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December 23
2014 NHL DRAFT: GETTING A START IN ROCKFORD
Rockford, Ill. – With the Chicago Blackhawks continuing to build on their recent success in the National Hockey League, the long term success of the club will be built this weekend through the NHL Entry Draft.
After all 30 NHL teams make their selections in the seven-round draft, which begins with the first round on Friday night, a vast majority of the players selected will begin their careers in the American Hockey League with hopes of making it to the next level.
Since 2007, the Rockford IceHogs have played a key role in developing Blackhawks prospects to get them ready to make the jump to the NHL. This past season, each first round draft pick by Chicago from 2008 to 2013 played in Rockford, with the exception of the Blackhawks 2010 first round selection, Kevin Hayes (24th overall). In all, seven first rounders donned an IceHogs uniform in 2013-14 (Kyle Beach, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Phillip Danault, Ryan Hartman, Mark McNeill, Dylan Olsen, Teuvo Teravainen).
Since becoming the AHL affiliate for the Blackhawks in 2007-08, 181 total players have worn an IceHogs uniform. Of those players, 101 (55.8%) were drafted by an NHL team via the Entry Draft, with 55 (30.3%) drafted by the Blackhawks.
The 2013-14 season saw 43 different skaters in an IceHogs sweater, with 28 of them coming from the draft (65.1%), including 20 selected by the Blackhawks (46.5%).
Below are a few facts about the NHL draft picks that have played for the Rockford IceHogs:
Highest draft pick to play for the IceHogs: Cam Barker (3rd overall in 2004 with Blackhawks)
Lowest draft pick to play for IceHogs: Sean McMorrow (258th overall in 2000 with Buffalo)
Lowest Blackhawks draft pick to play for IceHogs: Dustin Byfuglien (245th overall in 2000)
| First round draft selections to play for the IceHogs (21): | |
| Ryan Hartman | 30th overall (2013) by Chicago |
| Teuvo Teravainen | 18th overall (2012) by Chicago |
| Mark McNeill | 18th overall (2011) by Chicago |
| Phillip Danault | 26th overall (2011) by Chicago |
| Nick Leddy | 16th overall (2009) by Minnesota |
| Dylan Olsen | 28th overall (2009) by Chicago |
| Philippe Paradis | 27th overall (2009) by Carolina |
| Kyle Beach | 11th overall (2008) by Chicago |
| Ivan Vishnevskiy | 27th overall (2006) by Dallas |
| Kenndal McArdle | 20th overall (2005) by Florida |
| Jack Skille | 7th overall (2005) by Chicago |
| Cam Barker | 3rd overall (2004) by Chicago |
| Rostislav Olesz | 7th overall (2004) by Florida |
| Hugh Jessiman | 12th overall (2003) by New York Rangers |
| Pierre-Marc Bouchard | 8th overall (2002) by Minnesota |
| Hannu Toivonen | 29th overall (2002) by Boston |
| Jeff Taffe | 30th overall (2000) by St. Louis |
| Nick Boynton | 21st overall (1999) by Boston and 9th overall (1997) by Washington |
| Sergei Samsonov | 8th overall (1997) by Boston |
| Dan Cloutier | 26th overall (1997) by New York Rangers |
| Jassen Cullimore | 29th overall (1991) by Vancouver |
| Blackhawks picks by draft year to play for the IceHogs (alphabetical order): | |
| 2013: (1) | Hartman |
| 2012: (2) | Ross, Teravainen |
| 2011: (8) | A. Broadhurst, Clendening, Danault, Dahlbeck, McNeill, Saad, Shalunov, Shaw |
| 2010: (5) | Carruth, Flick, Johns, Nordstrom, Simpson |
| 2009: (5) | Froese, Gilbert, Kruger, Olsen, Pirri |
| 2008: (5) | Beach, Carlsson, Gleason, Lalonde, Smith |
| 2007: (3) | Aliu, Lavin, Tanguay |
| 2006: (4) | Danis-Pepin, P. LeBlanc, Makarov, Palmer |
| 2005: (10) | Bertram, Blunden, Brophey, Charlebois, Davis, Fallon, Hjalmarsson, Hobson, Skille, Turner |
| 2004: (7) | Barker, Berti, Bickell, Bolland, Brouwer, Dowell, Kontiola |
| 2003: (3) | M. Brodeur, Byfuglien, Crawford |
| 2002: (1) | Wisniewski |
| 2001: (1) | M. Keith |
| Players to play for the IceHogs by round: | |
| First Round: 21 | Barker, Beach, Bouchard, Boynton, Cloutier, Cullimore, Danault, Hartman, Jessiman, Leddy, McArdle, McNeill, Olesz, Olsen, Paradis, Samsonov, Skille, Taffe, Teravainen, Toivonen, Vishnevskiy |
| Second Round: 26 | Aliu, Bertram, Bickell, Blunden, Bolland, Christian, Clendening, Crawford, Cullimore, Danis-Pepin, Davis, Hayes, Janik, Johns, Keith, R. Johnson, Makarov, Morin, Pineault, Pirri, Richmond, Saad, Sauve, Simpson, Stephenson, Winchester |
| Third Round: 16 | Berti, Bois, Brent, Brophey, Dahlbeck, Fraser, A. Johnson, LaBarbera, Lalonde, Nordstrom, Peckham, Potulny, Quick, Skinner, Tanguay, D. Toews |
| Fourth Round: 11 | Davis, Flick, B. Fahey, Froese, Hjalmarsson, Palmer, Petiot, Sarauer, Segal, Shalunov, Sharrow |
| Fifth Round: 12 | Collins, Dowell, Flinn, Koci, Kruger, Lavin, Ross, Sawyer, Shaw, Turner, Versteeg, Wisniewski |
| Sixth Round: 8 | Carlsson, Charlebois, DiDomenico, Fallon, Kessel, B. Smith, Torquato, York |
| Seventh Round: 10 | Archer, A. Broadhurst, Brodeur, Brouwer, Carruth, Gilbert, Gleason, Hobson, Kontiola, LeBlanc |
| Eighth Round: 5 | Byfuglien, Exelby, J. Fahey, McMorrow, Paiement |
| Ninth Round: 2 | Flaherty, McLean |
| Blackhawks draft picks to play in Rockford by position: | |
| Center: | 18 |
| Wings: | 15 |
| Defense: | 16 |
| Goalie: | 6 |
Check out IceHogs.com all week as we preview the 2013 NHL Entry Draft
Monday, June 23th: Draft Breakdown at 27th pick
Tuesday, June 24th: Mock Drafts
Wednesday, June 25th: Breakdown of the Blackhawks first overall picks over the past 20 years
Thursday, June 26th: How the draft has impacted Rockford
Friday, June 27th: Update on the progress of Chicago’s draft picks from the 2012 and 2013 drafts
Season Tickets for 2014-15 Now on Sale: Reserve your seats today for the IceHogs 16th season of professional hockey and eighth as the AHL affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks. Call (815) 847-6399 or visit icehogs.com to find a ticket package that fits your needs.
