In 2017-18, his first season as coach of Rockford, Chicago's affiliate in the American Hockey League, Colliton's team ranked next-to-last in power-play percentage (15.6) in the Central Division and had the worst penalty-killing percentage in the AHL (77.4). Despite the shaky special teams, Rockford qualified for the Calder Cup Playoffs and got to the conference final before losing to Texas. Under Colliton this season, Rockford had not substantially improved its power play (16.1 percent, tied for next-to-last in the division). However, the penalty kill had improved to second-best in the division (87.9 percent).
One area that Colliton could address is the Blackhawks' inability to block shots on the penalty kill. Defenseman Duncan Keith, who leads Chicago's defensemen in shorthanded time on ice (38:38), has five shorthanded blocks in 15 games, well shy of Ian Cole (Colorado Avalanche), who led the NHL with 19 as of Nov. 7.
Outside of special-teams improvement, Colliton could look to the bottom-six forwards for more depth scoring. Forwards Kane, Toews, Saad and Alex DeBrincat have combined for 31 goals; the rest of the forward group has 10. Colliton could advocate for right wing
Dylan Sikura
to be called up from Rockford to provide more balance. Sikura is tied for third in the AHL with 44 shots on goal and leads Rockford with 10 points (four goals, six assists) in 12 games.