Rockford IceHogs coach Anders Sorensen isn’t rooting for any Chicago Blackhawks prospect to get cut from training camp, but he won’t be mad if Landon Slaggert ends up on his roster.
“We’d be excited to have him, if that’s what happens,” Sorensen said.
Sorensen goes way back with Slaggert’s father, Andy, the associate head coach at Notre Dame. They first met in 2005, when Andy Slaggert recruited a couple of Sorensen’s Chicago Chill 18-and-under players to sign with the Irish.
The families have vacationed together in Sorensen’s native Sweden, and Sorensen coached Landon Slaggert and his older brother Graham with the Chicago Mission.
“Anders, with how long we’ve known him, how well we’ve known him, that was definitely a positive in (Landon’s) decision to ultimately sign with Chicago,” Andy Slaggert said. “We just trust the people in the organization to make the right decision for Landon’s development.
“Obviously, Landon would love to be in Chicago — anybody would — but playing for Anders Sorensen, it was good for his development before. It’d be good for his development again.”
“Trust” will be a keyword this season, and not just for the Slaggerts.
Several Hawks prospects — including Frank Nazar, Artyom Levshunov, Drew Commesso and Slaggert — will be on display in the Tom Kurvers Prospect Showcase on Friday and Saturday in Maryland Heights, Mo. The Hawks rookie team, coached by Sorensen, begins practice Wednesday at Fifth Third Arena.
Even with another audition during full training camp, which starts Sept. 18, a more veteran-laden Hawks lineup greatly limits any prospect’s chances of making the opening roster.
“Depending on what happens in camp and health and everything,” Sorensen said, “if some of these guys do trickle down to us (in Rockford) and if they do start with us, it definitely looks like a talented group of players. I’m not sure I’ve seen a player pool as deep as this one.”
If not for the lurch forward in the rebuild this offseason, several high-end prospects might have had an express ticket to the NHL, which has been the case in recent seasons. Some were pressed into duty because of injuries.
“The last number of years, the younger guys were pushed up probably before they were really ready,” said Patrick Williams, a reporter for TheAHL.com. “And it was kind of a sink-or-swim situation for them.”
This fall those prospects — several of whom already got a taste of the NHL — will be asked to show patience and sharpen their game in the AHL.
“Every player thinks they should just go right to the NHL, and maybe the value of playing in the AHL … that’s not what any player wants, right?” Sorensen said. “They want to play in the NHL.
“But there’s a lot of value to spend some time in the American Hockey League, no matter who you are, just to hone some of your skills and mature your game. And it’s a good league where you’re playing against men every day. The caliber of the AHL has grown every year since I’ve been around it, so I think it’s a really good tool for development.”
Williams agrees: “You have to get the young player to buy in … and trust in that development team around him and understand that he needs to be in the AHL at this point. Some prospects have to traverse that mental hurdle: ‘Why am I not in the NHL already? I’m a second- or third-round pick. I should be in the NHL.’”
It sounds cliche, but it comes down to this: Trust the process, now more than ever.
Williams called this a “critical season” for the IceHogs — and the Hawks — from a development standpoint.
“All this will be for naught if those players don’t end up actually developing,” he said. “And if they don’t, then you’re kind of back to no man’s land, which is where a lot of teams find themselves in these kinds of situations, where they really put their stock in drafting and then the development part of it goes off track, and then you end up, like a lot of teams, where now you’re adrift.
“What happens to Rockford eventually, good or bad, will impact things down the road for the big team.”
Part of that maturation needs to come through a competitive season. Sorensen wouldn’t say he feels the pressure of heightened expectations, but Hawks coaches and management have made no secret they want to see players handle the crucible of a deep playoff run. It’s like a trial run for the NHL playoffs.
Last season the IceHogs were eliminated 3-1 by the Grand Rapids Griffins in a Central Division semifinal series after winning the regular-season series 6-5-1. Griffins coach Dan Watson said his team, the Detroit Red Wings’ AHL affiliate, has been at the crossroads where the IceHogs find themselves.
Defenseman and 2021 first-round pick Simon Edvinsson looked ready to make the leap to the NHL last year after a solid training camp, but the Wings sent him to Grand Rapids for a second season. They called him up for two games in December and 14 games beginning in March, during which Wings coach Derek Lalonde called Edvinsson a “big boost.”
“He’s supposed to be one of the best defensemen in the league,” Watson said, but he had to “show that he doesn’t belong in the AHL, he actually belongs in the NHL. And he did a great job of that.”
The Wings laid out similar paths for 2019 second-round defenseman Albert Johansson and 2018 second-round forward Jonatan Berggren. All three are expected to make the Wings roster this fall.
In July, Hawks general manager Kyle Davidson praised the Dallas Stars for the restraint they showed with forwards Thomas Harley and Logan Stankoven.
“Dallas waited, they were patient (with Stankoven) and he came in and was one of their more effective players down the stretch in the (NHL) playoffs,” Davidson said.
Williams said it’s a trend.
“There is more of a recognition by NHL teams to let players try as much as possible to develop on their own timeline and try not to put too much of a clock on them,” he said. “So you give them that little bit of extra time and not write them off too soon — which is easier said than done.
“Development is such a tricky thing. There are no guarantees, and it can be very frustrating for NHL teams when they really go all-in on this and then it doesn’t pan out.”
Williams said he has seen plenty of instances like that in the AHL. On the other hand, every once in a while a team gets it right and an AHL team serves as an incubator for a future NHL champion.
That was the case with several prospects from the Norfolk Admirals (the Hawks’ previous AHL affiliate) and the IceHogs who contributed to the Hawks’ run of three Stanley Cup titles in six years from 2010-15.
“You think of the guys that came through like (Troy) Brouwer and (Dustin) Byfuglien and Duncan Keith and Corey Crawford, right down the line,” Williams said. “They were developing multiple players at multiple positions, and one after another after another, that gave a really good supporting cast for (Patrick) Kane and (Jonathan) Toews.
“Those are your crown jewels, but having that cast around them, that’s what took them from, ‘OK, we have a couple top picks,’ to, ‘Now we have a team that’s going to win multiple Stanley Cups.’”
