Chicago Blackhawks Depth Chart
Forwards
1] Viktor Stalberg - Jonathan Toews - Patrick Kane
2] Patrick Sharp - Marcus Kruger - Marian Hossa
3] Bryan Bickell - David Bolland - Michael Frolik
4] Andrew Shaw - Jamal Mayers - Andrew Brunette
5] Daniel Carcillo (INJ) - Brendan Morrison -
Defense
1] Duncan Keith - Brent Seabrook
2] Niklas Hjalmarsson - Nick Leddy
3] Sean O’Donnell - Steve Montador
4] Sami Lepisto - John Scott
Goaltending
1] Corey Crawford
2] Ray Emery
x] Cristobal Huet (rights to final year of contract loaned to Swiss team Fribourg-Gotteron)
Rockford IceHogs
Forwards
1] Philippe Paradis - Brett McLean - Brandon Segal
2] Ben Smith - Brandon Pirri - Andrew Shaw (AHL deal)
3] Rostislav Olesz - Pete Leblanc (AHL deal) - Jimmy Hayes
4] Brandon Bollig - Byron Froese - David Gilbert [c/w]
5] Kyle Beach (INJ) - Rob Flick (AHL deal) – Chris DiDomenico [c/w]
6] Paul Zanette (AHL deal) – David Toews (AHL deal)
Defense
1] Ryan Stanton - Brian Fahey (AHL deal)
2] Joe Lavin - Dylan Olsen
3] Wade Brookbank (AHL-tryout) - Shawn Lalonde
4] Simon Danis-Pepin - Ben Youds (AHL deal)
Goaltending
1] Alexander Salak
2] Carter Hutton (AHL deal)
3] Alexander Salak
Blue indicates newly acquired player
Red indicates Blackhawks’ 1st round draft picks
Green – Hawks’ 2nd round picks
Orange – Hawks’ draft picks (rds 3-8)
Players shaded in grey are Rockford (AHL) contracted players only – not directly affiliated to Blackhawks
* Only prospects with professional contracts are listed.
Notes (08/17/2011):
With one-year left on his Blackhawks entry-level contract, Igor Makarov has chosen to leave the organization and sign a new 3-year agreement with SKA St. Petersburg of Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). In doing so, the Blackhawks and Makarov agreed to a contractual release of Makarov’s ’11-12 entry-level term, stipulating the team retains his North American rights should he decide to return. Makarov was previously a member of SKA (2007-10) before journeying to America.
Notes (1/9/2011)
Simon Danis-Pepin and Chris DiDomenico were both reassigned to the Blackhawks/IceHogs ECHL affiliate Toledo Walleye in recent days. The moves were expected once Jeremy Morin (in DiDomenico’s case) and Dylan Olsen returned from the IIHF Under-20 Championships. With Olsen’s arrival, the IceHogs would have been carrying nine defenseman had they not sent Danis-Pepin to Toledo. One of the those nine however, 33-year old AHL veteran Wade Brookbank, has seen more time this year as a winger than he has at forward. Still, even prior to SDP’s demotion and Olsen’s arrival, Ivan Vishnevskiy was the odd guy out on Jan 7th in a 5-1 loss to the Toronto Marlies.
Nick Leddy was recalled from the IceHogs on January 7th, the morning of the Hawks-Senators game after returning from the U.S. National team to which he was loaned to for the U20 tournament in Buffalo. After dressing in that game vs the Senators, and subsequent matchup with the Islanders two nights later, Leddy has appeared in 8 games for the Hawks this season. Leddy, 19, can appear in one more game with the Blackhawks before a 10th would officially qualify as a year off his 3-year NHL entry level contract. Because of a 19-year old age clause in the current CBA, the Blackhawks would “benefit” in getting an additional “free” season this year on Leddy’s contract should he appear in no more than 9 games with the Blackhawks this season. Jeremy Morin was returned to the IceHogs after he appeared in his 9th NHL game on December 15th.
Note (1/1/2011)
2009 1st round draft pick (#28th overall) Minnesota-Duluth defenseman Dylan Olsen has decided to leave school and sign a 3-year entry level contract with the Blackhawks after reportedly learning he would be academically ineligible for the second semester of his sophomore season. Olsen will report to the Rockford IceHogs upon completion of the World Junior U20 Championships, staged in Buffalo, where he is the lone Blackhawks’ representation on Team Canada. TTMI story
Notes (12/30/2010)
Jonathan Toews suffered what appeared to be a shoulder injury in the Dec 28th game at St. Louis. The injury, the result of a Matt D’Agostini hit along the penalty box dashers, came in the same game Patrick Kane returned from his lower-body injury (Dec 5 vs CGY) and the game after both Viktor Stalberg and Marian Hossa returned from ailments of their own. At least for the first game post-Toews injury, Dec 30 vs San Jose, Patrick Sharp remains at wing and the team down the middle is Dave Bolland, Jake Dowell, Tomas Kopecky and Ryan Johnson. Jack Skille was an unexpected late scratch for the 12/30 contest, leading to Jordan Hendry rejoining the lineup as a left winger.
We’ve moved Mathis Olimb up and over to the left side. Olimb has skated on the left wing (his natural position) on the IceHogs’ top line with Ryan Potulny and Jeff Taffe for the past six-plus games. Olimb posted two goals in Rockford’s 12/28 win at Milwaukee (4-1) and another in the IceHogs’ 3-1 third period comeback win at home over Houston on 12/30. Olimb has six goals and nine points in 14 games since returning from off season shoulder surgery. Those six goals (on 23 shots, 26.1%) have come in the last nine games. Two of his goals have been empty-netters. All nine of Olimb’s points have come over the last ten games and the IceHogs have enjoyed their best stretch of the season (6-2-1-1) in that time.
Notes (12/24/2010)
Jeremy Morin and Nick Leddy were both loaned to the U.S. National Program for the U20 World Junior Championships in Buffalo December 26 – January 5th. Team USA are the defending gold medal tournament champs. Leddy joined the U.S. team for the start of their pre-tournament selection camp on December 19th. Morin went on December 20th. Both 19, Morin and Leddy are subject to entry-level slide exemptions. As mentioned many times before, should either Morin or Leddy appear in no more than 9 NHL games this season, their three-year entry-level contracts will be extended one year. Brandon Pirri also falls into this CBA rule which was an overwhelming factor in the Hawks eagerness to lure Leddy and Pirri out of their respective collegiate programs and under the direct guidance of the Blackhawks in their development. At his point Morin has dressed in 9 games with the Hawks, Leddy (6) and Pirri (1). Pirri was also loaned to the Canadian program for the WJC, but did not make the final cut and was returned to Rockford on December 15th after just four days in Canada’s pre-tournament camp.
Notes (12/17/2010)
Ryan Johnson – Blackhawks signed the 34-year old (June 14, 1976) center to a two-way, 1-year contract on December 17th and immediately called him up to the NHL roster. Johnson had signed a PTO contract with the Rockford IceHogs seven days prior and appeared in just one game (Wed Dec 15 vs Chicago) before getting the contract offer from the Blackhawks. Johnson had to clear 24-hour waiver through the NHL before he could officially sign with the Hawks. The significance of the Johnson signing points to two issues at this time. One, the Hawks struggling PK units; and two, depth down the middle. Johnson’s PTO (which was initiated directly by the Blackhawks, not the IceHogs) came just one day after Dave Bolland missed a Blackhawks team practice in San Jose with what was termed a “maintenance day.” Bolland played in San Jose on the 11th, but missed the following game in Colorado with an “upper body” injury. Once in the Blackhawks’ lineup for the Dec 17th meeting with the Red Wings, Johnson’s Chicago debut, Johnson was taking Jeremy Morin’s place in the lineup after Morin was reassigned to Rockford after playing in his 9th NHL game of the regular season on the 15th vs Colorado. Johnson is a good skater, faceoff man and penalty-killer. His willingness to commit his body to block the booming shots of opposing defenseman has led to many injuries and lineup absences during the latter part of his career. Johnson had been without a job and had not skated with an NHL team since last spring’s Western Conference Semi-Finals series against the Blackhawks, while he was a member of the Vancouver Canucks. The Blackhawks will pay Johnson on a rate of $500,000 for this season while he’s a member of the NHL club, $105,000 if he should be reassigned to the AHL, according to figures listed at CapGeek.com. Johnson’s last contract paid him $1.1M per season.
At this point, with the Johnson and Exelby adds, it appears the Blackhawks have met the 50-man roster limit. This is the number of players the organization can have under contract at one time. Cristobal Huet counts even though he’s being loaned to Fribourg-Gotteron in the Swiss league. The only question, as we noted before, further down on this page, is the status of Nathan Davis’ contract. Davis has left the organization and he’s been removed from the Blackhawks’ official web site. This would seem to indicate Davis been released, but there has been no official mention of this anywhere. Davis signed a 1-year deal to remain with the Hawks organization in August. He was injured last season and played in only 23 games. Unless there was reason to void the contract, Davis would have to accept a release for that contract to come off the books.
Jassen Cullimore was placed on waivers on Friday December 17th but played in the game that evening vs Detroit. The decision to put Cullimore on waivers confused most everyone but was born out of necessity for GM Stan Bowman. It was a business decision, and not reflective at all of Cullimore’s performance. With Ryan Johnson added to the NHL roster, the Blackhawks, on Dec 17th, had 23 player salaries counting on their salary cap with approximately $600,000 in usable space. With Marian Hossa on IR, the Hawks have an extra roster spot to use should they choose to recall a player from Rockford, but it could not be a player whose contract would pay him more than $600k (ie. Not Jeremy Morin or Kyle Beach). With Hossa, Patrick Kane and Viktor Stalberg sidelined with injuries, Joel Quenneville was forced to use two defenseman (Hendry and Scott) as forwards on his fourth line. Should there be an injury to another forward before one of the injured three be ready to return, Stan Bowman would either have to recall a forward from Rockford, or skate short-handed. At this time, Morin had not been released to Team USA for the World Junior Championships in case further injuries warrant Morin’s NHL presence. If Bowman chose to recall someone other than Morin, he’d still be limited essentially to prospects and IceHogs veterans with minimum (or near) based contracts (Taffe, Potulny, Klinkhammer, Brophey, Makarov, Jessiman, Smith and maybe Olimb or Pirri) unless he sent a player back to Rockford in exchange. For salary cap and hockey purposes, Cullimore made the most sense. Why Dec 17th? Because the NHL’s annual holiday “roster freeze” goes into effect on the 19th. Players placed on waivers on Saturday or Sundays are subject to a 48-hour waiver process, while Monday-Friday are 24-hour periods. Had Bowman waited until Saturday to put Cullimore on waivers, he wouldn’t have passed through in time and would not have been eligible to be sent to Rockford (had he cleared) if needed during the roster freeze. The decision to risk putting Cullimore on waivers instead of Hendry or Boynton basically came down to Cullimore being a marginal 38-year old defenseman with little value who not many teams would play over prospects of their own. While Hendry is versatile, eleven years younger yet still with enticing experience for another team looking to fill a gap on their depth chart. Boynton is a veteran who was on the verge of retiring this off season, believed to be because he was tired of moving around and playing in the minors. He’s also the only “tough” guy the Hawks have who can dress every night. Although some would debate whether he should. Its doubtful another team would claim Boynton, but you never know. Losing him would leave the team with Seabrook as the only blue liner with a serious edge to his game (Seabrook).
Notes (11/26/2010)
Garnet Exelby, who was named captain of the Blackhawks American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate Rockford IceHogs on November 5, 2010, agreed to a one-year, two-way (NHL/AHL) contract with the Chicago Blackhawks on Thanksgiving Day. Exelby officially became Blackhawks’ property the following day, November 26th, when he cleared a mandatory 24-hour waiver period after being released from his Rockford IceHogs professional try-out (PTO) contract. Exelby signed a PTO with the IceHogs back on October 8th. PTO’s run a period of 25 games at the AHL level. Once the player appears in 25 games under that agreement, the team can either sign him to a second and final PTO, or they can release the player outright. Its been mentioned and reported Exelby’s PTO with Rockford had expired and thus the Blackhawks had to make a move on Exelby. That of course would be factually incorrect. Exelby had seven games remaining on the first of two possible PTO’s when the IceHogs released him for the purpose of Exelby coming to terms with the Blackhawks on Nov 26th. At some point, if the Blackhawks wanted to ensure Exelby remain with Rockford for the 2010-10 season’s entirety, either the Blackhawks or the IceHogs would have had to signed Exelby to a guaranteed deal, but neither were under pressure to do so whatsoever at this time. At the time of Exelby’s signing, he’d appeared in 18 games with Rockford. He had recorded no points, 49 penalty minutes and was a minus-4. Exelby, who turned 29 in August, is a rugged (6-1, 215) stay-at-home, veteran defenseman on an otherwise undersized and inexperienced Rockford blueline.
Notes (11/5/2010)
Joe Palmer (Blackhawks 2006 4th round pick), Scott Fletcher, Andy Bombach, Peter LeBlanc (Blackhawks 2006 7th round pick), Kyle Hagel, Zack Torquato, Garnet Exelby and Wade Brookbank are under contract to the Rockford IceHogs and not direct property of the Chicago Blackhawks.
Wade Brookbank (6-4, 225) is listed everywhere as a defenseman. While he has played the position in the past, he’s played the entire season at forward, on the wing. Brookbank signed an AHL contract with Rockford on July 21, 2010. Brookbank, 33 (09-29-77), is a 13-year pro who was appeared in 127 NHL games (6g, 3a, 345pim) with Nashville, Vancouver, Boston, Carolina. He was invited to Blackhawks training camp in September of 2010 as a non-roster invitee, but was released on Sept 15, 2010.
Jonathan Carlsson left the IceHogs and returned home to Sweden on October 12th, signing a contract with his former Elitserien team Byrnas. Carlsson scored a goal in his first game back with Byrnas on October 14th.
Nathan Davis is no longer with the organization. As of mid-October, all roster listings and references to Davis have been removed from the Hawks official team site without acknowledgement. Davis had signed a new one-year contract with the Blackhawks, officially in early August. Davis, who had been suffering through shoulder issues that limited him in the 2009-10 season in Rockford, did not participate in 2010 training camp and has since left the organization. He has not resurfaced elsewhere as of this writing.
Garnet Exelby signed a professional try-out contract with Rockford IceHogs on October 8th. Exelby had been recently released from New York Rangers training camp where he was participating as a non-roster invitee. Exelby had contacted the Chicago Wolves, the team he spent two years with (2001-03) after turning pro as a draftee of the Atlanta Thrashers. Exelby played in parts of six seasons on the Atlanta Thrashers blue line before appearing in 51 games last season with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Markus Kruger, 20, signed his 3-year entry-level contract with the Blackhawks on June 18, 2010, but it appears as though he intends on playing the 2010-11 season with Djurgardens IF in the Swedish Elite League. One of the better Hawk prospects in this summer’s evaluation camp, I’d expect Kruger would transition to North America next year. Unless he becomes a star over there and his chances of making the Hawks remain slim since he can make more money over there than he would playing in Rockford. In a sense, for Kruger, staying in Sweden makes sense this year. Especially after the Potulny signing. But the Hawks will likely get frustrated with Kruger if he remains on the homeland past this season.
Defenseman Ryan Stanton (6-2, 205) was a non-drafted free agent from the Moose Jaw Warriors (WHL) when he signed a 3-year entry-level contract with the Hawks on March 12, 2010. Stanton was cut from Blackhawks training camp on September 15, 2010.
Cristobal Huet was loaned to Fribourg-Gotteron of the Swiss National League on September 27, 2010. The actual agreement to loan Huet to Fribourg was struck in August, but the Hawks couldn’t initiate the necessary waiver process on Huet until 10 days before the start of the NHL season. Huet was already in Switzerland on the day he cleared waivers and was officially ‘loaned’ to Fribourg-Gotteron, and debuted with that club the next night, defeating SC Bern by a score of 4-2. Huet is in the 3rd of a 4-year contract that he signed on July 1, 2008 worth a total of $22.5 million over four years. The Blackhawks will have the option to loan Huet again next season, trade his rights, use him on the Hawks or assign him to an AHL roster, or buyout the final year the four-year contract. It’s not known how much, but its believed Chicago is paying a big chunk of Huet’s $5.625M guarantee this season to play in Switzerland. Although that money is paid out by the team, it does not count against the Hawks’ salary cap.
As of 11/05/10, the Chicago has two open slots on their 50-man active (signed players) roster. It’s unclear where the official status of Nathan Davis’ contract. If it is completely terminated through the league offices, the team would thus have 3 open roster spots available for signing free agents or prospects without having to trade or release an existing contract.
THEY GONE
G-Antti Niemi – Blackhawks reject arbitration award [1yr, $2.75M] – Niemi UFA 2010 – Signed 1-year $2M deal with San Jose on 9/2/2010
C-Mark Cullen – UFA 2010 – Signed with Florida Panthers 7/22/10, 1-year, 2-way contract
C/W-Marty Reasoner – TRADE – 7/22/10 – To Florida Panthers for C-Jeff Taffe
D-Danny Richmond – UFA 2010 – Signed 1-year, (2-way) deal with Toronto Maple Leafs $550k NHL/$200k AHL on 7/15/10
LW-Kyle Greentree – UFA 2010 – Non-Qualified RFA – Signed with WASH, 2-way, 2-year deal worth a total of $1.025M at NHL level on 7/7/10
D-Richard Petiot – UFA 2010 – Signed with Edmonton Oilers, 1-year (2-way) deal worth $550,000 in NHL on 7/2/10
RW-Adam Burish – UFA 2010 – Signed 2-year, $2.3M (1.15 per) deal with Dallas Stars on 7/01/10
LW-Andrew Ladd – Trade – 7/01/10 – To Atlanta Thrashers for D-Ivan Vishnevskiy & 2nd Rd 2011 Draft Pick
RW-Joey Crabb – UFA 2010 – Signed 2-way contract with Toronto Maple Leafs on 7/01/10
RW-Kris Versteeg – Trade – 6/30/10 – To Toronto Maple Leafs with LW-Billy Sweatt (unsigned ’07 draftee-38th overall) in exchange for LW-Viktor Stalberg, C-Philippe Paradis, C-Christopher DiDomenico
C-Colin Fraser – Trade – 6/24/10 – To Edmonton Oilers for 6th round pick (EDM-151st; Mirko Hoefflin) in 2010 Draft
LW-Dustin Byfuglien, LW-Ben Eager, D-Brent Sopel & RW-Akim Aliu – Trade – 06/24/10 – To Atlanta Thrashers in exchange for C/W- Marty Reasoner, RW-Jeremy Morin, RW-Joey Crabb, 24th pick 2010 Draft (NJD) and 54th pick 2010 Draft (NJD)
C-John Madden – UFA 2010 – Signed with Minnesota Wild [1yr, $1M w/ $250k potential performance bonuses] on Aug 6, 2010
D-Kim Johnsson – UFA 2010 – (Post-concussion syndrome, possible retirement)
C/W-Adam Hobson – UFA 2010 – Not tendered qualifying offer – Signed with Rogle BK Angelholm (Sweden-II) 6/17/10
?-Future Considerations – Trade – 3/2/10 – To Anaheim for D-Nick Boynton
G-Joe Fallon – Trade – 3/1/10 – To St. Louis for G-Hannu Toivonen and D-Danny Richmond
D-Cam Barker – Trade – 2/12/10 – To Minnesota for D-Kim Johnsson, rights to D-Nick Leddy
C-Andrew Ebbett – Waivers 11/21/09 – By Minnesota Wild
RW-Radek Smolenak – Waivers 10/10/09 – By Tampa Bay Lightning
D-Aaron Johnson – Trade – 10/7/09 – To Calgary for LW-Kyle Greentree
RW-Martin Havlat – UFA – Signed with Minnesota Wild (6yrs $30M) on 7/1/09
C-Samuel Pahlsson – UFA – Signed with Columbus [3yrs $7.95M] on 7/1/09
G-Nikolai Khabibulin – UFA – Signed with Edmonton Oilers [4yrs $15M] on 7/1/09
D-Matt Walker – UFA – Signed with Tampa Bay Lightning [4yrs $6.8M] on 7/1/09
C-Tim Brent – UFA – Signed with Toronto Maple Leafs (1yr, $525k] on 7/6/09
LW-Pascal Pelletier – UFA – Signed with Columbus Blues Jackets [1yr, $500k] on 7/6/09
D-Jimmy Sharrow – UFA – not tendered qualifying offer
D-Logan Stephenson – UFA – not tendered qualifying offer
LW-Adam Berti – UFA – not tendered qualifying offer
D-James Wisniewski – Trade – 3/4/09 – To Anaheim with Petri Kontiola for C-Samuel Pahlsson, D-Logan Stephenson and a conditional draft pick. Re-signed with ANA, 1yr, $2.75M
C-Petri Kontiola – Trade – 3/4/09 – To Anaheim Ducks (see above)
RW-Craig Adams – Claimed off waivers by Pittsburgh Penguins, 3/4/09, Re-signed with PIT, 2yrs $1.1M total
Notes (1/9/2011)
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