Losing eats at Jason Dickinson, and he has done a lot of it since he joined the Blackhawks.
The team has won fewer than 30 games in each of the last five seasons, and Dickinson endured three of those.
Although the losing came because of subtractions to the roster and a rebuilding phase under general manager Kyle Davidson, that doesn’t make losing any easier for players to endure. That’s true even for Dickinson, who has achieved personal success since joining the Hawks. Three of his five highest-scoring seasons have come in Chicago.
“The team hasn’t made strides in the -direction that I would love, for whatever reason that may be,” Dickinson said. “Losing seasons suck, and it takes the life out of me to lose games.”
Dickinson has been pleased with how coach Jeff Blashill has handled practices with intense attention to detail and passion. He has been encouraged by the rigorous practices and promise that the young players — such as Connor Bedard, Oliver Moore and Frank Nazar — have shown over the first few sessions.
Blashill’s direct coaching style is a needed change for the Hawks.
“It doesn’t seem like it’s just a job for [Blashill],” Dickinson said. “This is a group he believes in. A core that he can see moving forward into a real, legitimate Cup contender. He’s right down to the finest little point to say, ‘I want you guys to get out to the blue line, [so] then get out to the blue line, or we’re going to stop the drill and we’re going to restart.’ ”
Ironing out the finer points is essential for a team that is all in on youth and speed. The inexperience on the roster lends the team to a certain amount of volatility, which is why Blashill harping on details in practice is important. When adversity sets in, the Hawks hope to have a foundation built during training camp that they can fall back on.
For Dickinson, he said he isn’t focused on his offensive output as much as he wants to win more games. The ways that happens might vary depending on the game, but he wants to see personal success — being a shutdown center, chipping in goals or dishing out assists — turn into team success.
On a team of unknowns, Dickinson’s reliability is a plus.
“He can be a really valuable player for us,” Blashill said. “He knows what he’s good at. A lot of young players have to figure out what they’re good at.”
Dickinson said when he was a rookie, he didn’t have the awareness, reads and understanding of the game that he would later gain as a veteran. He said it’s important that the young forwards learn in camp the importance of moving on to the next read and not wallowing in a mistake.
“Once you get older and you’ve established that foundation, then you can start to rely on reads and understanding of ‘I’ve seen this a million times,’ ” Dickinson said. “And that’s where your hockey sense can start to take over. It’s not so much thinking about, ‘Oh s–t, I was supposed to be the ‘F2’ on the forecheck, and I missed my read.’ ”
With a new coach and young talent, Dickinson is optimistic that his fourth season can see the Hawks turn around their losing ways.
“We’re going to shock some people,” he said. “We’re going to win some games, and we’re going to win games that we’re in full control of, that people won’t expect.”
