The Rockford IceHogs returned from the AHL’s All-Star break in underwhelming fashion, falling 6-1 to the Stars in Texas Friday night. The IceHogs are fighting for their postseason lives, thanks to mediocre play in the first four months of the 2024-25 campaign.
Rockford (17-20-5-1, 40 points) has a shot at a weekend split in Cedar Park Saturday. The IceHogs are sitting in fifth place in the Central Division standings. They’re ten points behind fourth-place Chicago and nine points in front of sixth-place Iowa.
Does this team have it in them to make a run up the division ladder? Can Rockford maintain its tenuous hold on a playoff spot with 30 games left on the schedule? What’s the current state of affairs at the BMO Center as the league gets back to business?
The Bench
Mark Eaton took over the IceHogs on December 5, after Anders Sorensen was promoted to interim coach of the Chicago Blackhawks. Rockford was 8-9-2-0 when Eaton assumed command. They’ve been 9-10-3-1 under the organization’s former Assistant GM in charge of player development.
Eaton hasn’t exactly been a detriment in his interim role. However, he hasn’t been able to spark Rockford in the win column. The IceHogs were 3-6-2 in January before a 5-4 win over the Admirals on February 1.
Up Front For The IceHogs
Rockford has seen several of its top prospects recalled to the Chicago Blackhawks. Currently, three of the IceHogs top five scorers are with Rockford’s NHL affiliate. This includes Frank Nazar (11 G, 13 A), Landon Slaggart (10 G, 15 A), and Colton Dach (12 G, 13 A).
Dach was assigned to Rockford on Wednesday. The NHL’s Four Nations Faceoff Tournament begins February 12. The Blackhawks may send additional players down to get valuable skating time with the IceHogs.
Cole Guttman leads the team with 18 goals and 40 points on the season. Veterans like Brett Seney (7 G, 19 A) and Gerry Mayhew (9 G, 9 A) have had to hold down the fort in terms of offense. Joey Anderson was assigned to Rockford by the Blackhawks on January 1. He has seven goals in his first 11 games with Rockford.
Andreas Athanasiou has a goal and four helpers in his first five games back from a hand injury in November. He and Anderson could be x-factors in a potential IceHogs run. The team could also help things along with veteran pickups at the trade deadline.
The IceHogs Back End
Rockford’s blue line has been a source of concern. Following the trade of Issak Phillips to Winnipeg in mid-January, plus the recall of Ethan Del Mastro on January 22, the IceHogs have been a bit inconsistent defensively.
Kevin Korchinski (2 G, 16 A) and Artyom Levshunov (3 G, 10 A) have contributed in the offensive zone. Korchinski is coming off of an impressive showing at the All-Star Classic, in which he was named MVP. However, the young Rockford defense tends to get caught pinching. This has resulted in some high-quality scoring chances in the defensive zone.
The IceHogs have veteran Cavan Fitzgerald (5 G, 5 A) to provide some two-way stability. Austin Strand (1 G, 3 A) was traded to Utica in January for future considerations. They did, however, bring in defensemen Dmitry Kuzmin (from Manitoba in the Phillips trade) and Matteo Pietroniro (from Toronto for future considerations).
Steadying The IceHogs Net
The goalie tandem hasn’t performed as expected. What was scheduled to be an Arvid Soderblom/Drew Commesso duo didn’t materialize. This was due to the injury of Laurent Broissoit before the season began. Soderblom has been in Chicago all season, with Mitchell Weeks backing up Commesso.
Commesso’s numbers are decidedly down from his rookie season (2.65 GAA, .906 save percentage). In 22 games this season, Commesso is 8-12-2 with a 2.94 GAA and a .898 save percentage. He gave up five goals to the Stars on Friday.
Weeks performed well in short stints with Rockford over the previous two seasons. So far this year, he is getting exposed a bit with an increased AHL workload. In a career-high 21 AHL appearances this season, Weeks is 8-8-4 with a 3.14 GAA and a .893 save percentage.
IceHogs Special Teams
The IceHogs are struggling to reach the .500 mark. This is especially disappointing because Rockford is shining on special teams.
The IceHogs power play is hitting on 20.1 percent of their chances this season. That’s seventh in the AHL entering the weekend. In addition, Rockford is also third in the league with a penalty kill unit that is shutting down opponents at an 86 percent rate.
Weekend In Texas
The second-place Stars (24-14-3, 51 points) are 4-2 against Rockford this season. Although Texas did drop its final three games before the All-Star break, they are still 6-2-2 in its last ten contests. The IceHogs have now lost the last four games in the season series. Saturday’s puck drop at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park will be at 7:00 p.m. CDT.
