Nearly halfway through the Chicago Blackhawks training camp, and after one preseason game for the Rockford IceHogs, things are already beginning to take shape for what fans will see on the ice for both organizations this season.
While it may not quite yet be Stanley Cup championship potential, or Calder Cup title material, things certainly appear to be trending in the right direction for both the Hawks and the Hogs.
“It’s been a really good stretch,” Hogs head coach Anders Sorensen said. “We’re definitely excited for this thing to get started.”
A big reason for that is the acquisition of Connor Bedard for the Hawks in the last NHL draft. Yes, drafting one guy can have a positive trickle-down effect throughout an entire affiliated system. If nothing else, everybody just wants to get a chance to play with him.
“I think when you have a guy like (Bedard)…you can definitely learn some things from him,” said veteran defenseman Josh Healey, who was signed to the Hogs over the summer. “And obviously the goal for everybody is to get up to the NHL, and play with him.”
Rockford fell 6-1 to Iowa on Wednesday night in their first of two preseason games against the Iowa Wild. The game was played at a soldout Riverview Ice House, recently renovated and upgraded to be able to host the Hogs, where just under 600 fans gathered around the rink.
Rockford IceHogs: A grant from the IceHogs gives Rockford Park District an inflatable and mobile hockey rink
The Hogs will take on the Wild again in their second preseason matchup on Friday in Des Moines, Iowa. They will then kickstart the 2023-24 season on Oct. 13 in San Jose, California, against the Barracuda. Rockford opens this season’s home slate on Oct. 21 against the Chicago Wolves at the BMO Center.
Before things get started for real, here are five of the reasons hockey fans in the Rockford area should be excited for this upcoming season:
1) That Connor Bedard guy
As mentioned (by me, everybody else, and their hockey-loving brothers, for months now), Bedard is the real deal, and he’s already showing it in preseason games for the Hawks. He will never make his way onto the ice for Rockford — barring any injury-rehab stint, or major career setbacks — but his presence in the organization has changed things throughout.
“It was really nice to be around him and see the work that he puts into his craft,” Rockford’s rookie forward Ryan Gagnier said. “We all know that things can only go up. There are a lot of promising young players in Chicago, Rockford, and even in Indy, so it looks very promising for the next couple of years.”
Bedard, only 18 years old and considered by many to be one of the greatest hockey prospects of his generation, was selected first overall by the Hawks in the 2023 NHL draft. Bedard has already earned the Canadian Hockey League’s Top Scorer and Player of the Year honors, and won championships with the Canadian national under-18 team in 2021 and with the Canadian national junior team in 2022 and 2023.
Now he’s a Hawk. And after a goal and two assists in Tuesday’s victory over Detroit, Bedard already has five points in three preseason games.
And not only that, but he is already having an effect on the Hawks, and the Hogs. The coaches, players, fans, and everybody associated with the organization can feel it.
“As an organization,” Sorensen said, “it’s just exciting that we have a player of that caliber.”
2) The Hawks will be better, and so, too, will the Hogs
Well, it usually means that. And in this case, it can’t get much worse.
The Hawks were the NHL’s elite from 2009 to 2015, winning three Stanley Cup championships while reaching the Western Conference final five times. They’ve fallen on hard times since, however.
In their first season under new head coach Luke Richardson, they were an abysmal 26–49–7 last season and scored 204 goals while allowing 301.
But things are expected to start to trend upward this year — that’s what happens when you are at the bottom. And with the addition of Bedard, this is an organization that could start to shoot up the NHL ladder quickly. That’s the plan, anyway.
“Last year there was just a lot of newness, and it was tough,” Sorensen said. “This year everybody was more in tuned with what they’re supposed to be doing, and it just felt good.”
It will most definitely bleed down to the Hogs as well. While the Hawks struggled the past couple of years, so, too, did the Hogs. They made the AHL playoffs the last two years but were swept out of the divisional semifinal round in back-to-back postseasons.
3) We recognize that goalie(s)
It appears as if goaltender Arvid Söderblom is going to get his shot at starting in net for the Hawks. That’s a name Hogs’ fans are familiar with.
Söderblom, 23, went 2-10-2 in 15 games with the Hawks last year, posting a 3.45 goals-against average and a .894 save percentage. That was after he played nearly two full seasons in Rockford, going 15-12-5 with a 2.92 GAA and a .905 save percentage last year. In 71 career AHL games with Rockford, Soderblom has a 36-27-7 record with a 2.83 GAA, and a .913 save percentage.
Now he will be splitting time with Petr Mrázek in the NHL. That will leave Rockford with a choice of four goalies.
“We’ll just have to see how it all plays out,” Sorensen said of the goalie situation.
Drew Commesso was sent down on Monday and Jaxson Stauberwas just assigned to the Hogs on Wednesday as well. They join Mitchel Weeks, and youngster Zach Driscoll, who will most likely stick with the Indy Fuel for much of the year. Commesso and Stauber are both already on the Hawks’ radar for potential future time in net. Their time in Rockford this season will set the stage.
4) Young and up-and-coming stars everywhere
Bedard may be the one big name in this organization, but he is not the only rising youngster who could step up for the Hawks and Hogs this year. Right now, Rockford has its youngest roster in four years.
“It certainly seems like it; things change in this league daily, but it looks like we’re going to be young,” Sorensen said. “We will be young in the back, and in the goaltending as well. It’s going to be interesting to see.”
The Hogs’ roster is already full of young players. It could get older as the season wears on and the team picks up other players, but the theme seems to be “Watch the Youngsters Grow,” and Hawks’ and Hogs’ fans are anxious to see if it works.
5) Big block party is coming soon
The Hard Rock Casino Rockford is sponsoring the IceHogs Opening Night Block Party on Oct. 21 at 4 p.m. on the corner of Elm and Main Streets, just outside the BMO Center. The Hogs will then host the Chicago Wolves in the home opener that night at 7 p.m.
Jay Taft is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at jtaft@rrstar.com and follow him on Twitter at @JayTaft. Sign up for the Rockford High School newsletter at rrstar.com. Jay has covered a wide variety of sports, from the Chicago Bears to youth sports, since the turn of the century at the Register Star, and for over 30 years all together.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: 5 reasons to be excited about Chicago Blackhawks and Rockford IceHogs
