Blackhawks notebook: Alex Vlasic a bigger man after 4,000-calorie summer diet

Alex Vlasic has increased his weight all the way up to 220 pounds, a perfectly acceptable number for an NHL defenseman of his size. But it doesn’t really show—and when one asks him why, he gestures to his 6-6, wide-shouldered frame.

“I feel like it doesn’t look like it because it’s super distributed,” he said with a chuckle.

Building up strength was the top priority all summer for the 21-year-old Wilmette native, who’s currently in the final days of a tight battle for a Blackhawks roster spot. He skated Thursday on a pairing with Filip Roos, who is perhaps his biggest competition for a spot, in the Hawks’ 4-1 preseason loss to the Wild.

In addition to daily workouts, Vlasic revised his diet—at the Hawks’ recommendation—to hit a target of about 4,000 calories per day.

“It has been pretty hard for me to put on weight in the past,” he said. “This summer, it was just a lot more eating than I was used to. ... I just ate whatever I wanted, but it was the consumption of calories that was the biggest thing, trying to get as much food in my body as possible.”

Steak and rice were staples, with some vegetables tossed in here and there. He admits being told to eat a ton of food is a “pretty good hand to be dealt”—plenty of normal people would love to receive that edict—but it was a challenge for him.

This and that

• Saturday’s Hawks-Blues game in St. Louis was moved from 7 to 2 p.m. CT by the NHL to avoid an MLB playoffs conflict.
• Prospect forward Colton Dach recovered from his concussion just in time to get in a Hawks preseason game after all. He’ll presumably be reassigned to the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets soon, but he played Thursday on a line with Sam Lafferty and MacKenzie Entwistle.
• Speaking of eating, new forward Andreas Athanasiou has found sticking to his own diet harder—in a different way than Vlasic—since moving to Chicago. “I’ve hit a bunch of restaurants, and I don’t think I’ve missed once,” he said. “They’re all so good.”
• Max Domi has encountered the same problem, but one restaurant stands out clearly above the rest: Gibson’s Italia on Canal Street. Patrick Kane set him up with a reservation. The food was “outstanding” and the river view even better, he said.