What to watch at training camp for the Chicago Blackhawks and Rockford IceHogs

The Chicago Blackhawks and the Rockford IceHogs wrapped up the prospect showcase in Chicago over the weekend, and now it's time to kick off training camp.

After splitting games with the Minnesota Wild in the prospect showcase games on Friday and Sunday with a roster full of Hogs players, the Hawks and Hogs released the training camp schedule on Monday morning. It all kicks off on Thursday.

What is the camp schedule?

The Hawks will be led by a new head coach and a lot of younger players. Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews are two of the only holdovers, and the Hawks and Hogs will look quite a bit different this season.

It will all start to unfold on Thursday. There will be regular practices at the Fifth Third Arena, open to the public, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and the preseason schedule will begin next Tuesday.

These are the training camp sessions that are open to the fans: Thursday – 10 a.m.; Friday – 10 a.m.; Saturday – 10 a.m.; Monday – 10 a.m.; Tuesday – 10 a.m.; Sept. 28 – 10:30 a.m.; Sept. 30 – 10 a.m.; Oct. 2 – 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.; Oct. 4 – 11 a.m.; Oct. 5 – 11 a.m.; Oct. 6 – 11:30 a.m.; Oct. 7 – 11:30 a.m.; Oct. 8 – 11:30 a.m.

The preseason schedule is: Sept. 27 vs. the St. Louis Blues; Sept. 28 at the Detroit Red Wings; Oct. 1 vs. the Detroit Red Wings; Oct 2 against the Minnesota Wild; Oct. 6 at the Minnesota Wild; and Oct. 8 at the St. Louis Blues.

Head coach Luke Richardson will lead the Blackhawks onto the ice for their season opener against the reigning Stanley Cup champion Avalanche on Oct. 12 at Ball Arena in Denver. The home opener is Oct. 21 against the Detroit Red Wings.

First-year general manager Kyle Davidson will meet with the media on Wednesday morning just before things kick in.

Getting started last week

During last week's prospect showcase, top Hawks prospect and a star for the Hogs last year, Lukas Reichel, stepped in and stepped up.

Chicago, filled with all prospects, and a lot of Hogs, fell 5-2 to Minnesota in the first prospect showcase game on Friday. On Sunday, led by Reichel, they turned it around with a 5-0 win over the Wild. Goalie Mitchell Weeks had a 37-save shutout, and Reichel had four assists.

Reichel, the 17th overall pick by Chicago during the 2020 NHL Draft, left the ice and went to the locker room after hitting the boards hard in the second period of the first prospect showcase game, but he returned for the third period, and was clearly fine by Sunday's game.

But, after scoring the first goal of the first game just 23 seconds in, Colton Dach left with an injury, and unlike Reichel, he did not return to the preseason swing.

Jay Taft is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at jtaft@rrstar.com and follow him on Twitter at @JayTaft. Sign up for the Rockford High School newsletter at rrstar.com. Jay has covered a wide variety of sports, from the Chicago Bears to youth sports, for more than 20 years at the Register Star, and for nearly 30 years all together. He was a four-sport athlete himself, and is the father of five that went on to be jocks of some kind as well.

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Chicago Blackhawks have new coach, roaster, IceHogs to look different