The Blackhawks' system, an update

The Chicago Blackhawks are set at the NHL level -- as of now, 23 players are on NHL contracts, the max. They'll have to make a couple of moves, as they're currently a couple million dollars over the NHL's hard salary cap, but it's worth taking another look at what's in the Blackhawks' system signed for this year.

The Blackhawks currently have 46 players signed for next season -- 23 on NHL contracts, 23 currently "non-roster players" or on minor-league deals (the maximum number allowed under contract to an NHL team is 50, but most teams start the season a few players under that amount to be able to sign players who age out of junior/graduate from college/college free agents at the end of the season). The Indy Fuel can expect to get about 6-to-8 players out of that group of 23. The CapGeek depth chart.

Take note, this is fluid. Trades often involve prospects going both directions, and the Blackhawks will likely sign players who have aged out of junior or college hockey at the end of the season, some of which we'll be likely to see in Indy.

Several of these players will be headed to the Blackhawks prospect camp this week. This post is focusing on the signed players. A post next week will update the unsigned prospects in the system whose rights the Blackhawks control -- the players still in junior, college or European hockey.

Commentary: Blackhawks' move stresses developmental system

The Chicago Blackhawks handed out a lot of money Wednesday afternoon -- $168 million, to be exact. That's just $7 million less than the United Center cost to build in 1994.

What it means is the two franchise's centerpieces -- Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane -- will be wearing Blackhawk sweaters through 2023. The two signed eight-year, $84 million extensions. Those will carry a $10.5 million annual cap hit -- an increase of $4.2 million each from the pair's current contracts.

More NHL Draft: Blackhawks picks

As the ECHL affiliates of the Chicago Blackhawks, the Indy Fuel will be receiving players from the Hawks' system as they sign pro deals. So, it's worth taking a peek at who the Blackhawks added this year. Of the nine picks, the top 5 come from U.S.-based junior teams, two are from Europe and two from the Canadian Junior A ranks. All but the two Europeans are committed to U.S. colleges.

A peek at Chicago's draft haul. These are longer-term prospects, as Major Junior players cannot play professionally until they turn 20 or until they sign and their junior seasons end. Players who go to college will have the NHL team hold their rights until 30 days after they leave school.

ESPN.com has a good look at the Blackhawks' draft haul, and the fact that they drafted so many college players allows them a long-term development timeline. Also, a look at the picks from Blackhawks.com.

Pre-draft link roundup

On NHL Draft eve, a few links to peruse while going through your favorite mock draft:

• On Monday, former Indianapolis Ice goaltender Dominik Hasek became the 17th person with Indianapolis hockey ties to be chosen for the Hockey Hall of Fame. THN's Matt Larkin makes the case for the Dominator to be considered the greatest goalie ever. That was a title many once bestowed to another HOFer to matriculate in Indianapolis -- Terry Sawchuk.
• This week, former Indiana Ice defenseman (and Fort Wayne native) Blake Siebenaler was profiled in the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel. Siebenaler is one of several Ice players who are considered NHL Draft prospects. Also getting some ink this week in larger draft stories: 2012-13 Ice D Rinat Valiev & 2013-14 player Mitch Slattery, who was an affiliate list member who played one game for the Ice this past season. Ryan Mantha and Josh Jacobs are also projected to be picked in the draft. The first round is Friday night, with rounds 2-7 on Saturday. 
• We look forward to the draft, but it's also a time to look back. With the Indy Fuel being affiliated with the Chicago Blackhawks, members of past draft classes could be in Indianapolis this fall. ESPN.com looks back at the 2010 class (which includes a familiar face in Nick Mattson -- whose development the Blackhawks seem to be happy with. Mattson will play at North Dakota this year), as well as the 2011, 2012 and 2013 classes. 
• On the fun side, the Indy Fuel have unveiled the team mascot, a dragon. They're now seeking fan input on a name. 
• ECHL affiliation news: the South Carolina Stingrays announced an affiliation with the NHL's Washington Capitals. South Carolina had previously been affiliated with the Boston Bruins. Washington moved its affiliation from Reading, which aligned with the previously-unaffiliated Philadelphia Flyers. This currently leaves Boston as one of five teams without an ECHL affiliation (the others: Colorado, New Jersey, San Jose, Ottawa). Currently, two of the ECHL's 21 teams are listed as independent, although Fort Wayne is reportedly open to seeking affiliation (the other team is Colorado). There are six ECHL teams that each have two NHL affiliates. Current ECHL-NHL affiliations.
• More NHL news: the Pittsburgh Penguins have found a coach from the Western Hockey League: Mike Johnston of the Portland Winterhawks.
• Don't forget to check our posts from earlier in the week: an interview with the Fuel's first player, Pete Massar, the Fuel's second signing - Rhett Bly, the ECHL's new division alignment and rules changes, and former Ice player Torey Krug being named to the NHL's All-Rookie Team.

Friday link roundup

A few items of interest to local hockey fans have popped up in the last couple of days, so time for another link roundup.

• ICYMI, a couple of posts from yesterday: 
• The ECHL Indy Fuel have signed their first player, Pete Massar.
• Our post on Jeff Brown & several Ice personnel on the move. Lots of links from Ottawa on Brown heading to coach the OHL's Ottawa 67s. Associate coach Adam Krug is headed to a similar position with the Green Bay Gamblers. Defenseman Chris Martenet is also headed to the OHL's London Knights.
• The NHL Draft is a week away. Three players with Indiana Ice ties were rated in the top 100 by THN's Ryan Kennedy. Josh Jacobs is rated 43rd, 2012-13 Ice player Blake Siebenaler is rated 74th and defenseman Ryan Mantha was rated 85th. The Hockey Writers' Shawn Reznik has Jacobs rated 32nd in his top 60. Several other current and former USHL players are also on the list. THW's profile on Jacobs is here.
• The United States of Hockey's Chris Peters has an interesting blog post on USA Hockey participation around the nation. Indiana's 5,922 players ranks 21st in the nation, but the growth (2.1%) is higher than the national average.
• Indiana Ice 2008-09 Clark Cup champion-turned-Boston Bruin Torey Krug has a new website. Check it out at ToreyKrug.com.
• A few NHL items with potential local interest: 
• It's been known for some time that the Washington Capitals will host the 2015 Winter Classic. We now know their opponent - the Chicago Blackhawks. The Hawks will be playing in their second Winter Classic -- they hosted the second one at Wrigley Field -- and third outdoor game. The Hawks also hosted Pittsburgh in a Stadium Series game last season at Soldier Field.
• Boston Bruins assistant Geoff Ward is taking a head coaching job in Germany, leaving a vacancy on Claude Julien's bench. One candidate widely mentioned to be moving up? Former IHL Ice player and head coach Bruce Cassidy, who is the head coach of the Bruins' AHL affiliate in Providence. Cassidy also has NHL head coaching experience with the Washington Capitals.
• The Carolina Hurricanes hired Bill Peters as their head coach on Thursday. Peters had previously coached in the Blackhawks' organization in the AHL with the Rockford IceHogs.
• The 2014-15 NHL schedule will be announced Sunday. 

• The Pan Am Pavilion, where the Indiana Ice played a significant number of home games the last two seasons (as well as a handful of games in previous seasons) is officially closed. The site is slated for redevelopment into a two-tower hotel. Here was their Facebook post on the closing: "This is how it ends. The funeral dirge for Pan Am pavilion, a building that has seen 30 years of hockey figure skating and even curling pass through its doors and onto the ice of two rinks. The altogether unimpressive brick and mortar clothing metal girders has undoubtedly held the echoes of many of you for the last time. From the echo of private conversation to the constant hum of the compressors the building will sit silent because of all the life taken from it. All that life belonging to you our customers, from the die hard, week in and out attendees to those who visited once in a great while you will all be missed. Because in the end Pan Am the building was just that; a building. It was the great people whom passed through those doors that gave it life. It’s from the bottom of our hearts and with the most sincere offering we the staff say thank you. Thank you for bearing through it all with us, and most importantly thank you for helping us chase a dream and afford the blessing of working in a field where our hearts passion was the main focus of our livelihood."

Hockey links: Cups running over

Even though it's the offseason, a pretty decent link roundup today.
Updated with a couple of new links Wednesday evening.

• The ECHL offseason began Monday, and teams have begun the process of re-signing their players. Orlando has inked five -- including two new players. Fort Wayne discusses its offseason plans. A look at the teams' end-of-season rosters is here. There are two big dates to look for -- one was Monday, the other is June 30. After that date, all players not signed or extended qualifying offers by their ECHL teams are free agents.
• The ECHL league meetings are this weekend in Las Vegas. The major item on the agenda is the league alignment and playoff structure now that the Eastern Conference has 14 teams and the Western Conference has seven. Some rules changes could also be proposed/enacted, especially with the NHL making some minor tweaks to the game, especially with regards to faceoff procedure. The ECHL and NHL rulebooks are very similar, with the most notable difference being the ECHL has a five-round shootout as opposed to the NHL's three rounds.
• In other ECHL news, the Nashville Predators re-upped their affiliation with Cincinnati. The Predators and Florida Panthers shared an affiliation with the Eastern Conference Champion Cyclones this year. 
• The AHL's Texas Stars (Dallas affiliate) won the Calder Cup on Tuesday with their third straight overtime victory. Patrick Nemeth was the series hero with the OT winner in Game 5 to clinch the best-of-7 4-1. Nine Stars were ECHL alumni.
• Speaking of championships, Adam Gretz has done an interesting breakdown of recent Stanley Cup champions and the qualities they share. Most important? Possess the puck.
• Led by coach Darryl Sutter, the Kings won their second Stanley Cup in three years last Friday. The "dynasty" word is being thrown around a lot? ESPN's Pierre LeBrun asks if they're a dynasty in the making. Yahoo's Harrison Mooney says no, they're not a dynasty. 
• Looking ahead to next weekend's NHL Draft, the Blackhawks look at their 27th pick. In addition, five former Indiana Ice players -- Josh Jacobs, Ryan Mantha, Blake Siebenaler, Rinat Valiev and Mitch Slattery -- are draft prospects and could hear their name called next weekend. 
• Speaking of the Blackhawks, TSN takes a look at their off-season gameplan & roster. 
• Former Indianapolis player news: ex-Checker Bruce Affleck has a new job in the St. Louis Blues' front office. The Hrkac Circus is going to the USHL - former IHL Ice scorer Tony Hrkac is a Madison Capitols assistant coach. THN has a nice piece on Blake Geoffrion, whose brother Sebastien played for the 2009 Clark Cup champion Ice. 
• And a fun one to cap things off: THN's Rory Boylen takes a look at 9 of his favorite "obscure" players. Two are former IHL Ice players -- Chris Terreri and Sergei Krivokrasov. 

Future Fuel? Scouting the Blackhawks system

With the 2013-14 ECHL season still ongoing -- and other minor pro and junior loops in the process of finishing their seasons -- the Indy Fuel still has some time to put together its roster.

But with the Fuel announcing an affiliation with the Chicago Blackhawks, we know the source of some of the team's players -- the Chicago system. The rest will be made up of free agents who will be contracted to the Fuel this summer and fall. While we wait for the announcement of a coaching staff and free-agent signings to come in, we can scour the Chicago system to keep an eye on the potential players coming to play at the Fairgrounds Coliseum this fall.

Indy Fuel announce Blackhawks affiliation

The Indy Fuel -- an expansion franchise set to begin play in the ECHL in 2014-15 -- announced today an affiliation with the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks and AHL's Rockford IceHogs.

The agreement is set to run for five seasons and will allow the Blackhawks to assign players to Indianapolis for development, and also to evaluate Fuel players. 

Indy Fuel president Sean Hallett said in a statement, “We are honored to be joining the Blackhawks family, a truly first-class organization with which we share a common philosophy of the game, direction for the team and mutual commitment to our communities. Chicago already has a strong fan base in Indianapolis, and the Blackhawks are a winning organization with a strong emphasis on the development of up-and-coming young talent.”

“We are excited to begin this new partnership with the Indy Fuel,” Blackhawks General Manager of Minor League Affiliations Mark Bernard said in a statement. “The Blackhawks and the city of Indianapolis have a history of developing many players that have had successful National Hockey League careers, and we look forward to doing the same with the Fuel and our deep group of talented prospects."

The Blackhawks had shared an ECHL affiliation with the Toledo Walleye with the Detroit Red Wings, but will have an exclusive affiliation with the Fuel.

As a "AA" league, the ECHL team is the secondary affiliate of an NHL organization, with the primary affiliates in the American Hockey League. The Blackhawks' primary affiliate is the Rockford IceHogs. The number of players the Fuel will receive from Chicago varies, but ECHL teams often receive between one and five players from their NHL parent at any given time. The Blackhawks currently have one player in their system -- forward Maxim Shulanov -- on the ECHL roster. Blackhawks prospects David Gilbert, Philippe Lefebvre and Mac Carruth -- two forwards and a goaltender -- have also played in Toledo this season. The remainder of the Fuel roster will be made up of minor-league free agents and players potentially assigned from other AHL teams.

The affiliation rekindles a relationship the IHL Indianapolis Ice shared with the Blackhawks from 1989-99, when the Ice were the Blackhawks' primary affiliates. The CHL Indianapolis Ice claimed a minor/tertiary relationship with the Blackhawks in 2003-04, their final season.

“As we reignite the spirit of professional hockey in Indianapolis, there’s no better situation for us than working with the defending Stanley Cup champion, one of the ‘Original Six’ franchises,” Hallett said in the statement. “We expect the affiliation with the Blackhawks to take our fans’ excitement to another level – and because Chicago has been so successful in adding talent through the draft, we’re confident this move will help us put an exciting and competitive team on the ice for years to come.”

Indianapolis hockey minor pro team affiliations
Indy Fuel (ECHL): 2014-, Chicago Blackhawks (secondary)
Indianapolis Ice (CHL): 1999-2004, independent 1999-2003, Chicago Blackhawks (tertiary) 2003-04
Indianapolis Ice (IHL): 1988-99, independent 1988-89, Chicago Blackhawks 1989-98 (primary, full affiliation 1989-98, partial affiliation 1998-99).
Indianapolis Checkers (IHL): 1984-87: Minnesota North Stars 1984-87, New York Islanders 1984-86, Boston Bruins 1984-85, New Jersey Devils 1986-87 (all secondary)
Indianapolis Checkers (CHL): 1979-84: New York Islanders (primary)
Indianapolis Capitols/Cincinnati Wings (CPHL): 1963-64: Detroit Red Wings (secondary)
Indianapolis Chiefs (IHL): 1955-62: independent
Indianapolis Capitals (AHL): 1939-52: Detroit Red Wings (primary)

The full release on IndyFuelHockey.com

Today in history: November 3

November 3 in Indianapolis hockey history

1948: Terry Sawchuk’s first shutout as a Capital comes in a 0-0 tie at St. Louis. He would post another shutout the next night in a 5-0 win over Springfield. 

1992: The only NHL regular-season game to be played in Indiana takes place at Market Square Arena. 8,792 watch the Washington Capitals defeat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1. The game was part of a two-season experiment by the NHL with neutral-site games. It would be the only such game played in Indianapolis. Keith Jones had a goal and two assists for Washington. Stephane Matteau scored Chicago’s only goal. Ex-Ice players Jim Waite, Dave Christian, Stu Grimson, Adam Bennett, Rob Brown, Mike Hudson and Frantisek Kucera all played for Chicago in that game. 

Birthday

Paul McInnis: Left wing for the Ice in 1999-2000, going scoreless in five games. He played spot duty in a handful of pro seasons from 1994-2000. A native of Burlington, Ont., he is 42. 

Today in history: October 24

One birthday today

Ray LeBlanc: Ice goaltender from 1989-94, one of the longest-tenured players in team history. LeBlanc appeared in 109 games with the Ice, posting a 54-38-11 record. He was primarily a backup to Jim Waite and Dominik Hasek from 1989-91, and he spent much of the 1991-92 season with the United States National Team --where he became a national hero for his play in goal, leading the USA to a fourth-place finish. He had a 2.20 GAA that year, and earned a start with the Blackhawks and won his only NHL game 5-1 against San Jose. Upon returning from the Olympics, LeBlanc started 25 games for the Ice and nearly carried a team that had been down-and-out into the playoffs. The Ice went 14-9-2 with him in the pipes. In his first game back, he got a 10-minute standing ovation from the Kalamazoo Wings fans in a road building. He got the bulk of the work in 1992-93, going 23-22-7 in 56 games, posting a 3.86 GAA. He also started all five playoff games -- his only postseason starts since one game in 1991. He would go to the Cincinnati Cyclones early in the 1993-94 season, and then play several more years in the IHL, ECHL and UHL with Chicago, Flint and Jacksonville, before retiring in 2000. A native of Fitchburg, Mass., he is 47. Today, he lives near St. Petersburg, Fla. 

Today in history: July 31

Two birthdays to round out July:

John Ollson: Forward who played 17 games for the Checkers in 1984-85, tallying nine goals and 11 assists. He also had a goal and an assist in the team's seven-game playoff loss to Peoria. Combined with his time with the Milwaukee Admirals, he had a 26-goal season. As a pro rookie, he had 29 goals and 43 assists in 1983-84 for the AHL's Springfield Kings. Ollson played the next year primarily with AHL Nova Scotia, and then headed to Europe, where he led the Dutch league in scoring in 1986-87. He retired after the 1990-91 season, playing five games with the upstart IHL Albany Choppers. Since, he has begun a hockey and golf training academy called Ollson Sports Group, based in his hometown, the suburban Ottawa community of Nepean, Ontario. Ollson is 48.

Troy Murray: A Chicago Blackhawks legend who played eight games for the Ice in 1993-94, before being traded to the Ottawa Senators late in the season. Murray had three goals and three assists for the Ice in those eight games. Murray is best known for a 15-year NHL career that began in 1982 after finishing his NCAA career (and winning a national title) at North Dakota. He would be a mainstay in Chicago for the next nine seasons. His biggest year was a 45-goal, 54-assist year in 1985-86, the second of five straight 20-goal seasons. He would be traded to Winnipeg in 1991 (along with ex-Ice player Warren Rychel) and play two years for the Jets, before being traded back to Chicago in 1993 (for former Ice player Steve Bancroft). He finished off the 1994 season with Ottawa, would be dealt to Pittsburgh in a deadline deal a year later, and play his final NHL season in 1995-96 with Colorado, where he hoisted the Stanley Cup. He retired after the 1996-97 season, which he played in the IHL for the Chicago Wolves. All told, he played 915 NHL games, totaling 230 goals and 354 assists, in addition to 875 PIMs. Today, Murray is a color commentator on the Blackhawks' radio broadcasts. A native of Calgary, Alberta, he is 49.

Tuesday wrap

Nick Mattson scored a goal today in the Chicago Blackhawks prospect camp scrimmage, although he didn't seem to impress the Committed Indians bloggers. Some highlights of the Hawks camp are here. (personal note: I didn't see Hawks camp, obviously, but Mattson was USHL Defenseman of the Year for a reason ... but, for full disclosure, will post what those who were in attendance saw).

Current Ice defenseman R.J. Boyd is competing at Florida Panthers' development camp, which began today. Coverage is here from the Litter Box Cats.

Ice alum Stanislav Galiev is in the Washington Capitals camp. Galiev is blogging about his experiences in Washington. Video from the camp is here.

Looking back
Anthony Bitetto recently participated in the Nashville Predators camp. The Section 303 blog catches up with the former Ice defenseman.

Ben Blood just finished up the Ottawa Senators' development camp. He was part of the team that won the camp-ending 3-on-3 tournament. He will go back to North Dakota for his senior year.