hawks will try and claim it’s Working Class Kero. The only problem with him is that he’s bad. They may think Vinnie Hinostroza could do some of it, and yet I remain unconvinced he’s anything other than a really fast skater with decent finish for the 8-12 chances he’ll get per year (which is better than Kruger in one category, I suppose).

This of course won’t be able to see who the Hawks could bring in via trade if they do flog someone. We’ve generally thought the Hawks are trading for d-men anyway if they can fit a new one in under the cap. So who’s out there for dirt cheap on the open market?

Everything Else

Potential For Aggressive Expansion

By 1556

The day finally arrived yesterday, and it feels like almost as many people were waiting for the announcement of protected lists for the expansion draft than they were any playoff game. I suppose only a few fanbases get to be involved in the playoffs while everyone is in on this, but still. We’re talking about a team that’s going to suck for a bit, no matter how much the NHL tries to pad it. And if George McPhee believes he can really go for it off the bat, just like he did Lorne Molleken’s face, then they could suck for quite some time.

BUT THAT’S NOT WHY YOU CALLED.

There weren’t too many surprised from the Hawks, at least given what the buzz has been for a while. We know Marcus Kruger is pretty much a goner, which allowed the Hawks to protect Tomas Jurco. That’s interesting in itself, but we’ll get to that in a second.

Everything Else

Remembering The 2016-2017 Nashville Predators

By 1772

Once again, we were asked to give a eulogy for Yahoo!’s Puck Daddy Blog. We drew the last straw, and got the Predators. Here it is. Enjoy. 

Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve come here once again to bur….you know what, it doesn’t feel right this time. Because… is this really a funeral? In most ways, it feels like the Nashville Predators were born this spring. As we all know, you’re not actually a hockey town, or even a section of civilization, until Canadian hockey media discovers that you’re a better place to watch a game than a freezing barn in Guelph, if that’s even a real place. Welcome to the big time, Nash-Vegas. You’re now officially on the sanctioned list for Globe and Mail writers to come and get drunk and fall down.

(Other areas on the list include Bob McKenzie’s lake house, Winnipeg and Tony Twist’s St. Louis-style hot dog stand. Congrats, everyone. You’ve made it.)

Everything Else

Bringing It All Back Home

By 1765

We’ve had some fun here the past couple months, leaving the Hawks in the background for the most part while they study and fidget about what to do to reclaim what they once felt was theirs. Obviously there’s not much you can do once your punted from the playoffs except have a press conference where you express just how angry you are and promise changes. Then you go back into the offices and realize you’re pretty much boned but thank your lucky stars you didn’t say that in public.

So we don’t have much to work with yet, and the answers probably don’t start really arriving until next week when the expansion draft, which for some inane reason is woven into the NHL Awards, takes place. But that won’t stop us from guessing!