Recalled/Assigned: Wyatt Kalynuk

[Space umpire]

Kalynuk is a 25 year old playing in the AHL, and had an unremarkable season to boot

Meanwhile Ian Mitchell was unanimously Rockford's best defenseman this year

Doesn't say much for your boy Bobby Orr...

Mitchell and Stillman are less than a year apart. One is getting experience as a 4-5 in the NHL and one is a minor leaguer with no defensive awareness.

 

[giza]

Looks like Kalynuk took a step back.....its great to have healthy competition----there's probably 5 Hawk D men who could be called up so if you want your # called, you better be playing well in Rockford.....soon they will be adding Joos and Nolan Allen to that mix too.

 

[Kevin Musto]

Mitchell and Stillman are less than a year apart. One is getting experience as a 4-5 in the NHL and one is a minor leaguer with no defensive awareness.

Ian is learning what it takes to be a top pairing D and taking on the bulk of the load/responsibility.

Stillman will be a 5-7 scrub his whole career.

 

[Giovi]

These takes are funny. Ian Mitchell has been lightyears better than Kalynuk this year.

I wouldn't care one way or the other if Wyatt stuck around. And he does get a lot of PP time. He was getting more than Regula for awhile.

I'm not saying Mitchell hasn't been better. I wouldn't know, as I've seen no Ice Hogs games.

What I am saying is that Musto has 0 objectivity when it comes to assessing prospects.

 

[Larmer83]

Ian is learning what it takes to be a top pairing D and taking on the bulk of the load/responsibility.

Stillman will be a 5-7 scrub his whole career.

And I'm learning what it takes to be an astrophysicist.

 

[Kevin Musto]

And I'm learning what it takes to be an astrophysicist.

Congrats. I hope you get your degree soon.

 

[Mrfenn92]

Ian is learning what it takes to be a top pairing D and taking on the bulk of the load/responsibility.

Stillman will be a 5-7 scrub his whole career.

Ian=Adam Clandening

 

[Space umpire]

Ian is learning what it takes to be a top pairing D and taking on the bulk of the load/responsibility.

Stillman will be a 5-7 scrub his whole career.

Gaining experience by learning to defend the best players in the world. Getting schooled sometimes but many quickly forget the 1st seasons of Keith or Seabrook.
VS
Playing in the minors and seeing 2-3 other players fly by you on depth chart and play NHL games.
Mitchell just completed his D+5 season and has yet to show real NHL promise.

 

[hawksrule]

Ian=Adam Clandening

I don't know if you mean that or are just pushing Musto's buttons, but Mitchell is a far better skater than Clendening. Clendening always looked like he was skating in quicksand.

 

[Giovi]

Gaining experience by learning to defend the best players in the world. Getting schooled sometimes but many quickly forget the 1st seasons of Keith or Seabrook.
VS
Playing in the minors and seeing 2-3 other players fly by you on depth chart and play NHL games.
Mitchell just completed his D+5 season and has yet to show real NHL promise.

I'm not big on Stillman, I think he is what he's going to be, a fringe NHL'er.

But this gets to the heart of the Mitchell debate. Given his age, and what he's shown, there's not a lot of reason for hope.

 

[Hattrick Kane]

If Mitchell was so good in the A, wouldn’t he have been the call up and not Regula?

 

[Space umpire]

I don't know if you mean that or are just pushing Musto's buttons, but Mitchell is a far better skater than Clendening. Clendening always looked like he was skating in quicksand.

True but Clendening is the better defender.

 

[Kevin Musto]

If Mitchell was so good in the A, wouldn’t he have been the call up and not Regula?

No, they committed Ian to Rockford this year.

KD knows that Stanley and Co. screwed him with constant movement of call up, play 8 minutes, sent down, called up, scratched, sent down, called up, play 9 minutes, scratched, sent down, etc.

KD put a hard stop to that.

Also Rockford was trying to make the playoffs, and Ian is their 1D. Too disruptive to call up Ian and play for a losing Blackhawks team, when he's vital to getting wins for Rockford.

 

[Space umpire]

No, they committed Ian to Rockford this year.

KD knows that Stanley and Co. screwed him with constant movement of call up, play 8 minutes, sent down, called up, scratched, sent down, called up, play 9 minutes, scratched, sent down, etc.

KD put a hard stop to that.

Also Rockford was trying to make the playoffs, and Ian is their 1D. Too disruptive to call up Ian and play for a losing Blackhawks team, when he's vital to getting wins for Rockford.

Ian?

 

[TheFridge]

No, they committed Ian to Rockford this year.

KD knows that Stanley and Co. screwed him with constant movement of call up, play 8 minutes, sent down, called up, scratched, sent down, called up, play 9 minutes, scratched, sent down, etc.

KD put a hard stop to that.

Also Rockford was trying to make the playoffs, and Ian is their 1D. Too disruptive to call up Ian and play for a losing Blackhawks team, when he's vital to getting wins for Rockford.

This doesn't make any sense bc they called up Reichel down the stretch and Mitchell is at best on par with Reichel in terms of team importance to Rockford. Given Reichel was their leading scorer and the only guy consistently scoring throughout the year, I'd give the edge to him.

I'm not sure why Mitchell didn't get much of an extended look under King. He played 16+ minutes in three consecutive games in December for the Hawks, had a tough game against NYR at the end of that stretch, was immediately sent down and then his final two games with the Hawks this year (in January) he played less than 10 minutes in both.

I'd imagine they simply wanted to give other players looks more than they were committed to ensuring Mtichell and Rockford weren't destabilized by him being called up.

Having said all that, I do think Mitchell is on the team full-time next year. If he's playing in the AHL next year for anything more than a conditioning stint, that's a big problem in terms of how they view him organizationally.

 

[Kevin Musto]

This doesn't make any sense bc they called up Reichel down the stretch and Mitchell is at best on par with Reichel in terms of team importance to Rockford.

They wanted to give Reichel a taste of the NHL. That way he'll know what it's like, and know what he needs to work on to play at that level.

Ian has already had his taste of the NHL.

 

[TheFridge]

They wanted to give Reichel a taste of the NHL. That way he'll know what it's like, and know what he needs to work on to play at that level.

Ian has already had his taste of the NHL.

Reichel had two previous call-ups in the season. He already had a taste.

 

[Kevin Musto]

Reichel had two previous call-ups in the season. He already had a taste.

And in total he has played 11 NHL games. That's a taste.

Ian has played 47 NHL games. What will he gain from another 2-3 game call up? It's nose-to-the-grindstone season for him.

 

[TheFridge]

And in total he has played 11 NHL games. That's a taste.

Ian has played 47 NHL games. What will he gain from another 2-3 game call up? It's nose-to-the-grindstone season for him.

Well, considering his previous call-up he played less than 10 minutes in both games, he probably could have used them as a better measuring stick of where he stood against NHL competition heading into the off-season. Since we know he didn't measure very well in his aforementioned 47 games of NHL experience.

 

[Kevin Musto]

he probably could have used them as a better measuring stick of where he stood against NHL competition heading into the off-season.

Too busy carrying Rockford on his back

 

[Larmer83]

I'm reminded of the old story in which a stranger walks into a room and an intelligent person and an idiot are arguing about the call-ups of Ian Mitchell. The stranger can't tell the difference between the intelligent person and the idiot.