Sikura, 24, has no goals and 11 assists in 38 career NHL games with the Blackhawks.
The Chicago Blackhawks recalled forward Dylan Sikura from the Rockford IceHogs of the American Hockey League on Sunday morning. Forward Anton Wedin was reassigned to Rockford as a corresponding move after just four games with the Blackhawks.
In 22 games for the IceHogs this season, Sikura has nine goals and seven assists to lead the team with 16 points. Sikura has always been capable of producing at the AHL level, but the NHL has been a whole different story. He’s still looking for his first goal with the Blackhawks after failing to do so in 38 NHL games across two seasons.
“I think that’s something that’s important for me,” Sikura said about scoring his first NHL goal. “Down there, I get opportunities to score goals and obviously that’s something I’d like to do at this level so hopefully we can put this to rest soon.”
Sikura, a sixth-round pick back in 2014, needs to focus on consistency in limited minutes during his third NHL stint. The Aurora, Ontario native has been successful with the Blackhawks in spots, but he needs to put it all together to become an everyday NHL player.
Many of Sikura’s underlying numbers were solid last season, but that didn’t reciprocate to the stat sheet. It will be interesting to see if coach Jeremy Colliton reunites the top line of Saad-Toews-Sikura as the trio had success while playing together last year.
“I think he showed that he can contribute with us with his pace of play,” Colliton said. “I thought his line, when I looked back at him, Toews, and Saad, they had a really good stretch where they were driving possession and giving us offensive zone time and that line came through with some production too. He didn’t necessarily score, but he was a part of that.”
For more Blackhawks news and updates, follow the author (@JackBushman2) on Twitter. Make sure to check out the author’s podcast, Talkin’ Hawkey, which can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Twitter (@TalkinHawkey).
