3 extremely bold Chicago Blackhawks predictions for 2022-23

2. Rockford Ice Hogs will be elite

The Chicago Blackhawks would love to see their AHL affiliate be an elite team.

The Chicago Blackhawks, as you are well aware by now, are going to be absolutely terrible. They have some good players on the team but the depth is amongst the worst in the entire league. The farm system is making great strides but they have a long way to go before being a contender again.

A good step towards that goal is to keep on drafting and developing well. Part of that development comes in the AHL where the Rockford Ice Hogs will be looking to have a good year. They were a pretty good team in 2021-22 as their season ended in the playoffs.

Now, with the way that they constructed their NHL and AHL rosters, it is clear that they want their AHL squad to be very good.

Lukas Reichel is someone that is absolutely one of their best nine forwards but they are starting him in the American Hockey League for now. They might even be willing to keep him down there all season long so that he can dominate playing in Rockford’s top six.

It is certainly a better situation than playing on this terrible Chicago Blackhawks team all year. He will certainly see some NHL time but this decision is best for him. He was amazing for the Hogs in 2021-22 and will be even better for them this year.

They also have some other notable players down there that will help them be an elite team. Arvid Soderblom is worth mentioning as well as he is a very good young goalie.

At this point, he is better than Petr Mrazek and Alex Stalock but that won’t help the Hawks tank and it also isn’t smart to put him under that type of duress all year long. Like Reichel, expect him to dominate all season long. Between these two awesome young players, expect Rockford to be elite.