Rockford head coach Derek King has split up 2018 first-round defensemen Nicolas Beaudin and Adam Boqvist as the Blackhawks face off against the Red Wings in the NHL Prospects tournament at 6 p.m. Friday in Traverse City, Michigan. All Blackhawks games tournament games will be streamed live on Blackhawks.com.
Both players are expected to play for King in the AHL this upcoming season. Dennis Gilbert will balance Boqvist’s offensive skills on the top pairing and Chad Krys will team up with Beaudin on the second unit. The game will also see Jack Ramsey make his transition from forward to defenseman. He signed an AHL contract with the IceHogs in May.
Kirby Dach will have a familiar face in Riley McKay on the top line. Dach, the third overall pick in this year’s draft, and McKay played together for the Saskatoon Blades in the WHL this past season. The free agent invitee McKay had 12 goals and 27 points, but led the league in penalty minutes each of the past two campaigns. For Dach, it’ll be his first time to faceoff against some of the top talent in his age group since the World Junior Summer Showcase at the end of July. Brandon Hagel, who was fourth in the WHL in scoring last season before joining the AHL, will play at left wing.
Tim Soderlund, a 2017 fourth-rounder, will play on the second line after visa issues held him back in Sweden from participating in the team’s development camp in July. Another free agent invitee in Cole Purboo, who led the Windsor Spitfires in the OHL in scoring, will be at right wing on the fourth line.
All lineup information is courtesy of Carter Baum of Blackhawks.com.
Projected lines
Forwards
Brandon Hagel — Kirby Dach — Riley McKay
Tim Soderlund — Philipp Kurashev — Michal Teply
Mikael Hakkarainen — MacKenzie Entwistle — Dylan McLaughlin
Liam Coughlin — Reese Johnson — Cole Purboo
Defense
Dennis Gilbert — Adam Boqvist
Nicolas Beaudin — Chad Krys
Jake Ramsey — Cole Moberg
Goaltenders
Alexis Gravel
Chase Marchand