VANCOUVER, British Columbia — When a Sharks reporter requested Connor Bedard on Wednesday about his expertise on the Blackhawks’ younger roster this season, Bedard delicately tried to right him.
“Coming into the season, we had been fairly previous, truly,” Bedard stated Wednesday. “Not previous, however older. I assume, ‘smart.’”
The gist of the query was right, although, as a result of the Hawks have gotten a lot youthful. Once they final visited Vancouver in November, for instance, the large storylines had been Luke Richardson healthy-scratching Taylor Corridor and Seth Jones struggling a foot damage. Once they landed in Vancouver once more Friday, none of these characters had been on the airplane.
The Hawks’ common age of 28.0 at present makes them the NHL’s Tenth-youngest staff, and that’s with Alec Martinez, Pat Maroon and Nick Foligno nonetheless skewing the info. In the meantime, they now have 11 gamers aged 23 or youthful, plus one other three 25-year-olds.
Frank Nazar, Landon Slaggert, Colton Dach, Louis Crevier, Ethan Del Mastro and Artyom Levshunov have all been known as up from the AHL all through the season, and Spencer Knight and Joe Veleno had been additionally lately acquired.
With faculty prospects Ryan Greene, Sam Rinzel, Oliver Moore and/or Dominic James doubtlessly turning professional quickly, that group may broaden additional.
“It makes it a variety of enjoyable when you’ve got guys which might be throughout the identical age [who] are attempting to study collectively and develop collectively,” Bedard added.
“Clearly, we would like — yearly and each sport — to maintain getting higher. Then, after we’re all on the level the place we’re successful and competing in large video games, it’s going to be that a lot better trying again on this and going by way of it collectively.”
That is what basic supervisor Kyle Davidson imagined when he (controversially) determined to maneuver on from Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews in 2023. He wished the Hawks’ subsequent era to have freedom to ascertain their very own natural tradition, and that’s now taking place.
On Sunday in Denver, that they had a vigorous staff dinner. On Wednesday in San Jose, they tried to see the brand new Captain America film — however the theater had an influence failure, making a joke to be instructed and retold for years to come back.
Even within the locker room earlier than and after practices and video games, the temper feels lighter. Foligno on Monday not-so-vaguely attributed that to Jones’ departure, opining about “arduous selections…benefiting the group.” However the change in all probability stems much more from who has arrived than who has left.
“The fellows that are available in, they carry power,” Lukas Reichel stated lately. “They’re simply having enjoyable. They’re not like, ‘Oh no, [it’s the] NHL.’ They wish to keep right here, and so they wish to be NHL gamers. That’s what you want.”
Stated Slaggert: “There’s positively a youthful power within the room. Having the ability to chirp one another, too, [means] you’re extra comfy. It helps the group as an entire. Guys produce other guys their age that may get of their ear, and everybody feeds off that. It creates an atmosphere the place everybody is ready to communicate up.”
Stated Crevier: “Earlier than occurring the ice, I go searching and [think], ‘Oh, I’ve performed with these guys earlier than in Rockford.’”
The subsequent step for the Hawks, after all, is studying tips on how to win collectively. They haven’t made a lot progress on that entrance but. Their five-game level streak was momentarily encouraging, however now they’re staring down a winless four-game street journey except they beat the Canucks on Saturday.
That learning-to-win course of will realistically take some time, subsequent season actually included. And there may be the terrifying threat they comply with the Sabres’ path and by no means find out how.
However at the very least the method has begun. Most of the Hawks’ finest prospects haven’t reached the NHL but, however sufficient should make these late-season video games look like glimpses into the longer term. The gamers can sense that, too.
