ST. LOUIS — If Blackhawks defenseman Alex Vlasic had a vote for the Hart Trophy, he would give serious consideration to Connor McDavid and Nikita Kucherov, but he believes he would ultimately award it to Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon.
And his opinion is worth quite a lot because he has seen the NHL’s MVP-caliber stars more this season than just about anyone.
The list of forwards against whom he has logged the most ice time looks like an All-Star team roster. MacKinnon, McDavid, Jason Robertson, Mark Schiefele and Kirill Kaprizov are all in the top 10.
As his first full NHL season with the Hawks enters its final week, he has reflected on how surreal that is. Barely over a year ago, he was in the AHL. Now, he has extensive experience defending — and defending well — all of those guys.
“Talking to my friends, sometimes they’ll ask me who I think is the hardest to defend, and I give the same answer,” Vlasic said Wednesday. “You hear yourself say it, that you’re playing against the best players in the world, and that’s really special. You can’t take that for granted.”
According to The Athletic’s analytics model, Vlasic has faced the sixth-highest average quality of opponent among all NHL defensemen this year. That’s a brutal -workload, and plenty of acclaimed young players — Red Wings blue-liner Moritz Seider, for example — have struggled to handle similar responsibilities.
Vlasic, however, has thrived, producing the second-best relative impact on expected goals against among all defensemen, according to The Athletic.
Seth Jones, the Hawks teammate with whom Vlasic has spent by far the most time this season, has witnessed that firsthand.
“He just came into his own so perfectly [this season],” Jones said. “If he makes a mistake, he rarely makes it again. His stick and his feet [are so good] defensively, closing guys out. Even right before the blue line, he has great gaps because his feet are so good and his stick is so long.
“And then if they get in the zone, there’s no space. He takes it right [away] from them and makes plays or skates out of it. He’s been our best defender all season long, consistency-wise.”
It’s not as if this season has seemed easy to Vlasic, even though he has excelled.
Feeling a twinge of fear is inevitable when MacKinnon, McDavid or one of their peers bears down on you, and nobody in the league — not Vlasic, not Cale Makar, not anyone — can truly eliminate them. Part of effectively defending them involves accepting that fact and adjusting accordingly, Vlasic has learned.
“They’ve got it all,” he said. “They’re the trickiest guys to play against. It seems like any time you shut down the option that they want, they find another one. A lot of times, it isn’t necessarily [about] killing the play; it’s just [about] limiting what they can do with the puck and taking away from the options.”
That, too, is difficult.
“When you’re playing against those guys, it’s tough to have a tight gap,” he added. “You want to, especially in the neutral zone. But when they come with so much speed, you can’t really help but just back up and take away that first option. Hopefully they run out of some room and you can collapse [on them] then.”
Outside of the MVP-candidate tier, Vlasic mentions Stars forward Roope Hintz and Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers as two other players he has found especially hard to defend.
As the years pass and he accumulates more experience, particularly against the Eastern Conference, that list will probably grow. But so should his reputation as one of the NHL’s best up-and-coming defensive defensemen.
“He’s going through the league still, learning all the players,” coach Luke Richardson said. “But I think they’re having just as much trouble — or more — trying to understand his traits and abilities.”
Czechia bound
After the Hawks’ season ends, Alex Vlasic and Seth Jones will both play for the United States in the 2024 IIHF World Championships, which will be held in Czechia from May 10-26.
This will be Jones’ fourth time participating in the annual springtime tournament; he most recently captained the Americans at the 2022 event. But it will be more meaningful for Vlasic, who is obviously going for the first time. His invitation is an indication that his under-the-radar dominance has been noticed around the hockey world.
“I’m pumped,” Vlasic said. “I’ve heard great things about it from players that have gone before and ‘Jonesy’ himself. I’m really excited to keep playing hockey, and it’s always an honor to represent your country. I couldn’t be more excited.”
Vlasic said he expected to feel more tired at this point in the season — having played in 72 of the Hawks’ 78 games so far, with four more to go — than he actually does.
Evidently, he believes he has quite a bit of energy left in his tank.
