The Chicago Blackhawks officially assigned top prospect Teuvo Teravainen to the Rockford IceHogs of the AHL, the team announced Saturday. Defenseman Klas Dahlbeck is also being shipped off to Rockford, ending his chances of cracking the big team for opening day.
There’s not much else to say here regarding Teravainen, who’s clearly talented enough to make an impact on an NHL team right now but couldn’t carve out a spot on the roster. If there’s any silver lining, it’s assurance that the 20-year-old will get steady, meaningful playing time on a key role with the IceHogs.
I’m sure the #FreeTeuvo movement will only get louder from here, especially as we start seeing highlights from downstate in the coming months, but it’s hard to imagine he’ll be in Rockford for that long. If we’re still having this conversation in January, one imagines it’ll take a somewhat different tone.
Between this and placing Peter Regin on waivers, it appears the Blackhawks are settling on their forward group for the start of the season. Here’s a rough sketch of what that’ll look like:
| Patrick Sharp | Jonathan Toews | Marian Hossa |
| Brandon Saad | Brad Richards | Patrick Kane |
| Bryan Bickell | Andrew Shaw | Kris Versteeg |
| Daniel Carcillo | Marcus Kruger | Ben Smith |
This would also presumably leave Jeremy Morin as the 13th forward. I guess we can get some satisfaction out of knowing Morin likely won’t be shipped out.