Blackhawks extend Dent through 2019

The Chicago Blackhawks, parent club of the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs, announced Thursday a three-year contract extension for Ted Dent, head coach of the IceHogs, to run through the end of the 2018-19 season.

Dent is currently in his fifth season as head coach of the IceHogs and his 10th overall campaign as a coach for the Blackhawks’ AHL affiliate, which includes nine seasons in Rockford. During his first five seasons as head coach of the IceHogs, Dent has helped guide the club to a 196-140-24-18 record and is the franchise’s all-time leader in games coached (378) and wins.

Rockford, which has clinched a 2016 Calder Cup Playoffs berth, returned to the playoffs in 2015, sweeping the defending Calder Cup champion Texas Stars in three games in the first round before falling to the Grand Rapids Griffins in the second round. Dent has been instrumental in helping develop dozens of players who have been called up from Rockford to Chicago during the past nine seasons.