On Sunday we expected to see the Blackhawks announce the players who were going to start the season in Rockford were assigned back to the AHL. And that happened at 1 o’clock when the Blackhawks announced forwards Frank Nazar, Colton Dach, Landon Slaggert, Samuel Savoie and Zach Sanford, defensemen Kevin Korchinski, Ethan Del Mastro and Louis Crevier and goaltender Drew Commesso were assigned to the IceHogs.
The Blackhawks also released forward Brandon Baddock and defenseman Austin Strand from their PTOs and assigned them to Rockford.
Those moves put the Blackhawks’ active NHL roster at 23 players (14 forwards, 7 defensemen, 2 goalies).
The Blackhawks can start the regular season with 23 players on the active roster. However…
Blackhawks Place Isaak Phillips on Waivers
The Blackhawks also placed defenseman Isaak Phillips on waivers on Sunday. It’s important to remember the Blackhawks can keep Phillips on the NHL roster if he clears waivers on Monday. But… he needs to clear waivers to stay on the NHL roster.
Phillips, 23, is playing on a one-year, $775k deal. He and Allan didn’t have a great game on Friday night against Minnesota (did anyone?) but rebounded with a decent performance in Milwaukee against St. Louis.
Phillips was originally drafted in the fifth round (No. 141 overall) by the Blackhawks in the 2020 NHL Draft.
When I wrote my projected lineup for opening night, I didn’t think the Blackhawks would run the chance of losing Phillips off waivers — for nothing. So why put him out there today? Because the Sunday before rosters need to be cap compliant is when the waiver wire is flooded with players. Perhaps the Blackhawks hope the volume of players out there will give them a chance to sneak him thru? The Athletic listed Phillips as one of the names that has potential to be claimed already on Sunday afternoon.
What this does mean is Nolan Allan has made the opening night roster. Congratulations to him and well deserved.
Here’s the full list of players on waivers today: