Marko Dano Sent Down To Rockford

The Chicago Blackhawks have sent 8 players to Rockford today with 7 of them being very predictable

but the one name that jumps off the page is that Marko Dano is on his way to become a Rockford IceHog.

Dano was the star of training camp and the beginning of the preseason, and was the big throw in name of the Brandon Saad trade that made everything seem ok that the Blackhawks had given up one of their brightest stars before even hitting his prime because the Blackhawks were getting a talent in Dano that could rival Saad’s skill set.

Of course before we go flying off the hinges, let’s look at possibly one of the biggest reasons Dano is getting sent to Rockford and that’s his contract.  There are only three Blackhawks that are on two-way contracts, Teuvo Teravainen, Artemi Panarin, and Marko Dano.  There is no way that Teuvo Teravainen is going to get sent down, he’s earned the trust of coach Q after the Stanley Cup run last year and has shown the ability to play the wing and center.

Panarin isn’t going to go Rockford.  If he were to get sent down he has a clause in his contract that would allow him to go back to the KHL. Even though Panarin hasn’t played much in training camp, and hasn’t made an appearance in a preseason game the team knows what he can do and are expecting him to contribute come opening night.

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This leaves us with Dano who is the last man standing with a two-way contract, and let’s be honest is a very young player that hasn’t shown a ton in the preseason games. At his age he has to earn the spot in Joel Quenneville‘s eyes and since the salary cap and the ability to keep talent on the roster is the biggest job of Stan Bowman this was probably the move that had to be done.

The other key to the Dano designation to Rockford has been the play of Kyle Baun in camp.  He’s been the big standout and let’s not forget he made a huge first impression last season when he spent three games with the Blackhawks after signing with the team as a free agent.

The Dano experiment in Rockford can’t possibly last too long this season because he simply just has too much talent to be stuck in Rockford.  Dano had 8 goals and 13 assists in 34 games with the Columbus Blue Jackets so his ceiling is way too high for him to be in Rockford for very long.  Again this seems like a contract/salary cap call rather than not enough talent to cut it in Chicago.

Granted the Blackhawks seems to always do this to young players the age of Dano who is 20 years old.  They did this to Teuvo last season so it’s not a total shock that the team would make Dano earn his spot in Chicago to learn the Blackhawks way.

What do you think of the Dano demotion?

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