New Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill wasn’t surprised by the team’s lack of offseason moves.
In fact, Blashill expected his new boss, general manager Kyle Davidson, to stay out of the fray. During their interviews and meetings leading up to Blashill’s hiring in late May, Davidson told him that was the plan.
“The reality is our growth will be based on how quickly our young guys mature,” Blashill recently told the Sun-Times. “[Not only] how they mature physically, but more importantly, how their games mature.
“[We’ll] go from a young, talented group to a group that plays winning hockey. The most exciting opportunity we have as a coaching staff is to mold our players into winning players as quickly as possible.”
With that organizational philosophy in mind, much of Blashill’s summer has been spent familiarizing himself with the Hawks’ horde of young players and designing a plan for training camp — his first opportunity to start that molding process.
He lived five minutes away from the U.S. National Team Development Program during his time as Red Wings coach, so he already knew a bit about USNTDP products-turned-Hawks Alex Vlasic, Frank Nazar and Spencer Knight. And Michigan State coach Adam Nightingale was previously a Wings assistant under Blashill, so Blashill already knew a bit about Artyom Levshunov.
Nonetheless, Blashill has made an effort to get to know all of his new players personally this offseason, either by meeting in person with the Chicago-based guys (Vlasic, Nazar, Connor Murphy, etc.) or through phone calls and texts with the rest. He and Connor Bedard, for example, texted about the Panthers’ tactics during the Stanley Cup Final.
He has also reached out to agents and former coaches to learn more about which types of coaching styles and communication work best for each player.
He has spent time in the film room, too, re-watching Hawks games from last season — particularly the last nine, after Sam Rinzel and Oliver Moore joined the group and the Hawks rolled out some prospect-laden lineups. Predictably, the April 14 victory in Montreal stood out.
“It’ll be a different animal as we get into this season, but it gives me some perspective,” Blashill said.
Camp plan
Hawks players and fans alike should prepare to hear Blashill utter the phrase “winning habits” constantly this season.
That will begin day one of training camp, which will occur sometime during the week of Sept. 15-19. (Rookies participating in the annual Tom Kurvers prospect tournament, taking place in Minnesota this year, will report the previous week.)
“The first system we’ll implement will be our backchecking track,” Blashill said. “The reason for that is, one, it’s a work-ethic indicator. That will show how willing our team is to work.
“And two, it’s one of the best ways to create transition offensive opportunities — by being smothering in your effort to come back as forwards. That allows your [defensemen] to gap up, create turnovers and go the other way.”
Forwards will need to take efficient routes to the puck, stop on the puck and then get sticks on the puck. If they do that correctly, then they’ll need to be ready to push hard in the opposite direction to help the Hawks spring a counterattack.
“We’ll put a huge emphasis on our first three steps in any kind of transition, both from a reload perspective, but also when you create turnovers,” Blashill said.
While learning about his roster, Blashill identified the Hawks’ ultra-young defense — as it stands, eight of the nine men who will compete for NHL jobs are 24 or younger — as an immediate strength. He hopes to craft his system around that.
“When you look at the ‘D’ corps, we’re big and we can skate, as a whole,” he said. “So what ways can we utilize that? One area is on breakouts. They’re going to use their feet to help us get out of our end. From there, [they should] move pucks to open people, and then let’s beat people up the ice. Now you’re involved in the rush and creating out-numbered situations.”
Once in the offensive zone, Blashill wants the Hawks to adopt more of a shoot-first mentality.
That will be music to fans’ ears, since the team has finished last in the NHL in shot attempts per minute (during five-on-five play) in three consecutive seasons.
“There’s still shot selection, but … when the puck goes low to high, the first read should be looking to the net and having a shot mentality,” Blashill said. “That’s something we’re going to emphasize early.”
Considering how little possession time the Hawks have generated in recent years — and how wasteful they’ve been with the rare possessions they’ve had — the key points of Blashill’s plan make sense.
Implementing any system is easier said than done, and the Hawks’ lack of experience and star power will accentuate that. Blashill has his work cut out for him, no matter how logical his plan. But just like in his introductory press conference, he continues to say the right things.
“Ultimately, the whole point of the game is to create more chances than you give up,” he said. “If you do that over and over again, you’ll score more goals than you give up.
“To me, it’s all a balance of understanding risk/reward. Is the reward worth the risk? If it is, that’s when you attack and try to make plays. And there’s times where the reward is not worth the risk and you make a safer play with the puck.”
Staff assignments
Blashill has assembled the Hawks’ most proven, impressive group of assistant coaches in some time. The staff has been meeting primarily over Zoom, but they’ll finally convene in a couple weeks.
New assistants Michael Peca and Mike Vellucci will oversee the forwards, with Peca also coaching the penalty kill and Vellucci the power play. Anders Sorensen will oversee the defensemen — a role he previously held in Rockford. Long-tenured goalie coach Jimmy Waite retained his position.
Blashill said he learned from Lightning coach Jon Cooper the value of wholehearted delegation, but there will still be plenty of overlap, collaboration and sharing of responsibilities within the staff.
“I’ve got a group of coaches that really see things similarly — from a hockey standpoint, from a habits standpoint [and] from an importance-of-discipline standpoint,” Blashill said. “They’re guys I know will be able to challenge me, as well. You want both those things.”
