Analyzing the veterans on the Rockford IceHogs roster for the 2026-27 season

Every year, NHL teams sign players on the free agent market. Some of them get huge contracts, while others just get one-year deals. A few of these guys stay up with the NHL club. But most of them stay in their AHL affiliate as veteran leadership, as well as potential call-ups for when NHL players get hurt, and some of the prospects aren’t ready yet.

AHL teams can also sign players to contracts, but that doesn’t allow them to get called up unless they upgrade their contract. A lot of those players are also veterans who can help the young guys on the team. After a miserable season that included a missed playoff appearance and tons of injuries, the Rockford IceHogs retooled their roster. They have a lot of young talent, but also have some key veterans who are both joining the team and returning. Those veterans will help the IceHogs and, hopefully, the Blackhawks in this upcoming season.

Returning Veterans Will Continue to Help the IceHogs

The IceHogs re-did their roster for this season, which made sense after their disappointing finish last year. But they retained valuable players who will continue to provide mentorship. Last year, they had Brett Seney as the Captain and Cavan Fitzgerald as Assistant Captain. With over 400 AHL games, their leadership positions are earned. However, there’s one guy who has surpassed them in AHL games played.

Derrick Pouliot, acquired at the trade deadline for Aidan Thompson, has nearly 500 AHL games
along with 226 NHL regular-season games played over parts of nine seasons. The IceHogs severely lacked NHL-contracted players, so getting Pouliot added experience to the locker room. Dominic Toninato is also back, in his second year of a two-year NHL contract. He was second on the team with 43 points, while Seney had 51. Bringing back valuable veterans was a good move that will help the young guys improve and hopefully make it to the NHL.

New Additions Will Be a Boost to the Team

The IceHogs haven’t added many AHL-experienced veterans, but who they did add will help the team. On July 1, the Blackhawks signed Dylan Anhorn and Connor Mackey to one-year and two-year contracts as important depth signings. Both of them are defensemen, so adding to that group after giving up 245 goals last season needed to happen.

Anhorn spent the last two full seasons in the Winnipeg Jets organization, playing 95 regular-season games and putting up 61 points. He also has eight playoff games played with three points. Mackey has over 250 AHL games of experience and has played 45 NHL games in parts of six seasons. He has played at least one NHL game every season of his pro career, and he brings toughness to the defenseman position after Andrew Perrott left to join the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Adding experienced defensemen on a team that gave up nearly 250 goals last year was a smart move for the IceHogs.

There are Reasons for Optimism This Season

After a terrible season last year, the IceHogs were faced with a very important choice. Were they going to be at the bottom once again, or were they going to get better? The Blackhawks organization decided they didn’t want a repeat of last year for them or the IceHogs, so a lot of signings were made to improve both clubs. Although the Blackhawks made a ton of trades, Pouliot and Toninato weren’t part of those deals. Fitzgerald and Seney, both on AHL contracts, weren’t a part of AHL trades either. Their efforts with the IceHogs have made them valuable assets to the team. Signing Anhorn and Mackey will also help the young guys. Even though Anhorn doesn’t have the experience as everyone else, he still has two full years in the AHL and some playoff experience. The IceHogs have a stable group of veteran players who will hopefully help the team get better this season.

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