AHL Rockford IceHogs

NHL Draft Watch: Impact on IceHogs

Published on June 26, 2023 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Rockford IceHogs News Release


The 2023 NHL Entry Draft approaches with the first round beginning at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, June 28 in Nashville. The Chicago Blackhawks currently have 11 draft picks at their disposal and pending any trades, will welcome 11 athletes to the organization over the next two days. It is more than likely that several of those new faces will at some point spend time with the Rockford IceHogs and play major roles in the Stateline. Along with the 2023 draftees that could skate for the Hogs down the line, players selected in the 2021 and 2022 NHL drafts will start to make their way to Rockford this season.

Blackhawks 2023 Draft Breakdown (as of 6/26/2023)

Round 1: #1, #19 (from Tampa Bay)

Round 2: #35, #44 (from Ottawa), #51 (from Tampa Bay), #55 (from New York Rangers)

Round 3: #67, #93 (from Dallas)

Round 4: #99

Round 5: #131

Round 6: -

Round 7: #195

1st Rounders

Most notably, the Blackhawks hold the right to select first overall in the upcoming draft. History says that the number one overall draft pick typically doesn't appear in games at the AHL level, so no one should expect Chicago's first selection to skate with the IceHogs. However, the Hawks pick again at 19th overall in the first round, and there is plenty of precedent for later first-round picks producing with the IceHogs. Lukas Reichel was selected 17th overall in the 2020 draft and has been a star for the Hogs each of the last two seasons. Nicolas Beaudin was taken 27th overall by Chicago in 2018 and played parts of four seasons in Rockford and Chicago before he was traded to the Montreal Canadiens. Based on pervious players' paths, there is a strong possibility that the Blackhawks' pick at 19 could don an IceHogs sweater in the next few seasons.

Lukas Reichel was taken by the Blackhawks at 17th overall in 2020.

So Many Seconds

Chicago is the only team in the NHL with four picks in the second round. Detroit has three consecutive picks at 41st, 42nd, and 43rd, while Anaheim picks at the start of the second round and has two more selections at 59th and 60th. The Hawks have had four picks in the second round twice before: 2004 and 2010. The 2004 quartet featured Dave Bolland (16 IceHogs GP, 332 Blackhawks GP, two Stanley Cups), Bryan Bickell (180 IceHogs GP, 384 Blackhawks GP, three Stanley Cups), Ryan Garlock, and Jakub Sindel. In the 2010 second round, Chicago took Ludvig Rensfeldt, Justin Holl (2 IceHogs GP, 285 NHL GP with Toronto), Kent Simpson (34 IceHogs GP, one Blackhawks GP), and Stephen Johns (59 IceHogs GP, 167 NHL GP with Dallas). Among those eight players drafted in the second rounds of 2004 and 2010, five appeared in Rockford.

The Blackhawks selected G Drew Commesso in the 2nd round of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft.

Plenty of other familiar faces to Hogs fans have come from Chicago's second round selections. Below is a list of Blackhawks second-round picks since 2011. Nine of 14 Blackhawks selected in the second round of the last 12 drafts have appeared on an IceHogs roster. Bolded players were rostered by Rockford last season.

2022 - Paul Ludwinski, Ryan Greene

2021 - Colton Dach

2020 - Drew Commesso

2019 - Alex Vlasic (56 IceHogs GP, 21 Blackhawks GP)

2018 -

2017 - Ian Mitchell (67 IceHogs GP, 82 Blackhawks GP)

2016 - Alex DeBrincat (450 NHL GP), Chad Krys (64 IceHogs GP), Artur Kayumov

2015 - Graham Knott

2014 -

2013 - Carl Dahlstrom (160 IceHogs GP, 49 Blackhawks GP)

2012 - Dillon Fournier (23 IceHogs GP)

2011 - Adam Clendening (271 IceHogs GP, 4 Blackhawks GP), Brandon Saad (31 IceHogs GP, 428 Blackhawks GP)

One/Two-Year Wait

Due to the nature of development in hockey, it often takes a player a season or two after his draft selection to make his first pro appearance. Only three of the 19 players that the Blackhawks have chosen in the last two drafts have appeared on North American professional rosters so far: Jalen Luypen, Gavin Hayes, and Drew Commesso. None of those three have appeared in a professional regular season game. Bolded players in the list below were rostered by the IceHogs or Blackhawks at some point in the last three seasons.

2020 NHL Draft:

Lukas Reichel (17)

Drew Commesso (46)

Landon Slaggert (79), Wyatt Kaiser (81)

Michael Krutil (110)

Isaak Phillips (141)

Chad Yetman (172)

Louis Crevier (188)

2021 NHL Draft:

Nolan Allan (32)

Colton Dach (62)

Taige Harding (91)

Ethan Del Mastro (105), Victor Stjernborg (108)

- Ilya Safonov (172)

Connor Kelley (204), Jalen Luypen (216)

2022 NHL Draft:

Kevin Korchinski (7), Frank Nazar (13), Sam Rinzel (25)

Paul Ludwinski (39), Ryan Greene (57)

Gavin Hayes (66), Samuel Savoie (81), Aidan Thompson (90)

- -

Dominic James (173), Nils Juntorp (188)

Riku Tohila (199)

Kevin Korchinski (black) defends Nolan Allan (red). The two were each taken in the first round by Chicago one year apart.

If we go just one year further back, we'll see that seven of the eight Blackhawks draft picks from the 2020 draft have appeared professionally, and five of them have appeared on an IceHogs roster at some point. Four of eight players from that draft appeared on the IceHogs roster in the 2022-23 season.

Keeping in mind the one-to-two-year lag time between draft day and turning pro, IceHogs and Blackhawks fans will start seeing players from the 2021 and 2022 drafts make their pro debuts in 2023-24. That means players like Kevin Korchinski (2022 round 1 #7), Nolan Allan (2021 round 1 #32), Colton Dach (2021 round 2 #62), Ethan Del Mastro (2021 round 4 #105), and others could begin to matriculate into professional hockey.

Defenseman Alex Vlasic was scooped up by Chicago in the second round of the 2019 draft and made his pro debut two-and-a-half seasons later with the Blackhawks in 2021-22. In 2022-23, he was a staple on Rockford's blue line.

Alec Regula has spent part of the last three seasons with both Rockford and Chicago.

Another defenseman Alec Regula was taken in the third round of the 2018 draft by Detroit, traded to Chicago, and made his pro debut two years later in in the 2020-21 season with Rockford. Regula skated 51 games with the IceHogs this season.

Even Reichel spent a season in Germany before appearing professionally in North America a full year after he was drafted.

Over the last several campaigns, many of Rockford's most impactful players waited at least one season to make the leap to the pro game.

There has not been a strong precedent for players, other than the top handful of overall picks, jumping right into the AHL or NHL immediately following their selection in the draft. In the last five NHL drafts, only Isaak Phillips (2020 round 5 #141), Chad Yetman (2020 round 6 #172), Kirby Dach (2019 round 1 #3), and Philipp Kurashev (2018 round 4 #120) played for the IceHogs in the season following their draft selection by Chicago.

Impact

NHL draft picks have helped build the core of IceHogs rosters since the affiliation with the Blackhawks began in 2007. Last season, exactly half of all IceHogs skaters that appeared in game action (22 of 44) were previously selected in the NHL draft, and 11 were taken by Chicago on draft night. Below is a table of NHL draftees that played for Rockford last season.

2022-23 IceHogs drafted by Blackhawks:

Lukas Reichel (2020 round 1 #17)

Jakub Galvas (2017 round 5 #150)

Michal Teply (2019 round 4 #105)

Isaak Phillips (2020 round 5 #141)

Alex Vlasic (2019 round 2 #43)

Josiah Slavin (2018 round 7 #193)

Ian Mitchell (2017 round 2 #57)

Louis Crevier (2020 round 7 #188)

Nicolas Beaudin (2018 round 1 #27)

Evan Barratt (2017 round 3 #90)

Dylan Sikura (2014 round 6 #178)

Adam Clendening (2011 round 2 #36)

2022-23 IceHogs drafted by different NHL team:

Brett Seney (NJD - 2015 round 6 #157)

Rocco Grimaldi (FLA - 2011 round 2 #33)

Joey Anderson (NJD - 2016 round 3 #73)

Alec Regula (DET - 2018 round 3 #67)

Andy Welinski (ANA - 2011 round 3 #83)

Cliff Watson (SJS - 2012 round 6 #168)

Cameron Hillis (MTL - 2018 round 3 #66)

Hunter Drew (ANA - 2018 round 6 #178)

Garrett Mitchell (WSH - 2009 round 6 #175)

Dylan Wells (EDM - 2016 round 5 #123)

Three of Rockford's last eight leading scorers have been drafted by the Blackhawks, including Reichel when he led the Hogs and set a rookie scoring record with 57 points (21G, 36A) in the 2021-22 season.

The Blackhawks will use the 2023 draft to add key pieces to their core for the next several years, but Rockford might not feel the impact of this class immediately. On the other hand, you can bet that some of the Blackhawks' top prospects from the 2021 and 2022 drafts will make the jump to pro hockey this season and play crucial roles in the 2023-24 season.

Check out the Rockford IceHogs Statistics

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