Even though Jeremy Colliton is now the head coach of the Blackhawks, that doesn't mean he won't be keeping close tabs on how his former players are doing in Rockford. In fact, it's crucial that he does.
The Blackhawks are entering a new era where they're relying more and more on their younger players to help carry the load with the core veterans reaching the back nine of their NHL careers.
With a replenished pipeline, the Blackhawks could start to see some of them on the big club once Colliton figures out what he has in Chicago and which IceHogs could provide a spark at some point.
"Absolutely," Colliton said when asked if it's important to keep up with the IceHogs. "First of all, I care about the team, I care about the players, I care about the people who are down there. So it's only natural for me to keep my fingers on the pulse. But we want to build as much depth as we can within this group and that includes the guys in Rockford. Because there are going to be injuries, and we want competition, that it's not a given you're going to play or not a given you're going to have a certain role and that's healthy for everyone and it's going to push everyone to be better."
Dylan Sikura is someone the Blackhawks are looking for to be a top-nine forward once he does re-join the team. He scored the game-winning goal (on the power play), had an assist and seven shots on goal in Saturday's 4-3 win over the Chicago Wolves. The same goes for Victor Ejdsell, who had two assists to give him nine points in 14 games.
On the back end, Carl Dahlstrom and Gustav Forsling are two players to keep an eye on as they appear to be the most NHL-ready. Lucas Carlsson and Darren Raddysh are building strong cases as well.
But for now, it's only fair that Colliton gives the current Blackhawks group a chance before exploring those options.
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"We have to see what they have and see how they're going to adjust," Colliton said. "We're not reinventing the wheel here, but a big thing we're going to talk about is play with joy, play free, be aggressive, push the pace, be skating. And we'll see how the guys react to that and then things will become more clear."