There were Blackhawks on the ice on Wednesday! What a time to be alive! The prospects who will represent the Hawks took the ice for the first time as they ramp up for the Tom Kurvers Prospect Showcase this coming weekend.
Rockford IceHogs’ head coach Jared Nightingale, who is running the show this week, described Wednesday as a hard, “blue collar” practice — which is a very good way to putting things. The players were on the ice for about 75 minutes, and it was all drills working in tight spaces against each other.
First #Blackhawks prospects taking the ice for practice No. 1 pic.twitter.com/jDmFsfAQpN
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) September 10, 2025Here are a few takeaways from what I saw on the ice:
Artyom Levshunov looked physically strong and ready to compete. He was taking pucks away from everyone throughout the practice and taking the body as well. Nightingale reminded us that he’s still an incredibly young defenseman (he doesn’t turn 20 until the end of October). I think some folks might be sleeping on his development because of ridiculous numbers some guys from his draft class put up last year — in juniors. Physically, he’s more mature and built than most players his age. He’s still learning how to use that body on the ice, and he did it against professionals as a teenager last season after getting a late start because of injury. Nick Lardis‘ shot is really good. That isn’t a surprise; he set records in the OHL last year. But he looks bigger and more physically mature again this year. He said he skated with a pro group this summer that included John Tavares, among other established NHL players, and that helped his confidence that he can drive offense at the next level(s). Oliver Moore‘s speed stood out — even with a fast group of skaters on the ice. He did look like he was kicking off a little rust at times, but the wheels are there. AJ Spellacy was another guy whose speed really popped off the ice. And his shot looked more explosive than I remember last year. It had some giddyup behind it. And he showed really well in the physical drills in tight spaces playing with and against the puck. Sam Rinzel told us he spent the summer working on getting bigger and stronger on the ice after his taste of the NHL late in the year. He said he skated around 180 last year and he’s up to around 195 pounds to start training camp, which is terrific. I was impressed with how strong both Marek Vanacker and Nathan Behm were on their skates and with the puck. They both have good size and play a game that could make them strong middle-six wingers; I see a lot of Brandon Saad-like potential in both of them. For the first day of camp, they looked good. I can confirm that Taige Harding is a large human. Even in a blue line group that has five of the eight players in camp standing at least 6-4 before they put their skates on, he’s a unit. Martin Misiak had a couple really nice passes and shots during the practice. His hands are sneaky-nice. But he still needs to get stronger; he got pushed off the puck a few times by guys like Spellacy and Behm. The skill is there.More tomorrow after a practice that is expected to include some kind of scrimmage action!
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