Parts of the series

Introduction

Tiers one and two

Tier three

Tier four

Tier five

Tier six

Complete tier listings with our panel’s original average tier ratings (* represents a unanimous rating from the panel)

Tier one

Adam Boqvist (1*)
Kirby Dach (1*)

Tier two

Ian Mitchell (1.833)
Nicolas Beaudin (2.333)

Tier three

Alex Vlasic (2.833)
Alex Nylander (3)
Dominik Kubalik (3.167)
Philipp Kurashev (3.167)
Chad Krys (3.333)
Jake Wise (3.5)
Alexis Gravel (4)

Tier four

Evan Barratt (3.5)
MacKenzie Entwistle (3.667)
Aleksi Saarela (3.833)
Josiah Slavin (3.833)
Dennis Gilbert (4)
Matthew Highmore (4)
Kevin Lankinen (4)
Niklas Nordgren (4)
John Quenneville (4*)
Michal Teply (4)
Lucas Carlsson (4.167)
Tim Soderlund (4.167)
Alexandre Fortin (4.333)

Tier five

Brandon Hagel (4.333)
Antti Saarela (4.333)
Dominic Basse (4.5)
Artur Kayumov (4.5)
Josh Ess (4.667)
Jakub Galvas (4.833)
Mikael Hakkarainen (4.833)
Reese Johnson (4.833)
Cole Moberg (4.833)
Andrei Altybarmakyan (5.167)
Ivan Nalimov (5.167)
Joni Tuulola (5.167)

Tier six

Mathias From (5.333)
Roope Laavainen (5.333)
Ryan Shea (5.333)
Parker Foo (5.5)
Jake Ryczek (5.5)
Nathan Noel (5.667)
Graham Knott (5.833)

Note: Our panel discovered at a later date Jack Ramsey had been omitted from the series and agreed Ramsey falls into tier six.

The post RECAP: The-Rink’s Blackhawks prospect pyramid: Blood, sweat and tiers appeared first on The Rink.

Our series kicks off today with tier six, defined as a prospect seen as an organizational depth player or goalie with little to no chance to play in the NHL.

As explained in the introduction piece, each eligible prospect in the system was rated by our staff panel before ultimately being debated to agree on a tier. Each prospect’s original rating average is listed in parentheses after their name, along with a brief synopsis of why they fell in the tier they did.

Players are listed in order of original rating average, with any ties being sorted alphabetically by last name.

Mathias From (5.333)
To some, From feels like he could be a fourth-liner in the NHL. Others believe he will never even set foot on professional North American ice. From has shown skill in the Blackhawks’ development camps he has attended, but not enough to put himself in a higher tier. A fifth-round pick in 2016, From tallied 16 points in 45 games last season with AIK in Sweden. The Denmark native will join Blackhawks 2014 fourth-round pick Fredrik Olofsson on MODO for the 2019–20 season.

Mathias From scored 16 points in 45 games for AIK last season. (Photograph courtesy of Sportbibeln)

Roope Laavainen (5.333)
Laavainen is an intriguing piece within the prospect pool because the organization seems to think he can be a player moving forward. While one member of our panel felt similarly, thinking Laavainen could be a bottom-pairing NHL defenseman in the future, the majority did not see anything to justify a spot on a higher tier. The 2017 fourth-rounder will return to play with HPK in Finland this season.

Roope Laavainen will return to play for HPK in Finland this season. (Photograph courtesy of Jukka Rautio/Kuva Europhoto)

Ryan Shea (5.333)
The 2015 fourth-rounder has been a steady presence for Northeastern University in his three seasons with the Huskies, the first two of which he played with Dylan Sikura. Shea will return to Northeastern for his senior season, where he will captain the Huskies. Should the Blackhawks choose to sign Shea in the future, he would likely have to jump a number of other young defensemen in the system for a shot at playing in the NHL.

Ryan Shea will captain Northeastern University this season. (Photograph courtesy of Northeastern University)

Parker Foo (5.5)
The Blackhawks are likely hoping Foo can follow in the footsteps of his older brother, Spencer, in becoming a good-looking prospect who had success at the collegiate level, but until further notice, the 2017 fifth-rounder might have nothing more than a future in the minor leagues. Foo will return to Union College this fall for his junior season after posting 15 points in 35 games as a sophomore with the Dutchmen.

Parker Foo will return to Union College for his junior season with the Dutchmen. (Photograph courtesy of Robert Morris University)

Jake Ryczek (5.5)
Ryczek will turn pro this season after spending two years playing for the Halifax Mooseheads in the QMJHL. While he could still develop into a serviceable player, 2019 first-round pick Kirby Dach did nothing to help Ryczek’s cause at this year’s development camp, making the 2016 seventh-rounder look more like a pylon than a future NHL defenseman. Ryczek would also have to jump over a glut of other young defensemen to get his shot at the NHL level, which seems unlikely.

Jake Ryczek will turn pro this season after spending two years with the Halifax Mooseheads of the QMJHL. (Photograph courtesy of Katie Whitty)

Nathan Noel (5.667)
A fourth-round pick in 2016, Noel has struggled to put up numbers since turning pro in 2017, scoring just seven goals and adding 11 assists in 84 games split between the Rockford IceHogs and Indy Fuel. At this point, Noel, who struggled to stay healthy last season, will likely be nothing more than a depth player in the minors.

Nathan Noel will enter his third professional season with the Blackhawks’ organization this fall. (Photograph courtesy of the Rockford IceHogs)

Graham Knott (5.833)
Needless to say, Knott looks to be among the biggest disappointments in the Blackhawks’ prospect pool since Kyle Beach. Originally a second-round pick in 2015, Knott has scored just eight goals in 126 professional games over two seasons with the Rockford IceHogs. Short of a miraculous turnaround, it would be safe to write off any chance of Knott making it to the NHL moving forward.

Graham Knott posted four goals and nine assists last season with the Rockford IceHogs. (Photograph courtesy of the Rockford IceHogs)

Stay tuned as The-Rink progresses up the ladder in its prospect pyramid: Blood, sweat and tiers.

The post The-Rink’s Blackhawks prospect pyramid: Blood, sweat and tiers, part one appeared first on The Rink.

All to be taken with a grain of salt, of course.

As the years have gone on the chance of that next Alexandre Fortin or Collin Delia type player getting signed out of camp is rare, since the Blackhawks have gone to a more prospect intensive format rather than inviting and showcasing a large number of free agents.

Camp is split up into two groups, and the players are put though various on ice drills which eventually leads to the yearly Friday scrimmage.

There were a few observations Eric Andrews and I noticed after the first day:

• Adam Boqvist and Henri Jokiharju are clearly the belles of the ball and rightfully so. They are the most talented defensemen on the entire camp. That said, they are still young and not without flaws. The future is bright for these two kids.
• After Boqvist and Jokiharju, defenseman Ian Mitchell continues to impress. He could turn out to be the absolute steal of the 2017 draft.
• Following a down season last year in Rockford, Alexandre Fortin seems to have regained his wheels. That can only be good for the Icehogs.
• Niklas Nordgren looks smaller on the ice than I had anticipated (big surprise, right?) and got pushed around quite a bit in the contact drills.
• The newest Blackhawks prospect, MacKenzie Entwistle, is a big lumbering kid. I am interested to see if he can be a power forward at the pro level.
• Defenseman Roope Laavainen has some decent size but his foot speed is still in need of help.
• Clearly, Dennis Gilbert and Blake Hillman are trying to use their size to catch the eye of the Blackhawks staff.
• Mathias From has that Phillip Danault look and feel to him. He is listed at 6’1″ but looks taller this year. We could seem him jump to that next level as a legit prospect this year.
• As far as goalies go, Wouter Peeters is an absolute enigma. I still have not seen anything that makes him stand out as a prospect. This summer both Alexis Gravel and free agent invitee Linden Marshall are more noticeable, while Collin Delia out shined him the last two summers. Marshall is my under the radar goalie prospect, so far, this year. Remember that name, because he is likely going to show up somewhere, someday.
• Regarding the few free agents in camp, Kyle Maksimovich is a smaller forward with an edge but the Blackhawks have a bunch of those. Connor Moynihan, on the other hand, has some nice size that could come in useful. It seem strange saying that 209 lbs looks small but he could fill out his frame with another 15-20 lbs.

Check out some photos from day 1, right here:

The post Blackhawks Prospect Camp: Day 1 appeared first on The Rink.

Preliminary rosters have been announced over the past few days and the Chicago Blackhawks have six prospects that were named to rosters. Henri Jokiharju, Roope Laavainen, Tim Soderlund, Andrei Altybarmakyan, Artur Kayumov, and Jakub Galvas have the opportunity to represent their respective countries come tournament time.

Who’s In?

Jokiharju and Laavainen lead a stacked Finnish defensive core looking to get back into medal contention after failing to place last season. Jokiharju, the Blackhawks’ first-round draft pick last summer, has 35 points (7G, 28A) in 27 games with the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks. Laavainen, Chicago’s fourth-round draft pick last summer, has just one assist in 22 games with HPK of the Finnish Liiga.

Finnish U20 national team for the World Juniors camp has been announced. #WorldJuniors #U20fi pic.twitter.com/m3KRiZc5ys

— Finnish jr hockey (@FINjrhockey) December 4, 2017

Another fourth-round draft pick from this past summer, Tim Soderlund, is the lone Swedish prospect for the Blackhawks on the preliminary roster. Soderlund has eight points (6G, 2A) in 24 games with Skelleftea in the SHL and was part of Sweden’s World Junior squad last year that placed fourth. Soderlund tallied three points in the tournament last year.

Jakub Galvas is another lone representative player named to a preliminary roster. Galvas, a fifth-round draft pick from this past summer, is the only Blackhawks prospect on the Czech roster and will look to build off of the success of the 2016-17 Hlinka Memorial Gold the Czech’s took home last year. Galvas has eight points (1G, 7A) in 28 games with HC Olomouc of the Czech Professional League.

Finally, the Russian preliminary roster has two Blackhawks prospects named with a pair of forwards in Artur Kayumov and Andrei Altybarmakyan. Kayumov, a second-round pick from the 2016 draft, had injury issues early this season, but has played in 16 games for Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the KHL and tallied a goal and an assist.

Russian-based part of the Russia U20 NT WJC camp roster has been announced (NA-based part to be announced later). #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/mNq2V20i4U

— Russian Prospects (@RUSProspects) December 4, 2017

Altybarmakyan, a third-round pick by the Blackhawks this last summer and winner of the hardest to pronounce name of all Blackhawks prospects, has 13 games under his belt for SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL with no points recorded and 20 games played with 13 points (7G, 6A) for SKA-Neva St. Petersburg of the VHL, Russia’s second-tier professional league.

Who’s Out?

The real surprise as far as the Blackhawks prospect system goes, was the omission of defenseman Chad Krys from Team USA’s preliminary roster. Krys, a Sophomore at Boston University and 2016 second-round draft pick, has 14 points (4G, 10A) in 17 games and was part of the 2015-16 Bronze Medal USA team. Along with Alex DeBrincat, Krys was cut from Team USA’s preliminary roster last winter as they went on to win Gold in a shootout over Canada.

Surprised that Chad Krys did not receive a spot on Team USA’s prelim World Juniors roster. Was in final cuts last year, 14 pts in 17 games with Boston U as a Soph this year. Also was part of 2016 World Junior Bronze Medal USA squad. #Blackhawks

— Mario Tirabassi (@Mario_Tirabassi) December 5, 2017

The other “big” omission for the Blackhawks would be the lack of Canadian representation as the only real gripe that could be made would be for defenseman Ian Mitchell. A second-round draft pick from this past summer, has played in 14 games for the University of Denver with 11 points, all assists. Mitchell is a highly-touted NCAA prospect who jumped into a top-tier program and became one of their go to players right away. Unfortunately for Mitchell and Blackhawks fans, the Canadian roster is just too deep.

The Blackhawks should hope that one of Sweden, Finland, Russia, or the Czech Republic make it to the Gold Medal game as Chicago was unrepresented in the Gold Medal game last year between Canada and the United States. The last Blackhawks prospect to win a World Junior Gold Medal was Joni Tuulola with Finland in 2016.

The IIHF World Junior Championships start December 26 when Canada takes on Finland.

The post Six Blackhawks Prospects Named To Preliminary World Juniors Rosters appeared first on The Rink.