Brown: Landon Slaggert Providing More To Watch With 16 Games Left

This weekend brings a lot for Blackhawks fans to watch. In fact, the next few weeks alone will give those enthusiastic–and rightly so–about what many of these prospects could bring to Chicago. Landon Slaggert starts what could be an influx of young talent making its way to the big club over the next year.

Timelines are something that general manager Kyle Davidson is hesitant to commit to and for good reason. There’s a line from the 1996 film Jerry Maguire where the sports agent played by Tom Cruise narrates the look at the world of prospects: “Believe me, there’s genius everywhere, but until they turn pro it’s like popcorn in the pan: some pop, some don’t.”

That genius has already shown with Connor Bedard, but he was as can’t miss as can’t miss can be. Alex Vlasic has been a wonderful story for the Blackhawks bringing in a stable–and young–presence on the blue line for what looks like years to come. Kevin Korchinski another–navigating through a rookie campaign and being another young, and eventually main driver on the blue line.

Now comes Slaggert, who with his 20 goals and 31 points at Notre Dame, will get his crack at the NHL level tonight.

Blackhawks Will Ease Slaggert In

It’s clear enough that the expectations following Slaggert are completely different than those of Bedard, Korchinski, or even Lukas Reichel. He’s a week removed from his final collegiate game–which is an entirely different world than that of the NHL.

So the 79th overall pick of the 2020 draft has some wiggle room to slowly acclimate to the league. Head coach Luke Richardson has spoken to it and has been excellent this year with his management of the young talent. Don’t let the record fool you–the fact that Vlasic has found success has been much of his own efforts, but also a coaching staff that has put him in a spot to succeed.

Slaggert rides in, then, with a similar circumstance. Vlasic earned six games last season with the Hawks, and 15 the year prior with now assistant coach Derek King running the show. The 56 games he spent with Rockford a season prior definitely helped in that development, and now, the Hawks have a stable, and potentially top-four defenseman in their lineup.

Slaggert has one less year on his deal due to age, but that shouldn’t matter. Davidson has made it clear that every prospect will have an inidvidualized plan that best suits them–and the club. Look at Reichel. They exhausted every option before they finally sent him to Rockford to find the game that got him to Chicago in the first place.

Tonight marks an exciting start and another reminder that as challenging as this season has been for fans to watch, and the organization to go through, the “fun” part of the rebuild is seeing much of the young talent rise to the top level.

Landon Slaggert Provides Another Storyline in the Final 16 Games

I’ve predicted that Frank Nazar may follow with an entry-level deal as soon as his season ends. Oliver Moore may need another season, and Sam Rinzel, who is up for a freshman of the year nomination, could be progressing even faster than some, including me, thought. Gavin Hayes will get a serious look next season and his OHL playoff performance will likely factor into his standing as he gets nearer to Chicago.

Slaggert being in Chicago, then, is another great storyline to follow as the season near its completion. It’s certainly been a long season for the Hawks but the last two games have been more engaging because of how much production has been there–and how much of that production has come from the future of the franchise.

In the final 16 games, storylines continue to emerge for a team that started the season with the biggest story of them all–Bedard.

Now, Landon Slaggert joins to give Hawks fans a little more to keep an eye on as the season enters its final stretch.

Follow Nate on Twitter