{"id":20223,"date":"2018-03-28T23:30:42","date_gmt":"2018-03-29T03:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=20223"},"modified":"2018-03-28T23:30:42","modified_gmt":"2018-03-29T03:30:42","slug":"auroras-sikura-signs-with-nhls-blackhawks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/auroras-sikura-signs-with-nhls-blackhawks\/","title":{"rendered":"Aurora\u2019s Sikura signs with NHL\u2019s Blackhawks"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jake Courtepatte<\/strong><\/p>\n

As one of the top skaters in American collegiate hockey, one of the big questions late in the NHL season was if centreman Dylan Sikura would sign with the Chicago Blackhawks.
\nHawks fans prayers have been answered, as Sikura signed on Sunday with the team that drafted him in the sixth round of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.
\nSikura said he is \u201cbeyond grateful\u201d to have realized his NHL dream.
\n\u201cI can\u2019t even explain how much it means to me. I\u2019m thankful to the Blackhawks for giving me the opportunity and want to be able to contribute right away.\u201d
\n\u201cRight away\u201d may be the exact right words: with the Blackhawks out of playoff contention, they will be looking to get some experience for their up-and-coming prospects.
\nSikura is expected to make his much-anticipated NHL debut on Thursday night, when the Hawks host the Winnpieg Jets.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s good for the kids,\u201d said Chicago head coach Joel Quenneville in a media scrum on Monday. \u201cThey get some exposure and see the pace, the strength, and the decision-making that goes on here\u2026that helps them prepare going into the following year.\u201d
\nThe 22-year old Aurora native spent most of three seasons with the OJHL\u2019s Aurora Tigers, before becoming a prominent piece up the middle for the NCAA\u2019s Northeastern University Huskies over the past four seasons.
\nOver four seasons at Northeastern, Sikura averaged more than a point per game, with 58 goals, 88 assists and 146 points in 137 games.
\nSikura\u2019s college career ended Saturday when the Michigan Wolverines beat Northeastern 3-2 in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
\nHe scored a powerplay goal in his last collegiate game.
\nThough the option to become a free agent after his senior season left many in the hockey media guessing, Sikura said it was \u201calways his intention\u201d to sign with the Blackhawks.
\n\u201cI just wanted to keep this whole Chicago thing in the background until my college season ended.\u201d
\nThough terms have not been disclosed, Sikura is expected to hit the maximum cap on entry-level contracts, which is $925,000 plus an allotment for performance bonuses.
\nThe team has high hopes for the young Sikura, who joins his brother Tyler in the Blackhawks organization, signing a contract with the team earlier in the month.
\n\u201cDylan really improved over the last couple of years since his draft year,\u201d said Quenneville. \u201cIt seemed like he was quicker, faster, more poised with the puck.\u201d
\nThe unexpected early exit from the NCAA tournament will allow Sikura to burn a year of his three year, entry-level contract, by playing in at least five of Chicago\u2019s remaining regular season games.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As one of the top skaters in American collegiate hockey, one of the big questions late in the NHL season was if centreman Dylan Sikura would sign with the Chicago Blackhawks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[24,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-sports","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-5gb","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-09 15:21:42","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20223\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}