Shortly after wrapping up the first practice of training camp Thursday, Blackhawks defenseman Seth Jones was smiling wide, cracking jokes and projecting confidence.
He seemed like a new man, and with good reason. After enduring plenty of tough times during his first two years in Chicago, there’s finally freshness, optimism and excitement around this Hawks team, and it’s already rubbing off on the team itself — Jones included.
He’s not oblivious to the fact that the rebuild still has a long way to go, but it simply feels good to be ascending again.
“It’s still going to be a process,” Jones said. “We’re not coming in expecting to win every game this year, obviously. But we want to be competitive, and we want to build toward something. Everyone understands that in the room . . . so it’s going to be fun.”
Fellow defenseman Connor Murphy, by far the Hawks’ longest-tenured player, sounded similarly reinvigorated.
“It’s a cool thing, a transition, to have a couple of young players coming in now that are really strong,” Murphy said. “It gives you a little bit of that taste of what it was like years ago when [Jonathan] Toews and [Patrick] Kane were coming in as young guys.
“It’s just fun to see new faces and to have that excitement and hope that everyone has that talent and the potential to create something big.”
The Hawks hit the ice in two groups, with Connor Bedard in the first. He attracted every eyeball among a sold-out crowd at Fifth Third Arena, as the Hawks had to start ticketing practices this season to avoid overcrowding because of Bedard’s popularity.
Forwards Taylor Hall, Colin Blackwell and prospect Jalen Luypen missed practice with lower-body injuries. Coach Luke Richardson said he didn’t think Hall’s or Blackwell’s issues would linger long, but the team will get more information in the coming days.
Without Hall — who will mentor and play with Bedard regularly this season — Bedard skated alongside Tyler Johnson and Ryan Donato. That means Johnson is probably the early leader to win the other first-line wing spot for opening night.
“Once you’re on the ice, it’s hockey, and you try not to be starstruck,” Bedard said. “But waking up and talking to my parents last night about it, it’s pretty special. To be here with the fans in this city and everything, it’s remarkable. I feel super-fortunate. It’s definitely a dream right now.”
The second forward line was a familiar trio: Lukas Reichel centering Andreas Athanasiou and Philipp Kurashev. Richardson said he wants to “see if there’s any chemistry still there” since those three guys logged 139 minutes together last season.
On defense, three rookie-veteran pairings — Wyatt Kaiser with Jones, Kevin Korchinski with Murphy and Alex Vlasic with Nikita Zaitsev — seemed like they might stick for a while. Murphy joked that he will enjoy being the “slower guy” behind Korchinski.
Defensive-zone coverage was the primary focus during on-ice and video sessions. Richardson didn’t indicate he has made any tweaks yet to last season’s system, but those could come eventually — and in the meantime, summer rust must be scraped off.
“We’re starting out kind of the way we finished off, but we have some new personnel here, so we’re going to make sure that it works,” Richardson said. “One thought process from a coach doesn’t work for every team, just [considering] the dynamic personnel that we have and what they can execute.
“We’re starting to see some young guys coming through the system and being able to probably play and sustain [possession] here. So if that’s what we want to do, how do we get the puck more? We’ll have to see if this system works or if we have to make some little tinkers.”
Jones said he expects the returning players’ familiarity and comfort level with Richardson’s systems, contrasted to last season’s “off-the-cuff” approach, to reduce breakdowns this season. The rookies won’t have that same advantage, but Bedard — for one — forecasted he will adjust quickly.
That’s a good thing because Richardson — after reviewing last season’s ups and downs — said he plans to demand cleaner, better, more consistent execution.
“We showed some great clips from last year today, and [when] we looked at it, we were like, ‘How did we not make the playoffs?’ ’’ Richardson said. “But it was 10, maybe 12 clips. You have to do that probably every period for 80 games, and we didn’t do that. So we’ve got to get better at that. [It’s about] demanding more execution this year. [It] doesn’t matter if you’re young or old. That’s going to be key.”
