A year ago, Blackhawks prospect Colton Dach was on the verge of an NHL call-up.
Then inconsistency and injuries disrupted his rhythm, forcing him to — in the words of Rockford coach Anders Sorensen — “start over a little bit” this season.
After more ups and downs this fall, Sorensen, who always seems more critical of Dach than the Hawks’ other AHL prospects, sat down with him Tuesday morning for a serious chat. That night against Texas, Dach was denied on two golden scoring chances in the first period, which might have rattled him in the past.
But he stuck with it and broke through with two goals less than a minute apart in the second period of Rockford’s eventual win. Sorensen described it as Dach’s “most complete game” of the season, a rare instance of praise.
“I’m not going to lie: I was definitely a little bit frustrated when I couldn’t put one in [early on],” Dach said. “But when I scored that first one, I let it all out and calmed myself down, and we went to work after that.
“I need to play with confidence. When I’m doing that, I’m moving my feet, getting into guys, being physical and winning a lot of stick battles. That’s something I’ve got to keep doing.”
Dach entered Saturday with 11 points in 14 games, trailing only top prospect Frank Nazar for the team lead.
“It’s [about] the work off the puck,” Sorensen said. “We’ve talked a lot about the first four strides in transition, whether it’s one way or the other — similar to Frank, although they’re different body types obviously. [Dach is working on] getting his feet going early to get to spots or get in on the forecheck. When he does that, he’s really effective.”
In his pursuit of an NHL call-up, Dach is mostly competing against Nazar, Landon Slaggert and Cole Guttman. The race could get more crowded soon if Boston University junior Ryan Greene and Minnesota sophomore Oliver Moore sign entry-level contracts in March or April after their college seasons end.
Dach needs to maintain this inkling of momentum to have a chance to break through. He needs his December 2024 performance to be just as impressive as his December 2023 performance — and his January 2025 performance to greatly exceed his January 2024 performance.
Waivers looming
When the Hawks signed goaltender Laurent Brossoit in the summer, they knew they could send Arvid Soderblom to Rockford without the risk of losing him on waivers.
If Brossoit misses much more time, however, that no longer may be the case. Soderblom’s six appearances this season have him up to 56 career NHL appearances; once he gets to 60, he’ll require waivers.
Considering how much Soderblom has increased his stock — he has a .926 save percentage compared to .879 last season — that’s a risk the Hawks would be reluctant to take. Instead, they would be stuck with a logjam of three NHL goalies.
For now, it’s only an academic concern because Brossoit seemingly has made no progress toward a return after his meniscus surgery.
Weird stats
After their 3-2 overtime loss to the Flyers, the Hawks have gone five games with only one power-play opportunity in each game. That’s a franchise record and the longest such streak by any team since 2019.
Forward Lukas Reichel, on the other hand, seems to love Philadelphia. He has three multipoint games since the start of last season, and two have happened in Philly.
He scored the Hawks’ first goal and assisted on the second.