Yesterday's nominations of Drew Commesso (Boston University) and Dominic Basse (Colorado College) for the Mike Richter Award Watch List for the best goalie in the NCAA Division I are apropos as this is the third and final installment of this series highlighting Chicago's top prospects. Today's blog focuses on the netminders.
Note: The candidate pool spans the entire organization which includes the Blackhawks, not just the IceHogs and the rest of the system.
Top 3 in the Organization
1. Drew Commesso
2. Arvid Soderblom
3. Kevin Lankinen
Top 3 Honorable Mentions
1. Dominic Basse
2. Cale Morris
3. Collin Delia
Commesso is head of the class as far as Blackhawks goaltending prospects. He's having a strong sophomore campaign in college, served as Team USA's starter at the truncated World Junior Championships, and was recently invited to represent his country at the Winter Olympics. His star is rising which hopefully carries over to his pro career.
What's to like about Commesso is quite identical to what's to like about Arvid Soderblom: they're both calm in the crease, they play big, and they move efficiently. Commesso lets plays come to him and manages rebounds effectively. Even though both are athletic, Soderblom is relatively more explosive in how he gets around the paint.
Like Commesso and Soderblom, Kevin Lankinen also shows composure in net and is even keel from start to start. He won't crank out gems of games on the regular but he also doesn't get habitually blown out of the water either. If you want an example of that, look no further than Collin Delia who can run scorching hot or chilling cold.
Any team should look for stability between the pipes and the Hawks could get that from Commesso, Soderblom, and/or Lankinen. That doesn't mean they're Vezina caliber. What it does mean is they'll give their team a chance to win. Delia's game, though, is temperamental where he can pitch a shutout one game then get shallacked in the next.
Of course, all goalies have clunkers so Commesso, Soderblom, and Lankinen will naturally have bad games where a loss here and there can be pinned on them. What will help them catapult to the next level of being just average to great to even all-star worthy is if they can consistently stay poised and flex their technical skill.
Also in the system is the aforementioned Basse as well as Cale Morris. Basse is having a much stronger sophomore year than his freshman year. He's known for his athleticism and ability to use his huge 6'6" frame to his advantage. Morris has some intrigue as he's also composed in net with good control of his movements and rebounds.
Then there are Tom Aubrun and Ivan Nalimov. A fellow undrafted college free agent like Morris, Aubrun is likely a career minor leaguer as his progression in the Blackhawks organization has mirrored that being more of a fixture with the Indy Fuel than with Rockford IceHogs. As for Nalimov, let's forget that experiment ever happened.
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Next Game vs Wild
The Blackhawks and Wild have a home-and-home series starting tonight at the United Center then finishes tomorrow at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. Besides Kirill Kaprizov, one Minnesota player to keep tabs on is Joel Eriksson Ek who is a great example of being patient with prospects. He's now one of the NHL's top two-way forwards.
And the nickname Ekker is such a hockey nickname with the -er suffix.
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Roster Updates
Getting Dylan Strome back helps with the forward depth especially down the middle and in the top 6. Additionally, a few Blackhawks beat writers reported yesterday that Kirby Dach could be back in the starting lineup if his next COVID test is negative and he physically feels ready. Here's a possible lineup if he also returns:
Hagel - Strome - Kane
DeBrincat - Toews - Kubalik
Kurashev - Dach - Borgstrom
Khaira - Lafferty - Entwistle
de Haan - S Jones
McCabe - Murphy
Stillman - Gustafsson
Fleury
Lankinen
Reserves: Carpenter, Hardman, C Jones, Morris
It's expected that Marc-Andre Fleury and Lankinen will split starts with the back-to-back games.
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IceHogs Updates
Like the parent club, the farm team also has two games in two nights but both matches are in Rockford at the BMO Harris Bank Center as the IceHogs battle the Texas Stars. The top line is one to watch as Lukas Reichel, Michal Teply, and Andrei Altybarmakian are developing a synergy to leverage each others' strengths to generate offense.
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Trade Rumors
For those who don't want to click on the article, the untouchables are Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, and Seth Jones. Shocker. The wonderment is whether Kane and Toews are off limits because management wants them to stay and retire as lifelong Blackhawks or if they asked them if they'd waive their NMCs but both said no.
The article also stated the corollary of the untouchables claim which is that the Hawks are all ears for offers on every other player which includes Fleury, Dach, Alex DeBrincat, Brandon Hagel, Connor Murphy, and Jake McCabe. While Fleury has been in the rumor mill for weeks, the others being available is a tad surprising.
It's important to remember that just because a team is open to hear trade offers doesn't mean they would say yes. Yet, what would help is if the organization has not only a clear direction in which to take the team whether it's a rebuild, retool, or other strategy but also a clear idea on who to construct a team around in 2022-23 and beyond.
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