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December 23
2016 NHL DRAFT: IMPACT IN ROCKFORD
Rockford, Ill. – Chicago Blackhawks General Manager Stan Bowman and his hockey operations crew will travel to Buffalo, New York locked and loaded with seven selections in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft on Friday and Saturday.
With those picks, the Blackhawks will look to solidify the future of the organization. The end result is to add to an already proven core group of players in Chicago. However, with the stockpile of talent already in Chicago, a majority of the selections made this weekend will eventually begin their hockey careers in the American Hockey League in Rockford to be groomed for the next level.
Since 2007, the IceHogs have played a key role in developing Blackhawks prospects to get them ready to make the jump to the NHL. This past season, 16 Blackhawks draft picks spent time in Rockford.
The 2015-16 season saw 43 different skaters in an IceHogs sweater, with 28 of them coming from the draft (65.1%), including 16 selected by the Blackhawks (37.2%). In total, 65 Blackhawks draft picks have suited up for the IceHogs across nine seasons.
Therefore the 2016 NHL draft will give IceHogs fans a glimpse of some of the players that may lace up their skates at the BMO Harris Bank Center down the road.
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 (23): | |
| 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 |
| Mark Visentin | 27th overall (2010) by Phoenix |
| Nick Leddy | 16th overall (2009) by Minnesota |
| Dylan Olsen | 28th overall (2009) by Chicago |
| Philippe Paradis | 27th overall (2009) by Carolina |
| David Rundblad | 17th overall (2009) by St. Louis |
| 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 |
| Daniel Paille | 20th overall (2002) by Buffalo |
| 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: (5) | Dahlstrom, Hartman, Motte, Norell, Press |
| 2012: (4) | Fournier, Hinostroza, Ross, Teravainen |
| 2011: (9) | A. Broadhurst, Clendening, Danault, Dahlbeck, Jardine, McNeill, Saad, Shalunov, Shaw |
| 2010: (7) | Carruth, Flick, Holl, Johns, Mattson, 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 |
| 1999: (1) | Leighton |
| Players to play for the IceHogs by round: | |
| First Round: 24 | Barker, Beach, Bouchard, Boynton, Cloutier, Cullimore, Danault, Dano, Hartman, Jessiman, Leddy, McArdle, McNeill, Olesz, Olsen, Paille, Paradis, Rundblad, Samsonov, Skille, Taffe, Teravainen, Toivonen, Vishnevskiy |
| Second Round: 31 | Aliu, Bertram, Bickell, Blunden, Bolland, Brennan, Christian, Clendening, Crawford, Cullimore, Dahlstrom, Danis-Pepin, Fournier, Hayes, Holl, Janik, Johns, R. Johnson, Keith, Makarov, Morin, Pineault, Pirri, Pokka, Richmond, Saad, Sauve, Seabrook, Simpson, Stephenson, Winchester |
| Third Round: 18 | Berti, Bois, Brent, Brittain, Brophey, Dahlbeck, Fraser, A. Johnson, LaBarbera, Lalonde, Nordstrom, Peckham, Potulny, Quick, Regin, Skinner, Tanguay, D. Toews |
| Fourth Round: 16 | Bass, Davis, Flick, B. Fahey, Froese, Gustafsson, Hjalmarsson, MacIntyre, Motte, Norell, Palmer, Petiot, Sarauer, Segal, Shalunov, Sharrow |
| Fifth Round: 13 | Collins, Dowell, Flinn, Koci, Kruger, Lavin, Ross, Sawyer, Scuderi, Shaw, Turner, Versteeg, Wisniewski |
| Sixth Round: 14 | Carlsson, Charlebois, Darling, DiDomenico, Fallon, Hinostroza, Kessel, Jardine, Leighton, Mattson, Robertson, B. Smith, Torquato, York |
| Seventh Round: 13 | Archer, A. Broadhurst, Brodeur, Brouwer, Carruth, Cumiskey, Gilbert, Gleason, Gotovets, Hobson, Kontiola, LeBlanc, Press |
| Eighth Round: 5 | Byfuglien, Exelby, J. Fahey, McMorrow, Paiement |
| Ninth Round: 2 | Flaherty, McLean |
| Blackhawks draft picks to play in Rockford by position: | |
| Center: | 20 |
| Wings: | 15 |
| Defense: | 23 |
| Goalie: | 7 |
