With just 10 goals in their last six games -- and none in their last 139 minutes of regulation -- the Chicago Blackhawks made a move to bolster their offense on Tuesday, recalling Tanner Kero from AHL Rockford.
From the club:
Kero, 23, has seven points (5G, 2A) in five games with the IceHogs this season.
Earlier this week, the centerman was named CCM/AHL Player of the Week for the period ending Oct. 25 with three goals, an assist and a plus-5 rating over three tilts.
Kero’s six goals rank third in the AHL and eight points are tied for 10th.
Chicago’s offense, as mentioned above, has sputtered lately and ranks 23rd in the NHL at 2.11 goals per game.
Forwards Marian Hossa, Andrew Shaw, Marcus Kruger, Ryan Garbutt, Bryan Bickell, Viktor Tikhonov and Andrew Desjardins have combined to score one goal.
One.
Kero signed with the ‘Hawks in April following a stellar year at Michigan Tech. He was named the WCHA’s player of the year after scoring 20 goals and 46 points in 41 games and was a Hobey Baker Award top-10 finalist, becoming just the third player in school history to earn that distinction.
While he’s fully deserving of this recall, it’s interesting to note he got the promotion ahead of Marko Dano, the ’13 first-rounder acquired in the Brandon Saad trade with Columbus.
Of course, it could be a positional thing -- Kero has been playing center in Rockford, while Dano is a winger.