Blackhawks College Prospect Updates
The college regular seasons are ending, and the Blackhawks have some prospects putting up impressive numbers this season. Vince Hinostroza, a sophomore at Notre Dame, is tied for fourth in the country with 30 assists, while Vermont senior Mike Paliotta ranks third among all defenseman in the country with 31 points.
Let’s catch up with the Hawks top college prospects.
- Mike Paliotta, D – Vermont
34 games, 9 goals, 22 assists, 31 points
Paliotta has also been credited with 51 blocked shots and has 14 power play points this season. His 133 shots on goal lead all college defensemen. He is a senior, which means he is eligible to sign a two-year contract with the Blackhawks whenever his postseason ends.
- Vince Hinostroza, F – Notre Dame
36 games, 8 goals, 30 assists, 38 points
Hinostroza leads the Fighting Irish in most statistical categories, including 13 power play points, two game-winning goals and 40 penalty minutes. Hinostroza is a sophomore.
- John Hayden, F – Yale
25 games, 7 goals, 11 assists, 18 points
WJC – 5 games, 1 goal, 12 shots, 2 PIM, E
Hayden, another sophomore, is tied for the Yale lead with three power play goals and owns the outright team lead with three game-winning goals.
- Tyler Motte, F – University of Michigan
28 games, 8 goals, 18 assists, 26 points
WJC – 5 games, 1 assist, 13 shots, 2 PIM, +1
Motte’s 33 blocked shots are tied with JT Compher for the Wolverines’ team lead for forwards, and seven of his 18 points have come on the power play. Motte is also a sophomore.
- Nick Schmaltz, F – North Dakota
29 games, 5 goals, 19 assists, 24 points
WJC – 5 games, 1 assist, 10 shots, +2
Schmaltz, a freshman, has come on strong in the later stages of his first season at North Dakota. He’s winning over 53 percent of his faceoffs and has 10 points on the power play.
- Chris Calnan, F – Boston College
33 games, 11 goals, 5 assists, 16 points
Calnan’s four game-winning goals ranks second at BC, but he’s gone through a tough scoring slump over the last month. He is also a sophomore.
- Anthony Louis, F – Miami (OH)
29 games, 6 goals, 21 assists, 27 points
WJC – 5 games, 0 points, 2 PIM, 5 shots, E
Louis, a sophomore, was fantastic down the stretch, posting points in 11 of his last 13 games of the season.
- Luke Johnson, F – North Dakota
33 games, 6 goals, 12 assists, 18 points
Johnson, another sophomore, leads North Dakota with 87 shots on net to date.
- Nick Mattson, D – North Dakota
24 games, 3 goals, 13 assists, 16 points
Mattson, a senior, ranks fifth on the team with 29 blocked shots.
- Luc Snuggerud, D – Nebraska-Omaha
32 games, 2 goals, 12 assists, 14 points
Snuggerud, only a freshman, has played in all 32 games for Omaha and has been credited with 31 blocked shots and eight points on the power play.
- Sam Jardine, D – Ohio State
27 games, 2 goal, 8 assists, 10 points
Jardine, a junior, has been credited with 42 blocked shots for the Buckeyes.
- Dylan Sikura, F – Northeastern
23 games, 5 goal, 2 assists, 7 points
Sikura, only a freshman, scored four goals in the final five games of the season at Northeastern.
- Matt Tomkins, G – Ohio State
13 games, 4-7-1, .870 save percentage
Tomkins lost four of his last six games and appeared in only three games after the calendar flipped to 2015.
Paliotta may end up being a nice find. Sounds like the guy has a work ethic.
Pailotta will get an NHL shot soon enough. He falls into the category of van Riemsdyk however. A limited skill type but with hi hockey IQ and an apparent work ethic. Guys like Pailotta and van Reimsdyk often carve out decent NHL careers. He’s an easy kid to root for.
Any updates on the prospects playing in Sweden (Norrell, Dahlstrom and Forsling)?
For the sake of comparison:
Adam Clendening – 5’11, 190 – 38 gp, 4g, 29a, 33 pts his last yr at BU
Trevor vanRiemsdyk – 6’2, 185 – 26 gp, 4g, 19a, 23 pts before injury ended his final college season
Mike Paliotta – 6’4, 205 – 34 gp, 9g, 22a, 31 pts this season
Bigger player, bigger shot. Don’t like the comparison of Paliotta to TvR physically, but looking at both from a maturation process, absolutely. Paliotta & Johns would give the Blackhawks size options on the blue line they haven’t had in years.
Given the trade of Dahlbeck I would expect that the Blackhawks are going to sign Paliotta and let him get experience at Rockford. I agree with Tab it would be nice to see some size coming up from the minors.
Don’t forget the Hawks moved Dahlbeck, Brennan AND Erixon out of the system in the last week. We noted a number of times how crowded the blue lines were in Chicago & Rockford… those three subtractions should open up opportunity for Paliotta.
Even after losing Stanton, Clendening and Dahlbeck over the last couple years, the prospect pool is rich in d-men: TvR, Pokka, Johns, Fournier, Paliota, Forsling, Svedberg and a few other Swedes.
Hayden seems to have slowed down after playing well enough early to be be selected to the WJC team. I know he got suspended for something a few weeks ago and ever since then hasn’t been showing up much in boxscore stats. I’me pretty sure he’s been playing – just not denting the scoresheet much. Not sure what’s going on with him.
Hinostroza is small but he’s a nice player. Hope he is still growing and can get to at least 5’10” / 5’11” and 175/180 range. I’m guessing he’s about 5’8″ / 5’9″ and 160 right now.
re: ER – Hinostroza is listed at 5-9 180 at Notre Dame, plays bigger than his frame. May have a similar profile to Ben Smith when it’s all said & done. Same is true for Motte at Michigan.
Riemsdyk and Paliotta are going to be huge for us playing with low caphits for 4 yrs (57 now 3 more). This is why we are going to better then some people think after the draft. Just need a top4 guy.
It’s really hard to compare stat lines for these collegiate players. The quality of competition varies widely from one league to another. The Big 10 is a mess. The NCHC has five of the top eight pairwise rated teams in the nation. The WCHA has two. Only one team from the “East” in the top eight (BU).
Given SB’s affection for US collegiate players (probably because he can defer ELC and RFA status out longer) let’s hope some of the D-Men pan out (see Morrison’s point).
to Boy Named Sioux’s “It’s really hard to compare stat lines for these collegiate players. The quality of competition varies widely from one league to another” –
why I specifically picked Clendening, van Riemsdyk & Paliotta to compare earlier in the comments. All 3 played in the Big East at the same time (2011-12) and TvR & Paliotta overlapped for 3 years in the conference.
It really does look like Paliota will be in RFD next year, with a shot at rounding out the hawks lineup in 16-17.
not to get too far ahead, but that is the year Seabrook comes off the books. In theory, we could be looking at Keith, Johns, Hammer, TVR, Pokka, Paliota. Now I know better to think Q/Bowman would go “that” young. I would imagine they would add some vet (resign Seabs to a more cap friendly number) to that group and Pokka or Paliota would be in AHL waiting incase of injury vs sitting in the pressbox every night. But looking at that core, I am very excited about what could be coming!
I also like the Hino. He seems to pass the “eye test” dispite his size (lack there of).
For all these people who were worried about draft picks going away in the trades… these college kids make up for those draft picks. we dont need a #1 pick to come on our roster and change everything. we will get these kids over the next 2-3 years and we will be fine. I was all for going for it THIS YEAR… right now!
I know it’s an insane comparrison, but Hinostroza reminds me a lot of St Louis. Yeah, he’s tiny, but he’s really strong in the lower body so it makes him hard to move off the puck.
Also, I think Bowman’s love of college players comes from 1) them developing on someone elses dime. 2) Hawks don’t really have any immediate needs and the odds of those needs being filled by a 18-20 year old that they select later in the draft are unlikely.
Tim, we very good group of young Defenseman there. The Calvary is coming, again.
Does anyone know if the team has the cap room to call TvR back up?
That’s a good collection of young talent the Hawks have stashed away. TVR & Johns hopefully will be up next year with the team, and Paliota might only need a season or so at Rockford. That’s three solid young Dmen the Hawks worked out of the college ranks. I agree with Tab big time, I’m very much looking forward to seeing that size added to the blue line.
On the forward side of things, the system has some pretty good players coming soon like McNeil, Ross, and Danault who at least 1 or 2 of whom should get a chance next year to take the spots of high priced players that the team can’t afford under the cap anymore. (See: Bickell). Beyond that Hinostroza, Hayden should be at least NHL quality players, and my personal favorite is Nick Schmaltz the Blackhawks 1st rounder last year, who has been very good as a freshman playing for the top team in the nation in the top conference (NCHC). Now with North Dakota’s top scorer going down for the season, Schmaltz should get even more of an opportunity to shine, which is exactly what Schmaltz did with this highlight reel goal that made ESPN’s Top 10….
http://www.undsports.com/mediaPortal/player.dbml?id=3760023&db_oem_id=1350
That is some damn fine stick-work right there. The kid has everything he needs to become a special player in the NHL, i.e. skating, puck skills, and great vision… So playing for a team like N.Dakota should help him improve on his defense and consistency. He can be amazing at times, and then invisible other times, but he just turned 19 two weeks ago, so the ceiling is still very high.
And Fournier … don’t be surprised if he is on the team sooner than later…
best skater of the bunch ( I haven’t seen Forsling much)…
His problem- he has missed a lot of time in Jrs. w/ Injuries… If he is nearly as smart as Johns/TvR… Fournier will be a very solid player (barring injuries)… like I said- skates better than All of the Hogs D right now (excluding Cumiskey)!!!
Surprised the Hawks soured on Justin holl after Rockford signed him and stashed him in Indy. By all accounts he has been the best defenseman down there playing in all situations. He just might be a late bloomer who will play in the ahl next year, then start moving up the ahl depth chart.
Any chance the two Buckeye players, Dman Jardine and Goalie Tomkins, will see their dreams become reality with Rockford?