Prospect Check-in: Rockford IceHogs

A peak into the pig pen to see how our war piglets are developing

It’s time to take a look at how some future Hawks are looking over in Rockford.

Just a reminder that I’m not a “prospect guy.” There are other places where you can get into as much detail as possible about Blackhawks’ prospects. Like this one. This site isn’t one of them.

While the unknown potential of a young player is certainly exciting, I don’t spend a whole lot of time living and dying with some teenager crushing the WHL with a billion points. And I’m not bashing hockey fans who do. I’m just limited on time.

The Hawks’ prospect pool is interesting because it’s been ranked at the top of all teams in the NHL, at least according to the Athletic. But, there are obvious holes, and a few years from now, things could look different.

With that being said, let’s see how the kids are doing in Rockford. I’ll probably do the college kids next.

Rockford

The war piglets in Rockford have the most interesting prospects in the Hawks system. There’s a certain potential No. 2 center, a young defenseman with a high offensive upside who I think should be in the NHL, and a certain No. 2 overall pick who’s going to be fun to watch develop with the Hogs. Throw in some potential solid bottom-six players and the IceHogs are looking interesting this year.

Rockford is 2-3-0-0 through 5 games. The pigs started the season strong with a 4-1 win over the Grand Rapids Griffins, who knocked the IceHogs out of the playoffs last year. Their other win was against the Manitoba Moose, a 3-5 win which saw Artyom Levshunov make his professional debut and collect an apple for his first point.

Samuel Savoie scored the lone goal against the Moose on Sunday, which brings his point total to 4 (2 goals, 2 assists). Shorthanded goal to boot.

Sharing the top of the IceHogs points leaders with Savoie are Frank Nazar and Cole Guttman, both of who have 2 goals and 2 assists. Nazar is looking pretty good with the IceHogs and Scott Powers wrote to expect Nazar to get a call-up sometime around December or January. Winter Classic debut maybe?

As for the other forwards, Colton Dach has 2 goals and an assist, Gavin Hayes has 1 goal and 1 assist, Landon Slaggert has 2 assists, Paul Ludwinski has an assist, and Ryder Rolston has a goal. Those are all players with the potential to be solid bottom-six players. Particularly Ludwinski and Hayes. Jalen Luypen has no points and has played in only 3 games.

For our blueliners, Kevin Korchinski is showing off his skating ability and tapping into his offensive skill. He has a goal and 2 assists while being -3. I’ve said it before, him being in Rockford makes 100% sense. But. I’m still not totally convinced that he should be there for a long time.

Ethan Del Mastro has 2 assists and Louis Crevier has an assist. Isaak Phillips is the only Blackhawks blueline prospect who hasn’t played in all 5 games as he only skated in 2 of them. Keep in mind that Phillips was called up very briefly. Isaak is someone I wanted to see on the Hawks roster if there wasn’t a certain TJ Brodie here already.

In net, Drew Commesso only has 2 games because of his call-up to Chicago. He has 1 win and 1 loss with a SV% at .854.

Overall, it’s still early in the AHL season to gather anything meaningful other than the following:

• Korchinski needs to be back in the NHL as soon as possible (a take that I’m sure bothers a lot of you). I think shielding his confidence from losses is a little BS. But what do I know (nothing, by the way).

• Nazar will benefit from some AHL time, but I still think he should also be up here with the Hawks.

• Levshunov is back on the ice and I’m excited to see what he does in Rockford.

---

Trash Bin

If you’re here only for Hawks-related stuff, best for you to just turn around now.

5/3/1

You like getting big and strong? Let’s talk about 5/3/1.

There are a handful of programs that I keep in my back pocket. 5/3/1 sits at the top of that pile for a reason. It works. It’s sustainable. It’s flexible.

Among the many, many templates of 5/3/1, I recently ran a few cycles of “Full Body 1000% Awesome.” I picked that template because it was a 3 day-a-week program that worked great with skateboarding.

• 3-week cycles, main work follows 5/3/1 weight progression

• Monday: Jumps and Throws, Squat 3x5, Bench 5x5 (80-85% of training max), Pull-ups, Dumbell Press

• Wednesday: Jumps and Throws, Deadlift 3x5, Overhead Press 5x5 (80-85%), Dips, Bentover Barbell Rows

• Friday: Jumps and Throws, Bench 3x5, Squat 5x5 (80-85%), Pullsups, Dumbell Press

• Assistance Work: 25-50 reps

• 30 min. cardio 3x

• Skateboarding 1 hr 3x

I doubt anyone is reading this far, so I can say whatever I want really. Like the fact that I did yoga most days as well, but I don’t want people to know that.

This template worked really well for me. I was hesitant because it’s a 3-day program and I didn’t think the frequency was high enough. But 5/3/1 is a long-term program that’s meant for long-term gains. I actually don’t recommend 5/3/1 if you’re trying to get strong fast.

But the best part about this was that I felt great throughout. My joints didn’t hurt beyond their normal pain (yes, I have normal pain that I just deal with). And best of all, it didn’t interfere with my skateboarding. Running a 5-6 day split tires me out too much to do anything else outside of the gym.

I’ll be starting a 4-day split this week following the “First Set Last” template.

Hawks play tonight.

Let’s Go Hawks.