With a long road trip coming up, the Blackhawks added another skater to their NHL roster on Monday morning by recalling defenseman Wyatt Kaiser from the Rockford IceHogs.
Kaiser, who’ll turn 22 in July, has appeared in 32 NHL games in the last two hockey seasons, tallying seven points. That includes four assists in 23 games with this season with an average ice time of 16:40. He was among the training-camp surprises last fall, breaking that camp with the NHL team and seeing the majority of his NHL action in the first two months of the season. After a strong start, Kaiser had some shakier moments and was sent to the AHL in late November, recalled for a pair of games in mid-December and has remained with the IceHogs since. The Rockford stint appears to have helped Kaiser immensely, though, as documented in this late February article from Scott Powers over at The Athletic.
Even with a slew of other Blackhawks prospects among the blue-liners there, Kaiser steadily moved up the depth chart and into the No. 1 defenseman role, skating in all situations while leading the team in ice time. While Kaiser’s skill set isn’t in line with massive offensive production like, say, a Kevin Korchinski, he’s still producing with 15 points (3 G, 12 A) in 31 games. Here are a few clips from Kaiser’s time on the farm:
Kaiser’s improved has coincided with a team-wide Rockford surge. After losing seven straight in late January and early February, the IceHogs are red-hot with victories in 12 of their last 15 games while jumping up to third place in the Central Division and moving closer towards locking up a postseason berth.
The interesting part will be seeing how much Kaiser actually gets into the lineup. Kaiser’s promotion gives Chicago eight active defensemen, although three of those players are veteran blue-liners on expiring contracts (Nikita Zaitsev, Jarred Tinordi and Jaycob Megna) who almost certainly will not be long-term factors here. Kaiser, on the other hand, is auditioning for one such spot and any experience Kaiser can nab this season would seem like a wiser use of this final stretch of Blackhawks games.