Four takeaways from Blackhawks preseason: Matt Grzelcyk gets contract, Frank Nazar drives offense

The Blackhawks were fortunate the NHL’s shortened preseason schedule, reduced from six to four games, doesn’t go into effect until next year.

New coach Jeff Blashill needed every day of training camp to cover a ton of new information before the Hawks’ season opener Tuesday at the Panthers.

“We’ve started to get in place some of the fundamentals that we want,” Blashill said Saturday. “We’ve put in place the systematic play. You only get so many dates to practice in the year, so your camp has to be really efficient. I thought it was.”

The Hawks technically went 2-4-0 in the preseason, but the only game to feature full NHL lineups on both sides happened Friday: a 3-2 loss to the Wild.

They looked competitive against a bubble team in that matchup, suggesting perhaps this season’s Hawks team will be slightly better than the past few, with a smaller gap between them and the middle of the league. But that can’t be declared with any confidence yet.

Here are four more takeaways from the Hawks’ preseason:

Grzelcyk gets contract

Defenseman Matt Grzelcyk, a camp tryout, signed a one-year, $1 million contract Sunday to stick around with the Hawks.

The eight-year NHL veteran was just OK in the preseason, but he will provide experience and injury insurance during the regular season in a minimal role.

This outcome seemed probable not because of anything Grzelcyk did, but rather because the young defensemen he was competing against — Ethan Del Mastro, Kevin Korchinski and Nolan Allan — struggled so much. It became clear as a result that the Hawks needed more depth, especially on the left side.

Roster whittled down

The Hawks brought eight defensemen to Florida, including Del Mastro — despite his struggles — because it’s unclear if Alex Vlasic will have recovered from a leg wound by Tuesday.

Vlasic is on the trip, though. Once he’s cleared, Del Mastro will likely head to Rockford, leaving Grzelcyk and Louis Crevier as the bottom NHL defensemen. Korchinski and Allan have already been sent down.

Thirteen forwards came on the trip, including a very deserving Colton Dach, but rookies Oliver Moore and Ryan Greene were both sent to Rockford. Lukas Reichel’s name remains in trade rumors, but nothing has materialized yet.

Moore’s assignment was slightly surprising considering his solid play in camp, but some AHL conditioning won’t hurt him.

Nazar could drive offense

Frank Nazar was the Hawks’ best player in the preseason, tallying four goals and one assist in four games, even if he wasn’t personally satisfied.

“I think I can be a lot better,” Nazar said Friday. “[There are] a lot of parts of my game I need to round out from summer … [to] get rid of those bad habits. I need to stop on pucks, go through guys and stop reaching.”

It was an encouraging sign that his torrid finish to last season wasn’t just a flash in the pan, a la Reichel in 2023. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect 50-plus points from Nazar this season.

Penalty kill needs grace

Under Blashill last season, the Lightning ranked 22nd in the NHL in net penalty-kill rate (77.8%) in October but were the best in the league (88.8%) from Nov. 1 on. It took them time to adjust to and master the aggressive, high-risk reads Blashill’s system requires.

It remains to be seen whether that system will work for the Hawks at all, but October needs to be a grace period for the unit. They unsurprisingly struggled during the preseason, allowing five goals on 17 opportunities (70.6%).

“We were very comfortable as a unit in what we did last year,” captain Nick Foligno said. “But if this is the way he’s coaching it, we’re all smart enough on the ‘PK’ to know how to adjust. It’s just going to take some time to get out of the old habits.”