… "And with the 8th overall pick in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, the Chicago Blackhawks… Chicago, you're on the clock".
Well, another game and loss in the books. With last night's 7-2 thumping, the Blackhawks sit at 62 points, just 14 back from Arizona for last in the league and with performances like that, they may just "catch" them.
We can't be surprised at this point and I'm afraid more lopsided losses like this are in the near future. I mean, just look at the roster – it's a bit of a tire-fire.
Speaking of the roster, Scott Powers pointed something out that I wasn't aware of; after the NHL trade deadline, teams can only use 4 recall transactions for players for the remainder of the year. So with the Hawks sending down (on paper) Carl Dahlstrom, David Kampf and J.F. Berube (so they were eligible for the AHL Playoffs) took up 3 of them. That doesn't leave a lot of flexibility for the rest of the year.
It's also curious as to why Dalhstrom was left up vs. swapping him with Forsling. They must really want to keep him down in Rockford thinking that is best for his development. I'm not sure I agree, however, that might speak volumes to what the organization thinks of Colliton, King and Brookbank's coaching job with the IceHogs.
With all of that said, that this all likely means that Matthew Highmore will be up for the rest of the year. Yes, he was selected over John Hayden at this point, but I can only assume that's based on rewarding him for an amazing year to date, but more importantly, to see what they have in this kid. They already know what John Hayden is and I hear he's going to be an important piece moving forward.
It probably wasn't the start Highmore envisioned for his first ever NHL game (12 mins TOI & -3) but you can see he's got a lot of what the Hawks are looking for. He's got a high motor and plays a hard 2-way game.
This west coast debacle continues tomorrow vs. the Kings and Sunday vs. the Ducks. Let's see how this goes.
In the coming weeks, I will be keeping you guys up-to-date on the Rockford IceHogs push for the playoffs. They had a nice win on Wednesday thanks to Delia, Franson and Luc Snuggerud.
Tonight the ‘Hogs take on Milwaukee on the road and on Saturday, it's back home to host Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. They need every win they can get. Rockford currently sits 5th in the Central (the top 4 teams make the playoffs), however only trail Iowa by 1-point.
That's all I got for now.
See ya out there!
JL
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Chicago Blackhawks Blogger • 
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