Rockford Express

In what is pretty much a standard Blackhawks move, the team recalled 11 players from Rockford, over the past few days. This really has nothing to do with current roster situation. It's more of an "experience" builder for the young players, and it allows for more practice dummies to play against. Last season, they did the same thing with the likes of players like Crawford, Bickell and Dowell. If they need the help, the players are already with the team, but there is a VERY small possibility of them ever playing. Anyhow, the players are Forwards Jeff Taffe, Rob Klinkhammer, Jeremy Morin and Brandon Pirri; Defensemen Garnet Exelby, Jassen Cullimore, Brian Connelly, Shawn Lalonde and Ryan Stanton; and Goalies Hannu Toivonen, and Alec Richards. Here is the info on each player:

• Taffe, 30, appeared in one game with the Blackhawks this season, logging 4:05 of ice time on Feb. 12 at Phoenix, in his first year with the organization. The Hastings, Minnesota, native paced Rockford and shared eighth in the AHL with a career-high 30 goals and led the IceHogs with 67 points (30G, 37A) in 74 regular-season tilts. Taffe has registered 21 goals and 23 assists in 175 career regular-season NHL contests over parts of seven seasons with the Blackhawks, Phoenix Coyotes (2002-04, 2005, 2006-07), New York Rangers (2005), Pittsburgh Penguins (2007-09) and Florida Panthers (2009-10).
  
• Klinkhammer, 24, made his National Hockey League debut on Dec. 8, registering one shot and a +1 plus/minus rating against the Dallas Stars at the United Center. The Lethbridge, Alberta, native paced Rockford with a +14 rating, ranked fourth with a career-high 17 goals that included 16 markers at even-stregth, and finished third with a career-best 46 points in 76 regular-season tilts with the IceHogs.
  
• Morin, 19, posted three points (2G, A) and a +2 plus/minus rating in nine regular-season contests with the Blackhawks this year in his professional debut. The Auburn, New York, native added 12 points (8G, 4A) in 22 AHL games with Rockford and was a member of Team USA’s bronze medal-winning squad at the 2011 World Junior Championships in Buffalo.
  
• Pirri, 20, made his NHL debut on Oct. 9 in the Blackhawks 2010-11 home opener at the United Center. Chicago’s second selection (59th overall) in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, the Toronto native ranked third on the IceHogs, and shared eighth among AHL rookies, with 31 assists and finished fourth on Rockford with 43 points in his first professional campaign.
  
• Exelby, 29, registered 13 points (3G, 10A) and ranked second among club defensemen with a +7 plus/minus rating in 77 AHL contests with Rockford while serving as the captain of the IceHogs. The Ste. Anne, Manitoba, native is a veteran of 408 career National Hockey League regular-season games, racking up 43 assists, 50 points and 584 penalty minutes with the Atlanta Thrashers (2002-09) and Toronto Maple Leafs (2009-10).
  
• Cullimore, 38, recorded eight assists and eight penalty minutes in 36 regular-season games with the Blackhawks this season, and nine points (2G, 7A) in 41 AHL contests with Rockford. The Simcoe, Ontario, native is a veteran of 812 career National Hockey League regular-season games, racking up 85 assists, 111 points and 704 penalty minutes with the Vancouver Canucks (1994-96), Montreal Canadiens, (1996-98), Tampa Bay Lightning (1998-2004), Blackhawks (2005-07, 2010-11) and Florida Panthers (2007-09). Cullimore has also notched four points (G, 3A) in 35 career postseason contests, which includes helping Tampa Bay capture the 2004 Stanley Cup.
  
• Connelly, 24, ranked sixth among American Hockey League defensemen, and second on the IceHogs overall, with a career-high 52 points, pacing the club with 41 assists in 80 regular-season tilts. The Bloomington, Minnesota, native, who was honored as the IceHogs Rookie of the Year during the 2009-10 season, also represented Rockford at the 2011 AHL All-Star Game.
  
• Lalonde, 21, ranked second among team blueliners, and shared fifth among AHL rookie defensemen, with 32 points (5G, 27A) in 73 regular-season tilts in his first full professional campaign. Chicago’s second selection (68th overall) in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, the Ottawa native ranked sixth on the IceHogs and second among defensemen with 142 shots on goal.
  
• Stanton, 21, paced IceHogs defensemen with a +9 plus/minus rating and registered 17 points (3G, 14A) in 76 regular-season AHL tilts. A native of St. Albert, Alberta, Stanton shared second among Rockford blueliners with 76 penalty minutes in his first full professional season.
  
• Toivonen, 26, dressed for one game with the Blackhawks this season but did not appear in the contest. The Kalvola, Finland, native led Rockford with a career-high 21 wins (21-16-6) and posted a team-best .907 save percentage in 49 appearances between the pipes. Originally acquired by the Blackhawks on March 1, 2010, in a trade with the St. Louis Blues, Toivonen has appeared in 61 career NHL contests with Boston (2005-07) and St. Louis (2007-08), registering an 18-24-10 record with a 3.37 goals against average and an .890 save percentage.
  
• Richards, 23, led Rockford netminders with two shutouts and a 2.89 GAA in 44 appearances in his first full professional campaign. The Robbinsdale, Minnesota, native posted a 17-21-2 mark between the pipes for the IceHogs.
  

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Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead

As everyone expected, the Cristobal Huet mess is officially out of the Blackhawks hands, for this season at least. The team placed him on waivers this weekend, which is a necessary step to allow him to be loaned to HC Fribourg-Gotteron SA of the Swiss National League A. He cleared waivers yesterday. The team will still have to pay his salary, but it won't count against the salary cap. Of course, he still has another year on his deal, so lets hope he plays well enough for the Swiss to want him again next season. What an epic mess. Hey, at least we're not still paying for Alexei Yashin to play in Russia and Rick DiPietro to nurse his fragile lower extremities, like the Islanders.

In other Hawks news, Evan Brophey and Jeff Taffe cleared waivers and were sent to Rockford. Brophey did some things well, but Taffe looked clueless in the time I saw him out there. Hugh Jessiman was put on waivers, and will most likely clear, which will see him taking I-90 west to Rockford, with the rest of the bunch. No surprises, again.

The team's roster is at 32 players, and will need to be cut down to 23 by the season start.

2010-11 Training Camp Roster (the ones in bold I expect to see sent to Rockford)

Forwards–Kyle Beach, Bryan Bickell, Dave Bolland, Troy Brouwer, Jake Dowell, Marian Hossa, Patrick Kane, Tomas Kopecky, Igor Makarov, Jeremy Morin, Fernando Pisani, Ryan Potulny, Ludvig Rensfeldt, Patrick Sharp, Jack Skille, Ben Smith, Viktor Stalberg, Jonathan Toews

Defensemen–Nick Boynton, Brian Campbell, Brian Connelly, Jassen Cullimore, Jordan Hendry, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Duncan Keith, Nick Leddy, John Scott, Brent Seabrook

Goalies–Corey Crawford, Alec Richards, Hannu Toivonen, Marty Turco

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Laffy Taffe to be seen in the United Center

The dog days of summer continue to get longer and less interesting, if you’re looking for any interesting NHL news. Only on a hot, sticky, late July day could Marty Reasoner and Jeff Taffe be the biggest hockey news in Chicago. Sadly, I regret to inform you that this is not a joke. Late yesterday afternoon, Marty “Tower this is Ghostrider requesting a fly-by” Reasoner and his freshly re-packed bags were traded back south to Florida for Jeff Taffe. This is probably a hair above the signing of the great Igor Makarov, on the list of important organ-I-zational moves . I’m talking great, as in, “doesn’t even qualify as news on the website” for Makarov. Seriously, this is a snore of a transaction. Reasoner was tabbed for the 4th line, most likely. In a perfect world, he would be a cheaper and younger replacement for Madden as the 3rd line shutdown center but, honestly, who can replace this “Hot Tub Time Machine” moment?



This means the Hawks save about $600,000 in salary, if Taffe even makes the team. So, if said player makes the team, he’ll either be warming the pine as a proud member of the 4th line, or a healthy scratch. I would personally just rather see some younger hungry kid from Rockford who throws his body around without any regard for his own safety, not some 29 year old journeyman who had a total of 2 points in 21 games last year. The bottom line is that we’re going to be seeing a lot of fresh new faces when the Hawks open up this year.

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