The 27 year old Schroeder is 5’9″ 170 lbs and spent most of last season in Cleveland playing with the Blue Jackets AHL affiliate.  In Cleveland, he had 36 points (14G, 22A) in 48 games.  He also played 21 games with the NHL club, registering only one goal and one assist.

Most likely, Schroeder will be spending the season in Rockford as a possible replacement for departed veteran leader Chris DiDomenico

Berube’s time with the Blackhawks seemingly came to an end, following the regular season, when he was sent home rather than to Rockford to join the Icehogs in their quest for the Calder Cup.  A December knee injury derailed a good start to his season, and he was never able to completely regain his form.  The Rockford goaltending duties were handled by Collin Delia and Jeff Glass.

Once Delia passed Berube on the organizational depth chart and Finnish goalie Kevin Lankinen was signed this spring someone had to go.  Don’t rule out another goalie getting moved, either, with the reports this morning of Cam Ward possibly signing with the Blackhawks on July first.

The post Blackhawks Acquire Jordan Schroeder For JF Berube appeared first on The Rink.

It was widely thought that the right Blackhawks’ draft rights had expired, but Powers uncovered that the organization still held his rights a few years back based on an unclear NHL/KHL transfer agreement. Since then his progress has been monitored at a distance, but he has mostly been an emigma.

Seemingly out of nowhere in October of 2016, Nalimov showed up in Blackhawks training camp and was immediately inserted into a pre-season game against the Detroit Redwings. He quickly gave up two soft goals in the opening two minutes of the contest and a third midway through the period, and was replaced by Lars Johansson in the second period. Never to take the ice again for the organization.

It was clear Nalimov, then 22, was not ready for the NHL. As a result, the Blackhawks released him from camp and he returned to the KHL where he re-joined Vladivostok Admiral.

Last season is where Nalimov began to hit his stride, beginning the season with Vladivostok. He posted a 6-10-0 record, 1.98 GAA, .942 sv%, and 2 shutouts in a backup role for 17 games before the financially struggling team took drastic measures and released most of their top players.

With his successful start to the season UFA Salavat Yulayev picked up Nalimov to backup former Leafs goalie Ben Scrivens for the rest of the season and he finished the season with a respectable 4-0-2 record, 2.59 GSS, and .927 sv%. Nalimov and his agent negotiated with UFA to mutually terminate the final year of his KHL so he could explore a potential move to the NHL, which leads us to the current situation.

According to what his agent, Shumi Babaev, told Scott Powers the logjam of goaltenders signed to NHL deals has Stan Bowman putting the brakes on taking another look at Nalimov. They currently have Corey Crawford, Anton Forsberg, Jean-Francois Berube, Collin Delia and recently signed Kevin Lankinen on the books for the upcoming season.

Powers goes on to say that the Blackhawks did not anticipate that Nalimov would be a potential option this soon but, of the four returning goalies, only Crawford and Collin Delia put up respectable numbers last season with Delia’s being in Rockford.

The vast uncertainty of Crawford’s health and the below average play behind him has led to rumors of the Blackhawks trying to re-acquire failed Carolina Hurricanes project Scott Darling.  Simply the speculation of that kind of move stinks of desperation. It was announced that Crawford will attend the fan convention later this summer but this does not indicate whether he will be able to play the full season or at all for that matter.

This begs to question, why not bring Nalimov into camp and let him compete for a spot? There is zero risk, and a potential high reward. Bowman could simply release him or trade his rights, if the staff is not impressed. Telling him to simply stay in Russia makes no sense whatsoever. Regardless, the murky future at the position should leave all options open and on the table.

Unless they already have a deal in place or a verbal agreement with an established NHL goalie to (at minimum) backup Corey Crawford.

The post Blackhawks To Russian Goalie: “Not Yet” appeared first on The Rink.

This season has been the most contentious one in the Blackhawks net, since the great goalie debate of 2010 when an unknown summer free agent signee and former Zamboni driver from Finland was forced to take over for the extremely unreliable Cristobal Huet. That situation turned out really well; for Antti Niemi and the Blackhawks.

Cristobal Huet was banished to Switzerland, never to be heard from again and has since retired to become a goaltending coach.

There have obviously been questionable periods for the position in the last eight years, or so, but never a season long trudge.

No matter what the meatball collective will shout at you through the wrappers of their I-talian Beef sammiches, Scott Darling and Ray Emery were never ready for prime time in Chicago. Antti Raanta was probably the closest but Stan Bowman wanted to go cheaper with his backup and rightfully so.

Notice how I said BACKUP. This does not take anything away from what Raanta has done in Chicago, New York or (now) Arizona, but he is still not Corey Crawford or Henrik Lundqvist.

The subject at hand, however, are the surprising cast of characters that found themselves in the Blackhawks goal crease this season. Surprising might be a nice way of describing this cast of question marks but one thing is clear; the Blackhawks need to reassess this list going into this next season.

As I said with the defense, Bowman can blow all kinds of smoke up our behinds, but the back end of this team needs to be far deeper and much better next September.

On to “da gradez, my frent”:

Jeff Glass (D+)

Jeff Glass (D+) – Jeff Glass was a great public relations story. That is all.

With all of the national and local media fawning over Glass, he was just an organizational tool used to mask the actual problems. It worked, too. While all these in depth pieces were being written about the struggles he overcame to make it to the NHL, fans were being brainwashed and misdirected.

Jeff Glass was just a marginal AHL backup that was leftover from the expansion draft. The only reason he was actually in the NHL was that JF Berube was seriously injured right before Corey Crawford hit injured reserve himself.  The Blackhawks just had had no other options. Once Berube recovered, the Blackhawks did what they originally intended to do, which is send Glass back to Rockford and recall Berube.

Much like the Scott Foster story, which I will touch on later, Glass played well above his head for a short period of time. His brief time in the spotlight gave the public a perception that he was something much more than he actually really was. The Blackhawks rode his public relations wave as long as they could, like a champion bull rider, and then it was back to the regularly scheduled program.

As far as his statistics go, Glass actually had a below average month of January, for an NHL goaltender, and the rest was just painfully bad. In January (if you count his two games in December as well), he posted a 3-3-2 record with a 3.15 GAA and a .910 save percentage.  In fact, in every statistical category, Jeff Glass was far below the league average.

Once February hit, the old, rusty, late model Cutlas Supreme ran out of gas. During that month, Glass went 0-3-1 with 3.61 GAA and .872 save percentage. If any other goalie, save for a 32 year old rookie public relations “darling”, had these numbers, the fan base would have rioted and burned them at the stake.

This is another example of what I like to call “The Darling Effect”. The #DarlingEffect is similar to the Mandella effect, where the perception of said person does not meet the actual facts. The favorite perception of Darling was that he saved the Blackhawks in the 2015 playoffs (which he certainly had a hand in; to a degree).  The fact, though, is that Corey Crawford came back and eventually bailed them out in game six after Darling gave up three goals on just 12 shots.

With Glass, the fans will remember what he heroic effort he put in (to a degree he did), but he was just slightly better than the Chinese fire-drill going on around him.

“A” for effort, “D+” for actual production, and a footnote in Blackhawks history right next to The Accountant Scott Foster and American Hero Ray Leblanc.

Jean-Francois Berube

Jean-Francois Berube (C-) – I was pretty hopeful for Berube when the season began. I thought he could have really been one of those sneaky (under the radar) signings. As it turned out, the season did not end up that way for the Vegas Golden Knights legend and summer free agent signee. This result may or may not have had something to do with the knee injury he suffered in early December, but it certainly could not have helped his production. The fact that he did not even report back to Rockford, and was sent home after the Blackhawks season ended, might indicate that he was still feeling the effects of his injury.

Berube was having an excellent year in Rockford when he was bumped into in early December and injured his knee. His misfortune was Collin Delia’s reward, so I am not complaining, but Berube came off injured reserve and almost immediately got thrown to the wolves like a piece of raw meat.

If you look at his stats, he was having a solid start to his season in Rockford (7-6-0, .918, 2.42 GAA, 2 SO). Once he returned, following an almost  two month stint on injured reserve, he only played two warmup losses (0-2-0, .934, 2.07 GAA) in Rockford before being recalled to the Blackhawks in early February.

That went about as well as you might expect, playing behind a team that was basically out of the playoff race, and getting worse by the day. BADLY. When you throw a goalie out on the ice who has played two games in two months to face 36 shots a night, you might be playing with fire.

I know, thanks Jeff Foxworthy…

Anton Forsberg (C-)

Anton Forsberg (C-) – I have to be honest, I am more undecided about Anton Forsberg than I was when the Stan Bowman acquired him last summer, as a throw in to the Saad/Panarin deal. I have always been skeptical of players jumping teams, much less leagues, and I am especially critical of goalies. Goalies are especially fickle individuals, much like lead signers in bands.  A vast majority are very loyal to their routines, position coaches, and the styles in front of them. When you upset the routine or the atmosphere, you might get some funky results.

Not only did Forsberg switch organizations, but he was also moving from the AHL to the NHL. He had a lot of success in the AHL but was very underwhelming in his few NHL minutes with the Blue Jackets organization. As a result, I was pretty skeptical.

As training camp unfolded, Forsberg was (maybe) the only solid goaltender in Blackhawks camp, and (rightfully) earned the backup job. That was where the success ended.

From the open of the regular season until Christmas he started eight games, winning just one of them. Granted he lost his first two games in overtime, but he was 1-4-3 when Corey Crawford went down.

As a result, Forsberg was never able to nail down the starting job, despite being given plenty of opportunities. This was while facing the lowest average shots per/60 against for all Blackhawks goalies (32.2).

All that said, I do not place all the blame on Forsberg. Joel Quenneville and the Blackhawks coaching staff really seem to love to scramble the brains of young goalies. He was thrown into (what seemed to be) the starting position and almost immediately the staff starts with the “Jeff Glass Experience.” Stories were being written, mini documentaries were being made, and Anton Forsberg was left looking over his shoulder following every borderline goal against.

This was a 25 year old kid who had played a grand total of 10 games and 494 NHL minutes over three seasons.

How do you instill confidence in your (now) supposed starting goalie, when the first thing you do to him is march a 32 year old AHL backup out and throw him in net? Jeff Glass should have never touched the ice, unless it was a relief situation or a back-to-back. That is how 90% of teams treat 3rd string goalies.

Not Joel Quenneville.

I would not compare Anton Forsberg to any current NHL starter but I would certainly put him right in the middle of NHL backups. One full game after Corey Crawford gets put on the shelf the Blackhawks coaching staff stuck it right up Forsberg’s behind. He was given one stinking game before the rug was pulled out from under him.

I really honestly believe that the Blackhawks mismanagement of their goalies has broken Anton Forsberg’s psyche. They better than a contingency plan going into next season, because both Forsberg and Berube leave nothing but enormous question marks.

Then they are down to my next contestant…

Collin Delia (Incomplete)

Collin Delia (Incomplete) – If you have not figured this out by now, I have become a bit of a Delia super fan. I sang his praises two summers ago, at Blackhawks prospect camp, and again last year. The Blackhawks were impressed enough to sign the free agent to an entry level deal, and his NHL journey began.

As this preseason began, he backstopped the Blackhawks prospects to the championship at the Traverse City prospect tournament (coached by Rockford head coach Jeremy Colliton) but, with Berube and Glass in Rockford already, the 23 year old California native was sent to Indy to train with the Blackhawks ECHL affiliate.

Delia toughed out a really complex training schedule, practicing with Rockford all week and then making the trip to Indy to play with the Fuel on weekends. Obviously this is a recipe for upsetting a goalies previously mentioned routine, which probably added to the kid struggling in Indy. Not only was he not used to playing behind these players (whom he was not practicing with on off-days during the week), but those players were not used to him. He hung in and stayed positive.

In early December, when Berube and Crawford went on the shelf, Delia was recalled to Rockford and never left. He started one AHL game previous to his recall and it certainly took a few games for him to get his feet wet.

Once he settled in with the Icehogs, there was little doubt who was taking them to the playoffs. He earned AHL player of the week in early March, and was eventually named 2017-18 Icehogs IOA/American Specialty AHL Man Of The Year.

Of course, this is all AHL and ECHL we are talking about, but Delia’s hot February and March earned him a late season NHL call-up. That call-up resulted in his first NHL win, first NHL loss, and first NHL injury replacement.

We will speak a little more on that later.

The reason I gave him an incomplete is because two games is not a fair period of time to assess his NHL play. In those two game, though, he played pretty well. Before leaving with cramps late in the infamous “Scott Foster Escapade” Delia was beating the Winnipeg Jets after giving up only two goals against.

This was after getting a thorough “rookie initiation” that morning in practice.

Joel Quenneville gave him the start the very next night in Denver, but the team around the young goalie was just completely flat, following the highly emotional win the night before. Delia, however, still made 31 saves on 36 shots.

I could joke and boast that Delia is a shoe-in for the backup position next season but, honestly, no one knows. He showed unshakable confidence, the ability to persevere and, of course, natural ability. His journey with the Icehogs in this year’s AHL Calder Cup playoffs will only benefit him, as well.

Clearly, I am pulling for this kid after personally following his journey from Merrimack College to the NHL.  This would not be the first time a player has made a similar leap. For now, though, we should all take this one step at a time.

Corey Crawford (A)

Corey Crawford (A) – The curious case of Corey Crawford. Other than a few select people in the organization and Corey Crawford himself, no one truly knows what is going on with him. Rumors have been alluded to and this is not the place to speculate, but one thing is clear, Corey Crawford is vitally important to this organization.

I have long been of the opinion that Crawford was under rated and was not just simply a marginal goalie behind a stacked team. This season was “exhibit A” to support that theory.

When Crawford went down, he was having arguably the best statistical season of his career and was carrying the Blackhawks on his back. His overall save percentage was the best it had ever been (.929), and his 5v5 save percentage was .935. Once he went down for good the Blackhawks circled the toilet bowl and were never seriously heard from again.

If the Blackhawks are going to return to cup contention, they will need Corey Crawford, first and foremost. The fact that he is going to be 34 this season should also be of concern, though. The organization has done a fairly poor (to terrible) job of developing goalies, and there needs to be some light at the end of the tunnel. Players like Delia, Forsberg, and even Wouter Peeters might eventually be the answer to the Hawks goaltending puzzle, but that would all be conjecture at this point in time.

Scott Foster (A+)

Scott Foster (A+) – A 2017-18 Blackhawks goalie review would not be complete without the story of “The Accountant.” For almost three quarters of an NHL third period, Scott Foster lived every beer leaguer’s dream. Not only did he live the dream, but he did so in absolute boss fashion.

The Blackhawks emergency backup was called into action when starter Anton Forsberg was injured in warm-ups on March 29th. Collin Delia was pushed into the starter’s role and Foster was forced into the backup role for the evening which required him to sign an amateur tryout contract with the team. This could have all ended peacefully and without incident but, as I mentioned earlier, Delia cramped up in the third period and need to be helped off the ice.

In steps the 30-something beer league accountant from Johnny’s Icehouse. Now, by pulling off this stunt in boss fashion, I mean this:

• Wearing his Johnny Cash style, Vaughn, outlaw looking black pads and AC/DC rock and roll themed mask
• Stepping in and facing seven Winnipeg Jets shots, some of which were not easy stops. No one would have faulted the guy for giving up a goal or two. Most fans will never realize just how difficult it is to put up 14 minutes of shutout hockey against one of the league’s best teams.
• Getting named the game’s first star.
• Conducting several post game charming and sometimes hunorous interviews.
• And perhaps the most respectable part of all, fading into the sunset without trying to milk the unique circumstance for every second of his 15 minutes of fame.  He pulled the George Costanza move, and it was amazing.

If you were to write a book or movie based on the events, you would have created a character exactly like Foster. He is the “Rudy” of the Blackhawks. For all of these reasons, I salute you, Scott Foster.

You are one hell of a guy and fellow goaltender!

Unfortunately, Foster’s debut and game completely overshadowed Collin Delia’s first NHL game and win as well as Brent Seabrook’s 1000th NHL game, but that is no fault of Foster’s. In the grand scheme, there is a bright future for Delia, so we can all hope there will be many more NHL wins for him to celebrate.

His first one, though, went straight to his accountant…

Accountant by day Scott Foster addresses the Blackhawks locker room after his NHL debut as Collin Delia looks on.

The post Blackhawks Year End Reviews: The Goaltenders appeared first on The Rink.

To the surprise of many, that expertise is not complaining and fighting with meatballs on Twitter, but goaltenders and goaltending.

It may be more of an obsession than an area of expertise, but I digress.

I laid out my opinion of how the Blackhawks goaltending situation would play out. Of course, I could not have predicted Corey Crawford would be out for the season after December 23rd, but I think the season played out much like I predicted.

Below is a piece I wrote the day they signed Collin Delia to a contract. I figured that it would be a good time to look back to see how things shook out.

First, some love for The-Rink and Hostile Legend Collin Delia, who was named the AHL player of the week, just last week:

The Blackhawks announced this morning that they had finalized a deal to bring former Merrimack junior goalie Collin Delia in to the Blackhawks organization and goalie fold.

As one might expect, I was absolutely delighted to hear this, because I have been singing the song of Delia for about 12 months. Last summer, when he was coming off a visit to the Ducks prospect camp, he caught my goalie eye. Even though he went back to Merrimack for his Junior season, he attended Capitals camp this summer, as well, and was invited back to Blackhawks camp.

Seeing a free agent two years in a row, in the same team’s camp is rare. NHL organizations were taking a long hard look at this California kid, and with the house cleaning the Blackhawks performed this spring/summer another solid goalie in the pipeline is never a bad problem to have.

Ever since I saw Delia play during the prospect camp of 2016, I was intrigued with his style and very calm demeanor. He was coming off an injury plagued sophomore season, that saw his stats dip, after an impressive freshman nine game look the season before. Even though he didn’t miss much time, his goals against went up by over a goal a game and his save percentage went down by .050, as a result. Just watching Delia play, though, it was hard to not be impressed.

He has decent size at 6’2″ and roughly 200lbs, but he’s no physical giant like Scott Darling. The first thing that really caught my eye, though, was his smooth fluid movement sliding side to side. Look, it’s not easy to master sliding side to side on ice without some little imperfections, but Delia looked to have his weight distribution locked in. He makes it look so simple, which takes exceptional bio-mechanics to accomplish. Not only does he move very smooth, but his natural reflexes were on display both this year and last, more specifically, his glove hand. Delia has a low compact stance, which allows him to explode in any direction quick and efficiently, and he’s also very flexible.

He came back this summer healthier, and better overall, after getting back on track with a very respectable 2.15 goals against average and .927 save percentage, while being named Hockey East Third Team All-Star and the league’s Stop It Goaltending Champion. It is easy to see why Blackhawks goalie specialists Jimmy Waite, and Peter Aubry were licking their lips. He came into prospect camp and stole the spotlight from camp vet and former draft pick Matt Tomkins, which led GM Stan Bowman to personally pull Delia aside to acknowledge his great week at camp.

Now on to the predictions:

With Friday’s signing, the Blackhawks now have six goalies under their umbrella in one fashion or another. Delia will, most likely, attend the Traverse City Rookie tournament with the Blackhawks rookies, later this summer. He will also attend the pro training camp in September, when all but Corey Crawford’s starting job could be up for grabs.

Goalie Matt Tomkins signed an AHL deal just before prospect camp, but with JF Berube and Jeff Glass signed to NHL deals, Tomkins looks to be all but Indy bound. This leaves Delia on the cusp of Rockford and Indy. Anything can happen, and given Jeff Glass’ age, Delia could push for a backup spot in Rockford with strong training camps.

Peripherally, I am still not sold on Anton Forsberg as Crawford’s backup, and JF Berube could surprise people, as well. Most likely, the depth will play out with Crawford/Forsberg in Chicago, with Berube/Glass in Rockford and Delia/Tomkins in Indy. Don’t be surprised of you see Berube and/or Delia make some waves and force the Blackhawks to make some more complicated decisions, though.

Not too shabby, if I say so myself.

In all honesty, I was just making guesses based on my personal evaluation of the goalies I had seen. With Corey Crawford’s injury and uncertain future, the Blackhawks may be forced into some uncomfortable positions.

Like the back of a Volkswagen?

I honestly think Corey Crawford will be back next season, but the organization will have to assume that he will, again, spend some time in injured reserve at some point. He has not been healthy for an entire season in years and he is coming off of a pretty significant bout of post concussion syndrome, according to reports.

VERDICT – Until a doctor tells us otherwise, we have to assume Crawford will be back healthy in the fall.

Anton Forsberg has had a rough year. He started off absolutely on fire, but has not yet shown he can be handed the net. It is probably a bit too early to be cutting bait on a 25 year old goalie.  They have him signed for another year at a very affordable cap number so they will ride this one out, unless someone comes calling with a deal they cannot pass up. Highly unlikely.

VERDICT – Back for one more year and possibly competes with Berube for the backup spot once again.

The way they have fumble and butchered the fragile confidence of Anton Forsberg, bringing back Jean-Francois Berube seems like an affordable foregone conclusion, but Stan Bowman is not always interested in what is most logical. With a thin corp of free agent goalies this year, building on all of the time and development you put into Berube, already, would seem plausible.

VERDICT – He battled a pretty bad injury and fought his way back. As of late, he has been the more consistent of the two current Blackhawks goalies. Give him another affordable deal, and have him compete with Forsberg again. At the very least, he will be a solid starter in Rockford with Collin Delia.

Jeff Glass will be an unrestricted free agent and, based on the depth chart, he should be left to sign elsewhere. He served his purpose and they got all they could out of the guy. If the team stops playing sentimental favorites and actually let Jeff Glass go, maybe they can bring him into the organisation as a goaltending scout or coach instead of mucking up the roster with 32 year old dead weight.

This would open up a spot for Bowman to sign another depth goalie, if they feel that they need to.

VERDICT – Let him go. This franchise does not need to get any older, and Delia has shown that he can take that next step. He was a warrior and hung in there as expansion draft bait, but bid him adieu

Collin Delia has shown that he can be, at the very least, an AHL backup. He is signed and will be back next season. He could very well push to be that number three guy, especially if they do something silly, like letting both Glass and Berube go. If that were to happen, Delia would be one Corey Crawford or Anton Forsberg injury away from making his NHL debut.

VERDICT – He will be back, and The-Rink will be on that bandwagon.

Behind Delia, Matt Tomkins has been playing pretty well, between Rockford and Indy. He is on an expiring AHL deal, but has done nothing to think that he is undesirable to this franchise. I would guess they will bring him back for another year.

VERDICT – Bring the kid back. He has hung in there and grown over the last year. If he wants to stay with the Blackhawks, he has earned the right to come back.

Lastly, the Blackhawks still hold the rights to Russian goalie Ivan Nalimov and former draft pick Wouter Peeters. Nalimov is under contract for one more year with Salavat Yulaev in the KHL and Peeters has been struggling in the USHL, so neither is an option for 2018-19.

VERDICT – Do not even bother with either of these guys until, at least, next spring. At the earliest.

If Crawford is back and they are as confident in Delia as I am, then the Hawks should probably sign another young free agent goalie to develop, possibly out of development camp.  You could also see them acquire an unfamiliar name in a low level deal at the draft.  Someone like Elmhurst native Garret Sparks comes to mind.

Meet Wally (Garret) Sparks

If Crawford is not back, they will be in trouble anyway. They could go one of two routes:

• Try and poach a young RFA, like Robin Lehner, Petr Mrazek or Philipp Grubauer. This is a rare occurrence, because NHL General Managers are cowards, but still plausible.
• Sign an NHL level vet to some in and hold down the net until Crawford can eventually come back. Someone like Cam Ward, Jaroslav Halak, or Jonathan Bernier. You may cringe at those names, but if you can get them at reasonable prices they may be able to stop the ship from completely sinking just long enough to straighten out this Crawford ordeal.

The post Revisiting Blackhawks Goaltending – Seven Months Later appeared first on The Rink.

Joel Quenneville kept the same lineup that the Blackhawks won with on Wednesday, with the exception of Jan Rutta, who was activated from injured reserve, Friday. Patrick Sharp, Lance Bouma, and Carl Dahlstrom all took their seats for the night in the Joel Quenneville Shrimp Cocktail Suite.

Jean-Francois Berube made his first start in a Blackhawks uniform, after recently returning from injured reserve and being called up from Rockford. Anton Forsberg is expected to start against his former team on Saturday night.

The Blackhawks lines for this game were:
Brandon Saad – Jonathan Toews – Tommy Wingels
Tomas Jurco – Artem Anisimov – Patrick Kane
Alex DeBrincat – Nick Schmaltz – Anthony Ducliar
Vincent Hinostroza – David Kampf – Ryan Hartman

Duncan Keith – Jordan Oesterle
Connor Murphy – Brent Seabrook
Erik Gustafsson – Jan Rutta

The Blackhawks jumped out to a big 9-3 shot lead in the top half of the first period, and had several nice chances against the Sharks goaltender. The Sharks, on the other hand, fought back in the bottom half of the period to test Berube, and he was also up to the task. The period ended scoreless, even though the two teams combined for 26 shots (15-11).

Just over five minutes into the second period, Blackhawks defenseman Jan Rutta celebrated his return to the lineup by giving the Hawks a 1-0 lead.

Nick Schmaltz and Anthony Duclair drove the puck deep into the Sharks zone and Rutta joined the play as the trailing defender. Duclair fed him with a pass that he tried to one time. San Jose blocked the shot, but Martin Jones had committed to the original shot, which gave Rutta the opportunity to beat the Sharks netminder.

Following the Rutta goal, Even with the Blackhawks getting the first power play of the game with two minutes remaining, the goaltenders once again locked down their nets. The high shot totals continued, but this time the Blackhawks led the period 13-10.

Just two minutes into the third period, birthday boy Nick Schmaltz gave the Blackhawks a two goal lead. Anthony Duclair set up the play by making a steal just inside the Sharks’ blue line. Duclair and Schmaltz spread out and worked a 2-on-1, with Duclair feeding Schmaltz on the back door for a one timer.

With just under eight minutes left in regulation, San Jose broke the shutout. A lost defensive zone faceoff eventually turned into a Timo Meier shot through a rare triple screen past the Blackhawks goaltender.

Despite a late San Jose flurry of shots, the Blackhawks were able to hold on long enough to ice the game with an Artem Anisimov empty net goal to win their second game in a row.

Pluses

• JF Berube was really good in his first game but, then again, so was Jeff Glass. One step at a time, but this was the kind of play that led me to think that he might give Anton Forsberg a tight race for backup in the preseason.
• I fully came into this game planning on roasting Anthony Duclair for his mediocre play, but he came out and had primary assists on the first two Blackhawks goals.

Minuses

• Forty three shots against cannot keep happening, if they want to finish out this season on a high note.
• The Hawks only had 2 power plays, and looked terrible on both.
• I still have no use for Tomas Jurco on this club. He is invisible. How can Stan Bowman bold faced lie to us about his supposed intentions of acquiring Jurco, last spring, for six weeks?

The post Recap: Blackhawks vs Sharks 3-1 Win appeared first on The Rink.

Waivers:
JEFF GLASS
CHI
CHRISTOPHER DIDOMENICO
OTT

— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) February 14, 2018

It was announced, today, that the Blackhawks had put Jeff Glass on waivers to be sent to Rockford. Most likely, the Blackhawks will recall Jean-Francois Berube, who had just come back from his own stint on the disabled list, on Thursday.

Jeff Glass, who was recalled December 28th, was a great “feel good” story for about a month but was eventually exposed as over matched against NHL competition. Glass earned his first NHL win, at the age of 32, on December 29th. His last win was over a month ago, on January 12th.

The story was also a convenient distraction from the many other problems that the Blackhawks were subject to.

If Glass clears waivers the Blackhawks will need to make a follow-up roster move, with Anton Forsberg as the only goalie on the active pro roster. Several reports, and even Corey Crawford himself, have stated that he is not ready to return to action yet. He has skated with the team and taken a few shots, but has not been through a full practice yet.

For the moment, it was time for the Jeff Glass Experience to mercifully end.

photo created and donated by Rinkrat Patrick Judge

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Laurent Dauphin was sent back to Arizona in the Panik/Duclair trade, but the rest of the players have been pretty close to spot on.  Carl Dahlstrom had a really impressive showing at the AHL All-Star festivities, just this weekend, and David Kampf has turned into a really useful mammal for this organization.

As we fly through the summer, and approach that 20 day window of hockey activities, the Blackhawks universe has more questions than anyone can probably remember in this era. It is very well possible that there will be open competitions for several forward spots, and possibly as many as three spots on defense.

Hell, Stan Bowman might have said otherwise, but the spot behind Corey Crawford isn’t as nailed down as he wanted us to think, in June. We have all seen the articles about the big name young players, but there are a few “under the radar” players that could turn into this year’s “out of left field” name. It is more likely that these names could never amount into anything, but what else do we have to discuss in late August? Deep dive time:

David Kämpf

With all the action this summer it has been, sort of, forgotten that the Blackhawks signed this Czech center to a deal “way back” in May.

At first glance, this move seems a little like the Martin Lundberg signing, two years ago, until you look a little deeper. This signing could certainly have a little more substance than originally perceived.

Kampf is considerably younger (22) and slightly taller (6’2″) than Lundberg (25 when signed, and 6’0″). He was a former assistant captain on the Czech U18 team, which could show that he has some leadership qualities, as well as confidence and added responsibilities from his former coaches. Kampf was also a team mate of other Blackhawks signee, Jan Rutta in the Czech league.

With other Czech players Michal Kempny and Michal Rozival on the roster, Kampf could conceivably sneak in as that fourth line center if Joel Quenneville decides that Nick Schmaltz is better suited with Patrick Kane and Artem Anisimov to start the season.

Theoretically, Tanner Kero would move up to the third line which would open a spot for a more defensibly responsible, and possibly versatile, player on that fourth line. This also brings me to my next player…but first, here are some Kampf highlights:

 

 

Laurent Dauphin

Dauphin was, what seemed to be, a “throw in” for the Hjalmarsson/Murphy deal, but he was thought of pretty highly in his draft year, reportedly, by this very Blackhawks front office. He was a high second round pick (39th overall), in 2013.

Also, a player that held a captain’s letter with his amateur team, Dauphin has shown a little more scoring ability than Kampf did, but is rumored to be a little weak on the puck. While junior stats can certainly be deceiving, 75 points in the QMJHL and back to back 10+ goal seasons in the AHL as a 20 and 21 year old are nothing to dismiss.

If I had to guess, based on scouting reports, I would give the edge to Kampf for a 4th line role. Dauphin has a little more offense to his game, which Quenneville doesn’t seem to be as worried about in his fourth liners. By all reports, Dauphin sounds like a more “Phillip Danault“ type player, while Kampf seems more like a “Marcus Kruger“ type. Neither is bad, they just fit in different spots of the line-up. After a nice little breakout season last year, Tanner Kero seems to have the edge over both players at this point in time, but that can change pretty quick. Here are some World Junior Highlights of Laurent Dauphin:

 

 

Ville Pokka

Pokka has been the brunt of many jokes here at Puckin Hostile, but the Blackhawks are keeping him around for something. The knock on him is that his skating is just not up to NHL standards, and he may be a bit of an adventure in his own end of the ice. One thing that is not questionable, though, is his ability to create offense. He was voted the Rockford Icehogs best defenseman in 2015-16, and played in the World Cup of Hockey for the Finnish team last summer. He undoubtedly has a great shot that he loves to use, and can be an asset on the offensive side of the ice. You can’t completely overlook those assets but, then again, TJ Brennan am I right?

Where will Ville Pokka fall in Blackhawks lore? My impression is that he has gone the way of the way of Morin and McNeill, but he could have worked on his skating and have a breakout camp. Let us be reminded that this kid is still only 23 years old. If that were to happen, everyone wins. It is certainly true that Gustav Forsling has leapt over him on the depth chart, but that doesn’t mean a mid-season call up is out of the question. Hell, if nothing else, the Blackhawks could showcase him for a team that needs some more offense cost effective from their defense.

 

 

Carl (Calle) Dahlstrom

I certainly have my reservations about Dahlstrom’s skating ability, but he is still only 22 years old and he’s a big guy. One attribute the Blackhawks lack in their system is defensemen with size, and something the Blackhawks seem to love are Swedish defensemen. Dahlstrom checks both boxes at 6’4″ and 230 lbs. If he could actually lose the Frankenstein boots, he has some physical assets that are rare. Some of the reasons that the Blackhawks kept Michal Rozsival around is that he has size, physicality and can make a pass. His mobility, or lack thereof, sure isn’t the reason. In 2015, Chris Block went into depth about the disconnect between Dahlstrom and the Hockey ops staff, and I fully trust he was right.

We are now two years down the road, though, and Dahlstrom has hung around like a good soldier. Hung around to play 70 AHL games last season. There have also been changes in the organization and another big (at the time), tough (often dirty) Swedish former NHL defenseman was added to the coaching staff, in Ulf Samuelsson. I think you see where I’m going with this. If he plays his cards right, Dahlstrom could gain favor and get a legit shot on the depth chart. Of course, this might only be solid minutes in Rockford, but it wasn’t all that long ago that another fairly immobile defenseman with size named Viktor Svedberg saw 27 games with the Blackhawks. That was with a more decorated group around him.

If you look at Dahlstrom’s stats last year in Rockford, they look paltry, but you have to also remember that the team was in total disarray. The golden pony, Gustav Forsling, only had 8 points in 30 games. So, keep an eye out, and have an open mind. The Blackhawks need some surprises this year, if they want to compete at that high level.

 

 

Robin Press/Robin Norell

Press was the most experienced defenseman in Blackhawks prospect camp, in July. Aaron Goldschmidt, Mario Tirabassi and I noticed the bigger of these two defenders, Press, and he did nothing to hurt his stock in our eyes. He has above average size, and looks comfortable with the puck on his stick thanks to the fact that he is a converted forward. He won’t get manhandled too often just based on his size alone. His biggest asset might be that he is right handed. That is something that not only the Blackhawks covet, but the entire NHL. Press is on an AHL deal, but that can easily be converted.

Norell is a smaller Swedish defenseman but, again, a Swedish defenseman. He is actually the smallest of the Swedish triumvirate (Dahlstrom, Press, and Norell) from the 2013 draft, but don’t sleep on him. He could also sneak in some playing time this season, because all bets are off, thanks to the uncertainty of the depth chart and Quenneville’s seemingly unpredictable magic 8-ball. Like Dahlstrom, he played over 60 games in the AHL, so he’s not entirely inexperienced.

 

 

Jean-Francois Berube

I’ve mentioned his name a couple of times, and I believe he’s still a good goalie with pro potential. Berube did take a strange path to the Blackhawks, though. He was drafted by the LA Kings in the 4th round of the 2009 draft, was claimed off waivers by the Islanders in 2015, was drafted by the Vegas Golden Knights in June and then signed with the Blackhawks July 1st. At the time Islanders claimed him, he was coming off a 37-9-4 regular season with a 2.18 GAA and a .913 sv%, along with a Calder Cup championship. Sound a lot like another goalie in the Blackhawks system, just one year later, eh?

The Islanders are basically where goalies go to die, but he still had decent numbers in 2015-16 between the AHL and NHL despite getting injured in late November and being on IR for a good portion of the season. The tire fire Islanders extended him for 16/17, and he was thrown to the wolves as part of a stupid 3 headed goalie monster with Thomas Greiss and Jaroslav Halak which, like the Islanders arena problems, went badly. Alas, though, one bad season does not a goalie make, right? He has a fresh start, in a new organization, with a new goalie coach.

I really see him having a good season, and possibly pushing Anton Forsberg for the backup job. Both goalies are on 2 year deals with very little salary difference ($50,000), and both would have to go through waivers to get to Rockford. Don’t be surprised if the race is closer than the organization wanted you to think after the Panarin/Saad trade. Adding Berube to the mix was a sneaky good move by Stan Bowman. At the very worst, Berube is a solid number 3 that can log a lot minutes in Rockford and usher in Matt Tomkins and Collin Delia.

Notice who his first NHL game was against, and who the first highlight includes.

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Backup Jeff Glass replaced Berube for the remainder of the game.  Third string goalie Collin Delia, who was not dressed for this game, was forced to come down to the locker room and get dressed to backup Glass, for the third period.

Sources indicate that Berube will be out as long as a matter of weeks with a lower body injury, possibly a sprained ankle or knee injury.

This means that 32 year old Jeff Glass will, once again, handle a majority of the Icehogs goaltending duties, but #TheRinkLegendCollinDelia should get a shot at seeing some AHL time, as well.

Delia has been doing the Rockford-to-Indy shuffle for most of the season, so getting a chance to plant his roots with one team for a few weeks should be a welcomed and settling proposition.

The Icehogs will be in San Antonio to face the Rampage on Friday night.

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A 4-3 overtime win over rival Chicago and a 6-2 route of the Stars was the perfect response the IceHogs needed to show after falling to the Moose earlier in the week.

Friday: Rockford IceHogs def. Chicago Wolves, 4-3 (ot)

In the third game of the Illinois Lottery Cup rivalry this season, the Wolves came into Rockford having taken down the IceHogs one week prior in a 4-3 win in Chicago. On Friday, it would be the same final, but the IceHogs would come out on top, taking the 2-1 series lead over the Wolves in this season’s installment of the rivalry.

Prior to Friday night’s action, the Chicago Blackhawks announced that goaltender Corey Crawford would be placed on injured-reserve with an undisclosed injury. The Blackhawks recalled IceHogs goalie J.F. Berube and also assigned Collin Delia to Rockford.

On top of the last-minute transactions, the IceHogs welcomed Marian Hossa to the BMO Harris Bank Center for Friday’s game to honor the NHL legend. It was shaping up to be quite the Friday, even before the puck dropped.

The IceHogs got out to the first period lead just past the mid-way point when Tomas Jurco netted his sixth goal of the season, giving the IceHogs the 1-0 lead. Just five minutes later, Ville Pokka put the IceHogs up 2-0 with his third goal of the season. Both Pokka and Jurco assisted on each others goals and Rockford took the 2-0 lead into the second period.

Early in the middle-frame, the IceHogs extended their lead to 3-0 after Andreas Martinsen scored his second goal of the season. But the shutout for Jeff Glass wouldn’t last much longer as former IceHog Brandon Pirri opened up the scoring for the Wolves just three minutes later. With just over a minute remaining in the period, Brett Sterling would score his fourth goal of the season to make it a 3-2 game heading into the third period.

In the third, the IceHogs would be able to hold off the Wolves attack for most of the final frame. But, with just under five minutes left in the game, Teemu Pulkkinen would tie the game with his eighth goal of the season and the game would head to overtime.

ICYMI: Vinnie Hinostroza was back at it for the @goicehogs with an overtime game-winner last night. pic.twitter.com/UdYOfKd49q

— AHL (@TheAHL) December 2, 2017

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In the overtime period, the IceHogs would need just 37 seconds and one shot for Vince Hinostroza to end the game. With his ninth goal of the year, Hinostroza gave the IceHogs the 4-3 win over the Wolves and sent the fans home happy.

Saturday: Rockford IceHogs def. Texas Stars, 6-2

Saturday night’s game against the Texas Stars marked the IceHogs’ Annual Teddy Toss night benefiting Rockford-area hospitals and children’s charities. Although it was the Stars that got out to the lead late in the first period. It would be Anthony Louis‘ fourth goal of the season eight minutes into the second period that not only tied the game 1-1, but also sent the Teddy Bears flying.

RELEASE. THE TEDDY BEARS! ? pic.twitter.com/N8LnaUs8Qa

— Rockford IceHogs (@goicehogs) December 3, 2017

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That wouldn’t be all for the IceHogs in the second period either. Later in the period, Matthew Highmore would score his team-leading 10th goal of the season to give the IceHogs the 2-1 lead. With just under two minutes left in the period, William Pelletier would extend the Rockford lead to 3-1 with his second goal of the year.

In the third period, the IceHogs would notch two more goals to extend the lead to 5-1 with tallies coming from Luc Snuggerud and Darren Raddysh, their third and second goals of the year respectively. A former IceHog would break the scoring run for Rockford as Texas’ Mark McNeill would score his third goal of the year to make it a 5-2 game with six minutes remaining. Tomas Jurco would add an empty-net goal and the IceHogs completed the route of the Stars, 6-2.

Four Rockford rookies scoring for the IceHogs and Vince Hinostorza tallying three assists in the game made the Saturday tilt a great momentum builder for the team heading into an extended break. Hinostroza leads the team in scoring with 22 points (9G, 13A) in 23 games and ranks 9th overall in the AHL in scoring after a four-point weekend. Jeff Glass would notch wins number six and seven on the season with both victories over the weekend, improving his record to 7-2-1 this year.

What’s Next?

The IceHogs will be on the ice next on Friday, Dec. 8th when they begin a home-and-home series with the Grand Rapids Griffins. Friday nights game takes place in Grand Rapids and is slated for a 7pm ET puck drop. The IceHogs return home on Saturday and play hosts to the Griffins back at the BMO Harris Bank Center for a 6pm CT puck drop in Rockford. Saturday night will also be Girl Scout Night for the IceHogs. In three games this season, the IceHogs are 3-0-0 against the Griffins with a pair of shootout victories.

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Not much is known about Crawford’s injury status, but he did make a save on a shorthanded Mattias Janmark break-a-way early in Thursday night’s game and was very slow to get up. He also didn’t play all that well for the remainder of the first and second periods. He looked to have returned to glory in the third period, but found himself on his back side more than usual. This may indicate that Crawford tweaked a groin or hamstring, and woke up more sore than expected. More will be announced as we get updates. Here is the play in question:

These will be big opportunities for both Berube and Delia, as well, although I highly doubt Berube sees any action unless Crawford is out for more than a week. Delia may actually see some time in Rockford, though, with only Jeff Glass in front of him.

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The Admirals opened the scoring late in the first period as Harry Zolnierczyk put one by J.F. Berube on a breakaway chance. Zolnierczyk’s fifth goal of the season came on an Admirals powerplay chance and Milwaukee held a 1-0 lead into the second frame.

The IceHogs were able to pull even early in the second period when Tyler Sikura was able to put back a rebound from Erik Gustafsson for the game-tying goal. Sikura’s second goal of the year, ending a seven-game point-less streak, knotted up the game 1-1. The tie would last until Kamenev’s late second period tally, which also came on a breakaway chance, to put the Admirals ahead for good.

In the third period, Trevor Murphy would give the Admirals an insurance goal late in the period to make it 3-1. Rockford out-shot the Admirals 33-26 in the game and 11-4 in the third period, including a 15-minute stretch where the Admirals were held without a shot in the final frame but it wasn’t enough to get the win.

J.F. Berube saved 23 of 26 shots faced while Admirals goalie Anders Lindback made 32 saves on 33 shots faced. The win is Lindback’s sixth of the year, while Berube picks up his third loss of the season. With the win, the Admirals are the first team in this series to get a win at home in the first four matchups of nine total this season.

Rockford is off until Nov. 9 when they travel to Iowa to take on the Iowa Wild in a Thursday morning matchup, puck drop is scheduled for 10:30AM CT. The IceHogs return home the next day on Nov. 10 to take on the San Antonio Rampage on Pucks & Paws Night. Puck drop is at 7:00PM CT at the BMO Harris Bank Center on Friday Night.

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With opening night less than a week away, the Blackhawks are down to some tough decisions with their roster. We talked at length about the options on Tuesday night’s Shoutcast, but there are some real questions. I’m going to break down some of the upcoming roster decisions or at least try to lay them out in a logical manor. This doesn’t mean Joel Quenneville decide to use the logical method. First, we look at my favorites, the goalies, which is the only position that is seemingly locked down.

Corey Crawford is the clear and unquestioned number one. He had has his injury bugs each year, but he is still a top 10 goalie in this league. We can all expect another injury at some point this year. It is inevitable. Crawford will continue his solid, unspectacular performance, and continue to be overlooked, as well as under rated. He won’t truly be appreciated until the Cup window is secured shut and this generation of players are retired. It is a shame that the guy gets so much angst from fans that don’t truly understand the intricacies of the position, but it is the nature of the sport and Chicago.

Sneaky offseason acquisition Anton Forsberg will back up Corey Crawford. Before camp began, I honestly thought that Jean-Francois Berube had a solid chance to challenge Forsberg for the backup job, but Berube had a pretty rusty performance against the Blue Jackets. This opened the door wide open for Forsberg. All he needs to do is be solid tonight in Detroit, and the race is officially over. Forsberg really impressed me in his opening game vs the Blue Jackets. He was big in net, quick in the crease, and composed. His reflexes are very good for a big guy. I am now aboard the Forsberg train. If he can keep this up, he’ll be a perfectly fine replacement for Scott Darling.

My dark horse this camp was Jean-Francois Berube, and he simply just didn’t deliver in his one opportunity. His first goal against was more the lack of support from his team, but he got a piece of the Ryan Murray shot. The last two goals against were pretty sloppy. There is no excuse to be giving up a goal off the end boards, from virtually behind the net, like he did to Lucas Sedlak. The third goal was a weak backhand less than a minute later by Oliver Bjorkstrand, that was actually defended alright by Brent Seabrook, which softly went 5-hole. He will be fine in Rockford, if he sneaks through waivers, and “should be” the number one guy there, but Jeff Glass is a former teammate of new coach Jeremy Colliton, so that could affect the game distribution. If Crawford or Forsberg get hurt, Berube is a fine option as well.

Jeff Glass is just a veteran depth guy that can be a leader in the locker room for the kids and provide some valuable consistent experience in the Icehogs backup role. If Glass ends up being counted on for more than a leadership role, then there are real problems.

First year pro (and Puckin Hostile favorite), Collin Delia doesn’t figure into the pro team’s plans this year, or even maybe next, but this will be an important season for him to earn a reputation and gather some crucial experience. Expect him to probably start the season in Indy, with the Fuel, and share time with Matt Tomkins. If Delia can have a solid season in Indy, we could see him get some time in Rockford as the season progresses. He has the potential and certainly has the talent. The fanboy in me wants to see Delia get some Rockford time and wow the pants off everyone, but the pragmatist in me says that isn’t realiztec to expect.

Matt Tomkins is signed to an AHL deal and will eventually end up in Indy with Delia. While I was certainly fine with Jake Hildebrand and Eric Levine in the ECHL last year, Delia and Tomkins are an upgrade to the depth of the organization. Hildebrand was just alright as the primary netminder in Indy, but was overmatched in the few times he actually saw the ice in Rockford. He today signed a tryout with the Tulsa Oilers of the ECHL. Levine was a temporary solution to the thin goaltending depth in the organization, as was Jeff Glass, and wasn’t even all that good in Indy.

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