The Blackhawks AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs, are breaking camp and winging it to the West Coast to begin the 2015-16 campaign. Rockford is coming off of a strong season that saw them reach the Western Conference Semifinal.
Coach Ted Dent is back at the helm of another group of Hawks prospects peppered with skaters who’ve been around the AHL block. How’s this group gonna fare over the next seven or eight months? Let’s take a look…
Ok, the title’s over the top and we won’t be sticking with it, but I thought it encapsulated where a lot of Hawks fans are at the moment (although in clearly heavy handed terms).
So over the next month or so, we’ll be going player by player to preview the upcoming season, which is just somehow 35 days away (and we’re sure they’ll go by in a smooth jiffy!).
There will be other posts to wrangle out what’s going on off the ice, but it’s impossible to discuss the Hawks right now on the ice without really considering two forms of them. While it’s hardly anywhere close to the most important part of the whole story, and no one should care all that much right now, the Hawks could look like just about anything depending on how things go.
This is a post we might have to keep coming back to as the summer develops. But I thought it would prove useful to compare the sell-offs of the summers of ’10 and this one, and to compare how poised the Hawks are for their next Cup as they were with that one. It won’t make for pleasant reading, but so much of what we do doesn’t either so you’ll be used to that. No time like the present, let’s dive on in and not care if the water is shallow or not.
What Hawks Lost After ’10: It’s a pretty long list. Dustin Byfuglien, Andrew Ladd, Kris Versteeg (and it’s pretty funny that they simple CAN’T move him now), Brent Sopel, Ben Eager, John Madden, and Colin Fraser. In other terms, the Hawks lost 2/3rd of their third line (Versteeg and Ladd flanked Bolland most of that season), their 4th line center, a top six left winger (that’s where Byfuglien ended up anyway), a couple other components that rotated in on the 4th line in Eager and Burish, and their #5 d-man.
I should also add that Antti Niemi had to be left on the side of the road after his arbitration hearing.
Let the frenzy begin:USA TODAY
Oh it already did:TSN
Probably not, or not on purpose:SunTimes
So Close:Pensburgh
Qualifiers:ESPN
Slovakian Primer: The Columbus Dispatch
Raanta’s Replacement:Chicago Tribune
Paid:NESN
Oh:PuckDaddy
Fingers Crossed: Sports Illustrated
We apologize for the interruption in service over the weekend. Naturally, the site is down during a the first game Patrick Sharp has played at center in five years. In any event, here are some observations from the weekend’s games.
Just a couple things to seal up on this off day.
-Chris Block from TheThirdManIn.com provided our publication with a pretty pristine piece of work (totally did that on purpose) about Jeremy Morin’s career in Chicago, why it came to an end, and where the Hawks go from here as far as their organization. He hasn’t posted it to his site yet and when he does I’ll link it. But I’ll pull some things from the article now. And you should be reading Block there or follow him on Twitter @ChrisBlock.
at 
Game Time: 6:00PM Central
TV/Radio: CSN, WGN-AM 720
Oh Man, Sportswriters Sure Do Love Springsteen: In Lou We Trust
After two weeks on the west coast ended briefly with a layover for two home games, the Hawks now take their traveling carnival out east to visit Uncle Lou’s struggling Devils.
