We’re now less than one week (six days!) from the Blackhawks’ prospects collecting at the Fifth Third Arena to get ready for the Tom Kurvers Prospect Showcase games against the Blues and Wild in St. Louis. The Rookie Camp is set to begin on Sept. 11 before the squad heads to St. Louis for games on Friday and Saturday next week.
Again, here’s the schedule for the Blackhawks’ prospects:
11 AM — Practice at Fifth Third Arena
10 AM – Noon — Practice at Fifth Third Arena
11:30 AM – Blackhawks prospects practice (USA Rink)
7 PM – Blues vs. Blackhawks (USA Rink)
10:30 AM – Blackhawks prospects practice (USA Rink)
6 PM – Blackhawks vs. Wild (USA Rink)
With that in mind, let’s do a little projecting. Here’s how I would line up the Blackhawks’ forwards and defense for the two games in St. Louis.
Blackhawks Forward Lines
The Blackhawks will have 13 forwards available, two of whom have NHL regular-season experience already. Just throwing out there some ideas, here’s what I would do with the forwards if I had the dry erase board next week:
Colton Dach — Frank Nazar — Nick Lardis
Landon Slaggert — AJ Spellacy — Gavin Hayes
Samuel Savoie — Martin Misiak — Ryder Rolston
Jalen Luypen — Paul Ludwinski — Alex Pharand
Marcel Marcel
Thoughts:
I wouldn’t be against getting the two Notre Dame grads, Slaggert and Rolston, back together. But I love the idea of Spellacy with a scorer like Hayes and a more mature player like Slaggert on the second line.
The combination of Dach’s size and skating with the speed of Nazar and Lardis’ scoring on the top line is lovely.
Misiak and Ludwinski being the other two centers is fascinating. Luypen and Rolston have the most AHL experience in the bottom six, but I kinda like Savoie and Misiak with Rolston’s speed on the third line.
Blackhawks Defensive Pairs
The Blackhawks will send seven defensemen to St. Louis for the showcase, including three free agents — which is fascinating with the experience and pedigree of the four who were drafted by the Blackhawks. Here’s how I would line them up:
Ethan Del Mastro — Artyom Levshunov
Ty Henry — Nolan Allan
Tnias Mathurin — Wyatt Kennedy
Lucas Brenton
Thoughts:
I love love love Del Mastro with Levshunov.
The Blackhawks are sending five left-handed defensemen, so someone is going to have to play his off-side. Allan did that in Rockford so I’ve got him with the youngest defensemen in the group. Henry is a young project defensemen with decent size (6-2, 197).
Mathurin and Kennedy, two free agents, played together with North Bay in the OHL this past season. So being that they have already been teammates, let them skate together. It’s interesting that Mathurin (6-3, 195) was drafted by the Red Wings in the fifth round (No. 137) in the 2022 NHL Draft. Kennedy (6-4, 198) has good size as well. This is a big blue line group for the Blackhawks.
Brenton (6-4, 212) just completed his fifth season with Moose Jaw in the WHL and turned 21 in April. He’s an intriguing prospect. Again, lots of size but another lefty.
