Rockford IceHogs/Prospects News & Discussion Thread

[synister281]

I wish Rockford wasn't so damn far from Chicago to go catch a game. It would take me 20 minutes to get to a Wolves game. Sucks they had to be linked up to Vancouver. Sickens my stomach, can't wait to see the marketing they will have to do to get people to forget that fact. LOL

[Dagwood]

The Hogs should be real good with our recent signings. That means young specs will spend time in the Rock until we can't afford to not call them up. I'm more a fan of seasoning after yesterday than I was. Why rush guys in?

[Boom!]

^^^ Detroit Red Wings model right there. And look at how Corey Crawford did.

[Dagwood]

When you have the luxury to get vets for a year around the minimum because you're a 'destination' team, you can afford to do that.

We should really thank Dale for starting that transformation, just look how he's made moves in Florida this offseason. Now guys WANT to be in Florida. Take care of people, worry about winning, treat people right and they wanna play for you for less.

[icehogfan08]

AHL Announces Re-Alignment and Playoff Format Change

Blackhawks Renew Affiliation with Toledo

IceHogs Ink LeBlanc and Zanette

[icehogfan08]

Icehogs coach takes Red Wings Assistant Role

[stormbolter73]

It will be interesting to see what happens now that Peters is gone. I personally hope that they give Teddy Dent a shot. He has been an assistant with the club going back to Norfolk and does a hell of a job. Peters caught a lot of crap from some sections of Icehogs fans, these are the same people that spent a lot of time booing Corey Crawford for no good reason. Peters made the playoffs with less talented teams that were in transition from the best talent making it to the Show and had a just stupid young team (I think there were 3-4 19 year olds on the club last year) get over .500 in probably the toughest division, top to bottom, in the AHL. Good luck to him in Detroit.

[icehogfan08]

Familiarity breeds comfort for Hawks prospects

Johns and Lavin – as well as fellow defenseman and Blackhawks prospect Shayne Taker -- were part of the Fighting Irish's run to the 2011 Frozen Four. That experience is still fresh in their minds as they take part in this weekend’s prospect camp at Johnny’s Ice House.

Brotherly love surfaces at Blackhawks camp

Jimmy and Kevin Hayes stood next to each other during their Blackhawks prospect camp practice session on Thursday. At 6-foot-5 and 6-3, respectively, the brothers certainly represent the size the Blackhawks would love to see in the future.

The Blackhawks have another brother duo at prospect camp in Alex and Terry Broadhurst. The two are staying together through their camp stay; and given their brotherly rivalry, they said that could lead to some angst.

Blackhawks' Shaw impresses at prospect camp

“I always got picked on,” said Shaw, who added that even the road hockey games with his brothers were intense. “They were always ganging up on me.”

Battling his brothers has served the 5-foot-10, 180-pound right wing well. Shaw hasn’t been afraid to drop the gloves in his Ontario Hockey League tenure, even if he’s been outsized. But that’s hardly the only facet of his game, and throughout this weekend at the Blackhawks’ prospect camp at Johnny’s Ice House, Shaw has shown a few of them.

[stormbolter73]

Nobody threw it up yet but the Hawks re-signed Rob Klinkhammer and Alec Richards. Glad to have Klink back for another run. The guy is going to provide leadership, good 2-way play, and a little scorng pop to the Icehogs lineup. He is also a great depth signing for the Hawks as he could fill in for a bottom 6 roll easily should injuries pile up.

Richards provides the Icehogs with a bit of veteran goaltending. He split time with Hannu Toivannen last season and played with the hogs in various stints the 2 seasons before. He isn't an amazing goalie but considering that goaltending in the system is a weakness, this give the Hogs a decent player and buys time for Simpson or one of our younger goaltenders to get their feet wet without being thrown to the sharks in the AHL (who will eat up a young goaltender quickly).

The fact that both guys have been fan favorites doesn't hurt either. However, if history has taught us anything, the Hogs fans will turn on Richards quickly as they have a tendancy to do. They did it to Crawford for no reason other than ignorance and they did it to Toivannen which was a little more deserved but he wasn't half as bad as they would have had you believe.

[Boom!]

http://blackhawks.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=569109

Three Blackhawks prospects heading to Sweden's WJC camp

[icehogfan08]

The Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday promoted Ted Dent to head coach of the Rockford IceHogs, the team's top minor league affiliate.

There ya go Storm

[Boom!]

http://www.hockeyprospectus.com/arti...din&mode=login

Hockey Prospectus ranks the Blackhawks prospects as #5 overall. A very, very in depth reading on what they say are our top 10 prospects in our system. Solid read.

[stormbolter73]

There ya go Storm

Wasn't a tough one to predict but I still like being right . Good for Teddy, he has earned it the old fashioned way, sticking with the club and working his way on up.

The article Boom posted was a really intersting read. I was a little confused as to why Ben Smith wasn't even mentioned considering he is clearly top 3-4 in terms of prospect and I would say is the most NHL ready at the moment.

I also couldn't disagree more with the assertion that Kyle Beach has a soid game in his own zone! Past those 2 things, I really liked gettinga bit of a different perspective on our players beyond my own opinions.

I totally agree with the guy about Pirri. He really started to come around last year in the last 1/4 of the season, but then again, a lot of guys did and that is why they got themselves over .500

The Makarov making the team thing is a bit of a stretch in my opinion to but I don't see many of these guys making it this season. It is the year after that that we may be looking at 3-4 new faces from the farm.

[Boom!]

^^^ My only guess is that Ben Smith projects more as a top 9 guy and not necessarily a top 6 guy. While Smith might be the most NHL ready, I don't think he has the highest ceiling.

I agree with you on Beach big time, I actually don't think he should be ranked that high...we all know my feelings on him!

[stormbolter73]

That makes more sense. I guess I was looking at it more in terms of getting to the NHL rather than where they project to. Then again, the article had guys projected in the bottom 6 and they still made it. I also agree that he proabably doesn't have as high a ceiling as a few of the other guys potentially have.

I have to believe that Beach is still getting a bump based on being a high first round pick. In terms of potential contribution and how quickly he could be ready, I would put him between 8-12 in the system right now and that is really counting guys that I have seen play.