The Rockford IceHogs regular season has ended, so now’s a good time to check in on Blackhawks prospects playing in the AHL ahead of the Calder Cup Playoffs.
Rockford finished the regular season strong, winning 10 of their last 13 games and securing their position as the third best team in the Central Division with a 39-26-5-2 record. The IceHogs did so well down the stretch that they were only one point behind their upcoming playoff opponent, the Grand Rapids Griffins. This was quite an impressive feat considering they were battling just to climb into fourth in December, and also a good improvement over last season’s finish of fifth in the division.
The IceHogs will now face the Griffins in a best-of-five series during the Central Division Semifinals starting this Saturday.
Note: For this report, any player under 25 at the start of the season and with an NHL contract will be considered a Blackhawks prospect. This iteration of the AHL report will only include players who have played at least 5 games since the last update (so, no Antti Saarela due to an injury or Marcel Marcel, who is in the ECHL).
Forwards
Cole Guttman
Stats: 40 points (16 G, 24 A), 30 PIM in 39 games
Despite not playing the entire season in Rockford, Guttman was easily the most productive and impactful forward prospect this season. He added another two goals and seven assists in his final six games, continuing his his torrid pace of well over a point-per-game since being demoted from Chicago at the end of January. His production was absolutely one of the biggest driving forces behind the IceHogs late-season surge as they were 20-5-1 with him in the lineup.
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