he was assigned to the rockford icehogs, the farm team of the blackhawks. he was called up to the blackhawks during the 2011-12 nhl season. on january 5, 2012, he got in his first-ever nhl fight on the second shift of his first nhl game. he returned to the game after receiving stitches and score the first goal of his nhl career on his first shot of his first game against ilya bryzgalov of the philadelphia flyers. on june 24, 2013, he won the stanley cup with the blackhawks after they defeated the boston bruins 4 games to 2 in the 2013 stanley cup finals.