Sikura, Martinsen on Blackhawks' roster bubble
Anyone living with Blackhawks winger Dylan Sikura should know he hates to oversleep.
So much so that he resorts to some fairly drastic measures.
"I'm a 10- to 15-alarm guy. It's ugly," Sikura told us last March after signing a two-year deal. "You can ask my roommates - they get pretty annoyed hearing that little beep in the morning."
Six months later, Sikura is experiencing a different kind of wake-up call - one that finds him squarely on the Hawks' roster bubble with the regular season less than a week away.
"It's been pretty tough," Sikura said after playing 11.5 minutes and notching 2 shots on goal in a lackluster 2-1 loss to Ottawa on Thursday at the United Center. "We're on the ice every day and we're working out every day. Obviously this is my first experience, so I'm pretty new to this whole thing.
"But every guy here is … working hard for those spots."
Or spot. Because unless coach Joel Quenneville makes the unlikely decision to keep 14 forwards, the final forward opening will probably go to Sikura or 28-year-old Andreas Martinsen.
Paired with Artem Anisimov and Nick Schmaltz, Sikura had a golden opportunity to showcase his offensive talent against Ottawa. That line - just like the rest of the team - struggled, however, and Sikura was demoted to the bottom two lines for the third period.
Sikura was a sixth-round pick of the Hawks in 2014 and spent four seasons at Northeastern University. He racked up 43 goals in 73 games over the past two campaigns and registered 3 assists in five games after signing with the Hawks.
When camp began, many believed Sikura was ticketed for the top line, but he hasn't really stood out and may need to grow his game with the American Hockey League's Rockford IceHogs.
"Obviously I want to stay here," Sikura said, though he knows Vinnie Hinostroza began last season in Rockford and then scored seven goals in 50 games after being called up in December.
"At this point, it's tough to say what's going to happen," Sikura said. "There's positives to both. You see a guy like Vinnie go down and light it up and sign a nice contract.
" ... At the end of the day, just control what I can control at this point."
Sikura admitted he may be feeling the pressure of his first NHL camp.
"You know, there's a lot thrown at you within these two weeks … and you kind of catch yourself maybe thinking too much out there," he said. "You've got to rely on your instincts and just play the game of hockey instead of thinking about systems and things like that."
Martinsen is a 6-foot-3, 229-pound veteran of 128 NHL games. He played 64 games in 2016-17, 55 of which came for Colorado. Acquired for Kyle Baun on Oct. 4, Martinsen scored 12 goals for Rockford last season and played in nine games for the Hawks. He doled out five hits in 10:21 of ice time against Ottawa.
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