Blackhawks forward Dylan Sikura won’t be leaving, and that’s a good thing for the team.
Sikura, selected by the Hawks in the sixth round (No. 178 overall) of the 2014 Draft NHL, has spent part of the past three seasons in a Hawks sweater. She played in five games with Chicago during the 2017-18 season, 33 in 2018-19, and nine this year before the NHL hiatus.
When Sikura was not with the Hawks the past two seasons, she was with the Rockford IceHogs, an affiliate of the Chicago American Hockey League.
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The Aurora, Ontario native scored 14 points (one goal, 13 assists) in his 47 games with the Hawks, and has been using the unique circumstances of this summer to make the most of another opportunity with Chicago.
Dylan has become increasingly notable at the Hawks’ Phase 3 training ground, which will lead to his exhibition game against the Blues and series of games against the Oilers, both in Edmonton. He has been quick and has been generating offenses regularly, including a hat trick at Tuesday’s scrimmage and a shooting goal on Thursday.
“Obviously it has been a difficult road,” Sikura said of her round trip with the Blackhawks and IceHogs in a Zoom video conference with the Hawks’ media on Thursday after practice. “I know we’ve had conversations about this before trying to find a place where you fit in or what kind of player you’re going to be at this level.”
“But I think sometimes it takes time. For me, it’s always been a game of time and a little bit waiting and trusting the process there. I hope I can take a step here, maybe get into a game or two depending on what happens. and see what happens there. But you know, just keep taking a step and hopefully one day break that barrier and become a regular. “
The fact that the winger was notable in the camp speaks volumes, as he has often not been involved with the main group of forwards in the camp.
“So with Dylan, we’ve tried to keep the front group down to 12, just to try and get as many reps as we could for that group of 12 forwards. So Dylan, sometimes we’ve had a 13th and sometimes we haven’t” t, so It can be frustrating to be out of that top group when you’re trying to show that you belong there, “Blackhawks head coach Jeremy Colliton said Thursday.” But I think he’s done a very, very good job. From the first day he has had a lot of energy and you can see that he is hungry to play. ”
“I had a chance to replace Tazer a little bit in the game, he thought [on] the power play moved him very well when he was there. And then in the game he had some success.
“It’s important that he feel that confidence again that he’s an NHL player and that he can help us win. I think that’s the truth, he has a role to play here and many times in the playoffs those guys who are late or As depth players, they end up being the difference. So we want him to feel good about his game and be excited about his opportunity to contribute and I think he will. “
The Hawks will conduct their final training camp practice in Chicago on Saturday before traveling to Edmonton on Sunday and practicing there. His exhibition game against St. Louis is July 29 and the best series of five qualifying rounds against the Oilers, with the winner advancing to Round One of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, begins on August 1.
