Now Is The Time For The Blackhawks To Give One Young Player A Chance

The Chicago Blackhawks have a young forward waiting with the Rockford IceHogs for another chance in the NHL. I think it is time to give Alex Nylander another chance with the team.

During the Blackhawks last game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, David Kampf scored the game winning goal for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Let that sink in, David Kampf scored the goal. If the team the Hawks are playing are that lucky to have Kampf score the game winning goal after being pretty much only defensive in Chicago then I think now is the time for the Hawks to get some luck their way.

Alex Nylander has been waiting for an opportunity to play in the NHL. Nylander has not played since the bubble in Edmonton back in 2020. He was not that bad during the postseason and has been pretty good with the IceHogs this season putting up seven goals and ten points through 20 games with the IceHogs. Why not give him one last opportunity with the NHL team to see if he can score some goals.

The way the Blackhawks offense has been this season, they are desperate for anyone to produce offensively, Nylander put up 10 goals and 16 assists in 26 games during the 2019-20 season with the team and has not been in the NHL since then. Obviously this is a different team since Nylander last played with the Hawks, but a line of him Dach and maybe Kane might be able to produce some offense.

Here is what I think the forward groupings could look like with Nylander around:

Brandon Hagel - Jonathan Toews - Philipp Kurashev

Alex Nylander - Kirby Dach - Patrick Kane

Alex DeBrincat - Dylan Strome - Dominik Kubalik

Josiah Slavin - Henrik Borgstrom - Reese Johnson

This group of forwards would allow for a pretty decent top nine in my opinion, and would definitely be able to produce offensively. Giving Nylander one final chance in the league would either result in a forward the Hawks keep for years to come, a decent trade deadline asset, or someone they know they do not plan to bring back next summer.

Although the fact that Kyle Davidson has been in charge for a while now and has not called up Nylander might be telling with where the new General Manager sees Nylander for the long term.

If anyone were to get injured or if the Hawks losing streak were to continue, one would have to imagine one of the first call ups would have to be Nylander.