Blackhawks officially send young blueliner down to Rockford IceHogs of the AHL
The Chicago Blackhawks were very busy today in the signing of forward AJ Spellacy and recalling of defenseman Ethan Del Mastro.
Well, the Blackhawks made one last move today, and that was sending down defenseman Wyatt Kaiser to the Rockford Icehogs of the AHL.
Wyatt Kaiser was slowly climbing up the ranks and is highly touted to be one of the defensemen of the future, possibly bottom-six.
Kaiser is 22 years old and was selected in the third round of the 2020 draft. Kaiser went to the University of Minnesota-Duluth for college and played a few games on the Blackhawks on occasion after the last two NCAA seasons he played in ended.
He got his first full professional stint on the Blackhawks in 2023 when he had seven points in 32 games. Wyatt was then sent down mid-season and performed really well, tallying four goals and 18 points in 37 games.
This season, Kaiser has three points in 35 games. He's shown a lot of upside and deserves the playing time, unlike some veterans.
Kaiser has been up and down all season long and it has to stop because it's going to start interfering with his development.
TJ Brodie is one of those who doesn't deserve the playing time. Brodie has been at the bottom of the GameScore Impact card the entire year, and it continued against the Carolina Hurricanes last game.
Brodie just simply isn't good enough, and he's a veteran who has shown no signs or improvement nor care whatsoever.
Anders Sorensen since he's new and an intern may feel a little uncomfortable about sending a veteran to the press box, however, it's time that he does, because Brodie is just wasting everybody's time.
It's one thing to get veterans to keep the seats warm for the young guns until they're ready. But when you have someone like Brodie, sit him and let the kids like Wyatt Kaiser play.
