Mired in lengthy slump, Alex Nylander hopes harder skating can reignite his game

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Alex Nylander is always one of the last Blackhawks to enter the locker room after morning skates.

Age certainly plays a role: At 21, Nylander has a lot more gas in the tank for nonessential exercise than, say, Brent Seabrook (always one of the first off).

But Nylander also finds that long morning skates boost his skating ability. And, as he seeks to rekindle his season after a recent downturn, that is more important than ever.

“I just want to try to move my feet out there and do a couple of little drills to get the heart rate up,” he said Thursday. “It’s so my skating is good and I feel more comfortable, and that’s going to help me for game time.”

Nylander hasn’t needed to save as much energy for the evenings lately, either.

After a long run on the first line with Jonathan Toews and Brandon Saad — which seemed to last a lot longer than Nylander’s (lack of) production justified — the Swedish winger has been demoted the last three games. He played with David Kampf and Dylan Sikura on Sunday, with Ryan Carpenter and Kirby Dach on Tuesday and with Dach and Matthew Highmore on Thursday.

Asked if that demotion was meant to be a wake-up call, coach Jeremy Colliton said no, but not because he didn’t intend to deliver that call.

“The message is sent by our conversations more than anything,” Colliton said. “Sometimes it’s not a bad thing to play a little bit less and really focus on your shifts. . . . It’s easier to focus on the quality, and that’s what he needs to continue to do.”

Just a month ago, Nylander’s tenure in Chicago and career as a full-time NHL player was off to a solid if unspectacular start, quieting some of the criticism of the Henri Jokiharju trade.

In his first 12 games, he had seven points. In his next nine, he had only two — meaningless late goals in a blowout in Nashville — but his underlying numbers remained about the same.

But in his previous nine games entering Thursday, Nylander really has slipped.

He has stayed cold in the box scores: zero goals and two assists, one being the secondary assist on Dominik Kubalik’s irrelevant goal in the Hawks’ 5-1 loss Tuesday.

He also has done less with more, shots-wise. With Nylander on the ice, opponents have turned 55.7 percent of shots into scoring chances, up from 52.2 percent before. Meanwhile, Nylander’s Hawks have converted only 42.6 percent of their shots into scoring chances during that time period, down from 51.2 percent before.

“I just need to skate more, like I did before,” Nylander said. “Because when I’m skating, the other good stuff will happen. . . . You’re more involved in the play, you’re skating more in all areas of the ice and you get more involved in the game.”

Colliton agreed with that assessment. He was nonetheless careful to note he doesn’t expect Nylander’s switch to flip back overnight — the Hawks knew from the day they acquired him that extracting his star potential would be a lengthy project.

But he obviously needs Nylander trending in the right direction again soon.

“It starts with his skating, his work ethic away from the puck,” Colliton said. “When he’s got his motor going and he’s pressuring and he’s winning races to loose pucks, then it makes it easier for the other parts of his game to show through.

“He’s working on that, and we’ll help him.”