With the regular season just over a week away, the Chicago Blackhawks are continuing to trim names from their camp roster, and some surprising players are heading to Rockford.
The Blackhawks, who are 1-3 during their preseason, sent forwards Victor Ejdsell, Alexandre Fortin, and Matthew Highmore to the IceHogs’ training camp on Wednesday.
Ejdsell was seen as a strong contender to make the team’s opening night roster, but with the strong play of Luke Johnson and Dominik Kahun so far in camp, the Blackhawks are giving serious consideration to keeping at least one of, if not both, youngsters.
Fortin appeared in 53 games for the IceHogs last season, with four goals and 17 assists to his credit, but his play has never quite lived up to his potential, and he will once again find himself on the outside looking in for the start of the regular season.
Highmore scored a goal for the Blackhawks against the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday, but is the victim of a roster squeeze as the Blackhawks try to trim down their forward group. He scored two goals in 13 games with the Blackhawks a season ago, and scored a total of 24 goals with the IceHogs in 64 games.
The Blackhawks’ roster now contains 14 forwards, 10 defensemen, and four goaltenders. They will need to trim their roster to 23 players by the start of the regular season, which gets underway on Oct. 4 against the Ottawa Senators.
