The Chicago Blackhawks made some large-scale moves today, assigning several players to AHL and switching the team’s taxi squad. One such move involved sending prominent young defender Nicolas Beaudin to minors.
In a press release, the ‘Hawks announced that Beaudin had been transferred to the team’s secondary league affiliate, Rockford Icehogs. Beaudin was one of the few notable players to go to Rockford, including goalkeeper Collin Delia, who was assigned to the Icehogs for a period of conditioning.
It is not known how long Beaudin will be with the Rockford Icehogs. However, sending him down seems to be an extremely intriguing move. Although he is still basically a real rookie (he played a game in the 2020 season), Beaudin has been playing really well lately. If anything, he certainly performed and looked better than some of the other defenders on the team, so sending him out to the minors is pretty weird.
Beaudin has played 155 minutes in total this season, an average of just over 14 minutes per game, and has also blocked 11 shots. He is also a +3 in the season. I don’t normally see a player’s +/- as a valid statistic, as it doesn’t take into account any special situation of the team. However, Beaudin’s +3 actually ranks third in the entire team, so it’s worth mentioning.
In addition, Beaudin’s shot percentage is currently the best at ‘Hawks’, with 40%. Although he only made five shots on goal, he scored on two of them, which obviously helps the team too and is definitely a notable statistic for a defender.
Sending Nicolas Beaudin down is a mistake for the Chicago Blackhawks.
Speaking of defense, he can also play his weight a bit, contributing six hits. He also has a defensive quota of 0.6, which is out of the top ten of the team. Why general manager Stan Bowman would send a promising young player like Beaudin to minors is a bit of a nuisance, especially considering the team’s recent success.
It is important to remember, however, that Beaudin’s positive game comes from a very small sample size, as he played only 12 games in total with the Blackhawks. Obviously, he is still young and inexperienced and has a lot to learn about the NHL game like any newbie. However, the defense as a whole has been shining a lot lately, so why send Beaudin down when he’s just getting on with things? Let him keep playing and improving.
Colliton greatly confused the lines in Chicago’s last game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, and perhaps he saw something of Beaudin that he didn’t like. Whatever the reason for sending him to Rockford, hopefully Nicolas Beaudin will be back with the ‘Hawks sooner or later, because this is a team that will probably be better off with him on the roster.