Tag Archives: Dylan Olsen

Prospect Tourney in Oshawa Takes Shape

Posted on August 30, 2011 by Chris Block| 9 Comments
Johan Mattsson, Aug 9, 2011, Lake Placid, NY – Yahoo.ca

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In ten days, about 24 of the Blackhawks top prospects will arrive in Oshawa, Ontario to compete in the annual Toronto Maple Leafs Rookie Invitational Tournament.

The Leafs, Blackhawks, Ottawa Senators and Pittsburgh Penguins will participate in the four-day, round-robin points-based tournament.  The same four competed against one another last September when the exhibition was staged in London, Ontario.  Chicago has been invited for the second consecutive year, having replaced the Boston Bruins, the only change in the foursome since 2009.

Toronto announced its roster way back on August 9.  Ottawa and Pittsburgh did so on Tuesday.  Click the links to preview their squads…. Read more »

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Contingency insurance: Previewing potential 2011-12 Blackhawks call ups

Posted on August 25, 2011 by Brad Gardner| 6 Comments
photo: HockeyBroad.com

By Brad Gardner

All thirty NHL teams are optimistic at this time of summer, but the one thing we can all be sure of is that everything will not go according to plan. Injuries have their way of piling up, players may not live up to expectations, or teams may find that progress made during the summer in one area has left them with a hole elsewhere in the game plan. One of the Blackhawks organization’s responses to the unpredictable nature of the NHL season has been keeping their AHL affiliate within arms reach, roughly 90 miles west on I-90 in Rockford, Illinois. The Third Man In takes an admittedly early look at some possible mid-season scenarios and introduces the prospects who may be expected to answer the call.

So you need a top six forward…

Safe bet: Jeremy Morin is the easy answer here after a solid nine game trial last season. Coming back from a concussion, though, he’ll get back into the swing of things with the IceHogs to start the season. His best asset may be his goal-scoring ability, but he showed as a rookie that he was willing to play any role to stay in the Chicago line-up. The 20-year-old winger is the organization’s best bet if the power play is in need of new life – his cheetah-quick release would be a dangerous weapon with a set-up guy like Kane feeding him the puck. Read more »

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Training camp begins now, in Switzerland, for Hjalmarsson, Scott and five other Blackhawks

Posted on August 21, 2011 by Chris Block| 2 Comments


Training camp begins almost a month early this week, and overseas, for a handful of Chicago Blackhawks players.

The Blackhawks have sent seven of their own over to Switzerland this week to participate in the final preseason preparations for Swiss NLA club HC Lugano’s upcoming season.

Niklas Hjalmarsson
Viktor Stalberg
John Scott
Marcus Kruger
Dylan Olsen
Jeremy Morin
Jimmy Hayes

The players will spend a week in Switzerland training with Lugano.

How did this all come about? Read more »

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Injured IceHogs advance season-long win streak; Jimmy Hayes debuts

Posted on March 31, 2011 by Chris Block| 6 Comments

Hours after the Chicago Blackhawks and NHL office made his first professional hockey contract official, Jimmy Hayes got his first experience in the pro ranks for the Rockford IceHogs.

Under the guise of an amateur-try out contract, Hayes made his debut in Cleveland on Wednesday night as the IceHogs took on the Lake Erie Monsters.  Hayes’ entry-level pro contract with the Hawks kicks in on July 1st.

Hayes acquitted himself quite well in his unofficial pro debut.  He exhibited nice hands, decent wheels and didn’t seem too out of place all things considered.  The adjustment from college to the pro-pace wasn’t too much of a factor, at least in Lake Erie.  Oklahoma City on Friday poses a different challenge.

On his first shift, skating with Mathis Olimb and Ben Smith on the Hogs’ second-line Hayes showed good strides in transition leading a Hogs’ odd-man rush up the right side boards.  Hayes strung a slick pass just an inch or two further than Olimb could handle though, coming down just left of the slot and they didn’t get a scoring chance there.

In the middle period, Hayes again led a rush, but it also amounted to nothing.  Hayes was carrying the lead with Olimb and Andy Bohmbach on a 3-on-2, but Hayes lost the handle as he strode through the right circle.  He finished the game with three shots.  He’s not shy on the body but it appears he prefers to use his stick and he’ll have to shake that too much finesse with his head down college habit.  So its great for the Hawks, and IceHogs, Hayes is able to join up for some valuable minutes before an all-important off season.

Before the game Bill Peters noted he plans to dress Hayes in all seven (Wednesday included) of the IceHogs remaining games.  Peters was down six regulars (add another if you count Jeremy Morin) on Wednesday, so Hayes saw as much or more ice time as he figures to get in any single outing over the final two weeks of the season. Read more »

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PK perfect, Taffe clutch; IceHogs prevail 4-3 in OT, to be without Brophey after blindside head shot

Posted on March 26, 2011 by Chris Block| 2 Comments
 
The IceHogs faithful do finally have something to cheer about.

After dropping 9 of 12 home games dating back to mid-January, the Rockford IceHogs 4-3 overtime victory on Friday night gave the team something it hasn’t had all season – a 3-game home winning streak.

Friday’s win over the Hamilton Bulldogs also put the IceHogs within one game of the .500 mark in their own barn (16-17-2-2), and two wins short of an overall .500 record (30-32-4-5).

The IceHogs haven’t had a losing home record since entering the AHL in 2007. Including Saturday night’s contest, they have three dates remaining on the home slate, wrapping on April 8 & 9. Rockford will finish their 2010-11 season at Allstate Arena against the Chicago Wolves on Sunday April 10 at 3 o’clock.

Rockford will first try for home victory number 17 on Saturday night when they host the Milwaukee Admirals. The Admirals defeated Chicago in Milwaukee on Friday 4-2. With the win, the Admirals stayed one point ahead of the Houston Aeros for the top spot in the West division and best record in the Western conference.

On Friday, the IceHogs persevered just enough through a tough third period to have a little Jeff Taffe magic lift them to victory in OT. Read more »

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IceHogs/Prospect Q&A, Part one

Posted on March 17, 2011 by Chris Block| 7 Comments


As I had mentioned last week, I’ve been getting more email than usual of late regarding Hawks’ prospects in Rockford. So I decided to throw some of these up on the site with the emailers’ consent. We’ll break this up into parts since there are quite a few.

Enjoyed your (Kyle) Beach q&a. Be nice if he practiced the things he says though. Another Dale Tallon miss if I may say. Tallon had some nice late round picks and a few good trades but his overall body of work is vastly overrated. Beach is an eyesore, just as Cam Barker, Tuomo Ruutu and Jack Skille. Seriously, I have no faith Dylan Olsen will do anything given Tallon’s draft history. Unless he’s drafting 1st or 3rd. Who can miss then?

Aside from attitude, what’s the major hold up in his development? Who would you compare him to? Beach is one of two players in the top 15 in his draft class who’ve yet to reach the NHL and the other, Colton Teubert, just changed addresses. Cody Hodgson was picked one spot ahead of Beach and he’d probably been in the NHL for some time now had he not been injured severely a year ago. Josh Bailey was picked 10th by the Islanders (one spot before Mr. Beach) and he’s played in almost 200 games now. Its probably high time we chalk Beach up to a first round bust. Don’t you agree? Read more »

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Hogs win 2nd in a row, Taffe extends point streak, within one game of IceHogs’ record

Posted on February 27, 2011 by Chris Block| Leave a comment

In a season marred in disappointing results, regrettable periods and slow rookie progressions, one bright light has been the recent play of IceHogs’ veteran winger Jeff Taffe.

Taffe extended his season-long point streak to 14 games in a 4-3 overtime win over the Milwaukee Admirals last night before 5,907 fans at the Rockford MetroCentre.

Rockford won the game in overtime during a 4 on 3 power play.  Rob Klinkhammer, who was the first star of the night scoring two goals, his 9th and 10th on the season, drew a cross-check from Admirals’ defenseman Teemu Laakso an minute and a half into OT as Klinkhammer was driving to the Milwaukee net for one of his many prime scoring chances on this night. Read more »

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IceHogs now streaking, hold off Rampage 2-1 on Monday; plus Morin injury notes

Posted on January 18, 2011 by Chris Block| 1 Comment

Goals by veterans Evan Brophey and Hugh Jessiman were just enough Monday afternoon for the Rockford IceHogs to take a 2-1 victory over the visiting San Antonio Rampage.

Despite a dramatic discrepancy in shots heading into the third period, 24-12 in favor of the IceHogs, the game remained scoreless until Evan Brophey beat San Antonio netminder Matt Climie for his 6th goal of the season.  The goal, 13 seconds into the period, ended Brophey’s 5-game goal drought.

Injury-plagued winger Hugh Jessiman struck next , giving Rockford a 2-0 lead when his one-timer from the left-side half wall found the back of the net.  Jessiman, who missed a month (Dec 8-Jan 2) with a lower-body injury, had not scored since November 12th.  This marked his 3rd goal of the season and first in 10 games.

Rockford has managed to put a string of wins together and put themselves 3 games above the .500 mark as they’ve hit the halfway point of the 80-game AHL season.  Before Saturday night’s win in Chicago, the IceHogs hadn’t been more than a game above .500 all season.  Monday’s win gives the IceHogs a three-game win streak, their first of such length and longest so far this season.

For the IceHogs, it has been inconsistency and lackluster starts which have plagued them most. Read more »

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PK, Toivonen bigger than Texas, IceHogs 3 – Stars 1

Posted on January 15, 2011 by Chris Block| Leave a comment

The Rockford IceHogs continue to do the cha-cha with the .500 mark in their pursuit of an AHL postseason berth.

Rockford finds themselves a game above the .500 mark for the 4th time in the last 16 days after a 3-1 victory over the visiting Texas Stars on Friday night.

Goals from Kyle Beach, Jeremy Morin and a late empty-netter by Ryan Potulny were enough to lead the IceHogs to victory against the Dallas Stars minor league affiliate.

38 games into the season (AHL season runs 80 games), Rockford is 17-16-1-4 and entrenched in last place (8th) in the AHL’s West Division.

Not all is lost, however.  The IceHogs own games in hand on every team in their division and being that the West division will likely send five teams to the playoffs, Rockford need only climb over three teams to reach that coveted fifth spot.

Friday’s game against the Stars was absolutely essential for the IceHogs.  Texas came into the game as the fourth-place team in the West and held an 11-point advantage on Rockford in the standings.  But with only two games in hand on Texas, Rockford could basically cross Texas off the list of teams they could realistically leap-frog had they not won Friday’s contest in regulation. Read more »

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Dylan Olsen signs with Blackhawks, leaving school according to report

Posted on December 31, 2010 by Chris Block| Leave a comment

The Duluth News Tribune is reporting the Blackhawks have signed their 2009 1st round draft choice (28th overall) defenseman Dylan Olsen to a three-year entry level contract.

Olsen is a sophomore at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, currently one of the top five teams in Division-I college hockey.  Once a collegiate player signs a professional contract, he or she becomes ineligible to play collegiate athletics.

For Olsen, 19, the decision to leave his Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs teammates mid-season was academic related.  He turns 20 this coming Monday.

Kevin Pates of the Duluth paper is reporting Olsen will report to the Rockford IceHogs, presumably once the World Junior U20 championships conclude in Buffalo next week.

Olsen has been paired on the first defense unit with Team Canada captain and Nashville Predators’ prospect Ryan Ellis in the tournament.

Its being reported that Olsen’s contract calls for an NHL salary of $525,000 in his first year, $700,000 in the second and $810,000 in the third.  Olsen will earn the standard $67,500 while in the minors.  Each year has a signing bonus of $90,000 tacked on to it.

UMD head coach Scott Sandelin expressed his disappointment, but also gave clarity to the situation in an interview with Pates:

“Dylan was having a good year and we were expecting a better, more confident player to return to us after the experience of the junior tournament,” said UMD coach Scott Sandelin. “We knew how much making Canada’s team meant to him and that it could only help his play. We’re just disappointed he chose to make a change at midseason.”

Sandelin did note that recent academic developments would likely have left Olsen ineligible for the second semester.

Olsen is the second Blackhawks draft pick in the last two years to leave school early due to poor academics.

In January of 2009, University of New Hampshire defenseman and team captain Joe Charlebois was forced off his team in the middle of his senior season when he was ruled academically ineligible for the remainder of the season.  Charlebois subsequently signed his first pro contract with the Blackhawks and reported to the Rockford IceHogs.  Charlebois has since left the Blackhawks organization.

Olsen also becomes the third Chicago prospect this year to leave his college team early, joining Brandon Pirri (R.P.I.) and Nick Leddy (Minnesota) who both left school after their freshman seasons.

Olsen’s arrival clouds and already cluttered IceHogs’ blue line.  Assuming Nick Leddy returns to Rockford at the completion of the World Junior tournament, he’ll join Olsen, Brian Connelly, Garnet Exelby, Ryan Stanton, Ivan Vishnevskiy, Simon Danis-Pepin, Shawn Lalonde and Wade Brookbank (who splits time on the wing).  Not to mention the possibility of Jassen Cullimore returning at some point.

The Olsen signing does raise one issue roster-wise.  The Blackhawks are now at the maximum 50-man organizational roster limit.  Which means any acquisition the team makes must involve a player moving off the current chart of 50.

ChrisBlock@TheThirdManIn.com

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