3 Young Blackhawks Bubble Players to Watch

Against the Minnesota Wild on Oct. 3, Allan played on the third defensive pairing alongside veteran Connor Murphy . He earned a secondary assist on a goal by Nick Foligno, as well as registering two hits in 15:50 minutes of ice time (1:18 of that on the penalty kill). Blashill said he liked this pairing of Allan and Murphy because they were both physical and hard to play against. Could this be a harbinger of things to come?

Allan played on the left side in the preseason finale on Oct. 4 as well, alongside Louis Crevier. In said game, he had one shot attempt and three hits in 20:19 minutes of ice time. Blashill credited him for “getting better” throughout camp.

Oliver Moore

Oliver Moore is a forward with a lot of speed that suited up for nine games last season after playing with the University of Minnesota. He contributed four assists in this time. In the preseason this year, he had his up and down moments. One highlight is this game-winning goal against the Blues on Sept. 27.

There was a scrum going on behind Moore because of a hard hit by Colton Dach, but Moore didn’t hear any whistle and remained focused on his task to find the back of the net. When asked about Moore, Coach Blashill gave some interesting insight about the 20-year-old.

He works extremely hard. He definitely wants to do his very best every time he’s on the ice. He’s a kid who’s driven, he’s fast, obviously, and I think he’ll continue to improve. Also knowing when to slow down. When you’re a guy who’s kind of made your way by working and doing that, sometimes you can get going so fast with the puck, especially where you just sometimes have to slow down with it a notch, take that second to make the right play. But that’s a balance there. Usually everybody’s best attributes are also a weakness to some level, and he just has to learn that balance.

That’s interesting about everyone’s best attributes also being their weakness in some ways. To become the best that he can be, Moore will need to learn how to harness his speed and use it to his advantage.

Ryan Greene

Finally, we get to forward Ryan Greene. The 21-year-old signed an entry-level contract with the Blackhawks this past April, and was able to play in two games last season after his Boston University lost to Western Michigan in the NCAA championship.

Greene is known more for his two-way game, which he worked to showcase throughout training camp. He can also be a contributor on the penalty kill. Plus, he has a penchant for winning faceoffs. In five preseason games Greene has won 39-of-74 faceoffs for a 53% success rate. That’s pretty impressive for a young center. Said Blashill on Greene,  

He’s a cerebral player, but he has to make sure he’s skating into battles. If he skates into battles I think he’s really strong on his skates and can win puck battles. But if you don’t skate to the battles, you’re either one, not getting to the puck battle, or two, you’re reaching for the puck. So that to me is the number one thing. He’s gotta have the puck in order to be a good hockey player.

Greene says he prides himself on his two-way game, and he mentioned puck battles and being more physical as things he’s working on. He will now be perfecting those skills as a member of the IceHogs.

Despite being assigned to Rockford, these three players are all very talented and have bright futures ahead of them. Besides, going to Rockford is not a bad thing. Case in point; Frank Nazar spent time with the IceHogs last season, and now he’s one of the stars of the team. He himself talked about how it was a very beneficial part of his development.

I have no doubt these three players will be called up to the big club at some point throughout the season. Blashill said of all the young players in training camp that they should look at their progression as a marathon, not a sprint.