Blackhawks development camp is three days down with a few to go. With the lone scrimmage still ahead, there’s plenty of time for prospects to emerge and make themselves known. But for now, here are 15 things we’ve learned so far in camp:
1. You should be excited about Kirby Dach’s future. He’s not going to play in the NHL next season for many reasons, particularly because the Blackhawks aren’t likely to create that path for him. Even if he did shine in Traverse City and training camp, I don’t get the sense Jeremy Colliton is as impulsive as Joel Quenneville with young players. Henri Jokiharju is a great example of that. But Dach is more skilled than I probably expected. He’s long and simply smooth with the puck. You can see he has a ton of potential to tap into. He’s by far one of the most skilled players on the ice this week, and it’s easy for him to shine in the development camp setting, where it’s a lot of individual drills, one-on-one and two-on-two situations. We’ll learn more about him in the scrimmage and much more in Traverse City and training camp. Still, you can be hopeful the Blackhawks drafted a special one.
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2. Adam Boqvist is another player who excels in this setting. He’s special with the puck. He has such a unique shot for a defenseman. He looks a little bigger and more confident attacking and pursuing the puck defensively than a year ago. Stan Bowman mentioned the use of Boqvist’s stick on Wednesday. That’s certainly something Mark Eaton and Brian Campbell emphasize with him. With Boqvist, it comes down to how he defends in a five-on-five game setting, how he reads situations and whether he can hold his own battling for a loose puck on the boards, taking hits and being able to move players from the front of the net. He struggled in those areas for much of last season in London. We’ll get a better sense of whether he’s making strides there in the coming months.
3. I’d put money on Boqvist starting next season in Rockford. Honestly, it’s probably best for him to play as much as he can against bigger and stronger players and be under the constant direction of the Blackhawks’ development staff. He’s going to take his lumps and make some mistakes, but it’s better than another season in junior, and the Blackhawks can give him immediate feedback. Bowman seemed to be leaning that way too.
“He would either be in junior or a pro,” Bowman said Tuesday. “Once he’s a professional, then he’s in training camp like everyone else. I think we’re probably leaning towards that; I don’t know that we’ve made any declarations that’s what he’s going to do. In talking to Adam, I think he wants to take that next step. It’s probably looking like that, but nothing’s been determined for sure.”
4. Ian Mitchell will benefit from another year in college, but I don’t believe he needs it. I think he could get more from a season in the AHL. He might not be completely ready for the grind of pro hockey, but few young defensemen are. The way you get there sometimes is just going through it and experiencing the ups and downs that come with it. I could envision how someone like Mitchell could begin next season in the AHL and end up with the Blackhawks in the NHL later on. The Blackhawks defense should be better in the defensive zone considering who they added in the offseason, but I question whether the group will be as aggressive as Colliton would like defending the blue line. Mitchell is someone who could be molded into what Colliton wants as a defenseman. All that said, Mitchell does seem firm in his decision to return to Denver for another season.
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5. Alex Vlasic is so different than the defensemen the Blackhawks have drafted in recent years. He’s just so big and strong. The Blackhawks have to be hopeful he can be the perfect pairing for someone like Boqvist or Mitchell after he spends a couple of years at Boston University.
Vlasic trains with Brian Keane sometimes, and I talked to Keane about him recently.
“Certainly his size and skating ability are really good,” Keane said. “I think he has room to grow with his skating, and physicality, too. He’s a really interesting prospect. I think he’s going to turn into a player in the future there. His decision-making with the puck will come with time and experience. He’ll continue to build on his defensive play. He’s a really special athlete for his size and how he can move.”
6. Philipp Kurashev can beat defenders in so many ways. He has a quick first step that seems to surprise defensemen. He’s blown by a few of them this week. He’s also crafty with the puck and understands how to create separation. From what I saw in Rockford at the end of the season, he can benefit from some time in the AHL and going up against stronger players. But he definitely has a chance in the near future to be another top-nine option.
Alex Nylander was recently acquired from the Buffalo Sabres. (Scott Powers / The Athletic)
7. Alex Nylander doesn’t look like he belongs at development camp, and that’s a good thing. He’s been playing pro hockey the past three years and has some NHL games under his belt, and that’s been obvious this week. He’s more physically mature than a lot of the players, and he has more skill than a lot of them, too. He’s flourished in the drills. It’s not about whether he’s better than the Blackhawks prospects on the ice this week, but whether he can beat out the likes of Brendan Perlini, Dominik Kubalik, Dylan Sikura, Aleksi Saarela, Anton Wedin and a few others for the final few NHL spots that will be available out of training camp. I wouldn’t lean one way or the other at this point. He’s definitely skilled.
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8. The Blackhawks probably don’t have many top-six players in their pipeline right now, but there are a lot of potential role players. I look at Brandon Hagel, Reese Johnson, MacKenzie Entwistle and a few others at camp and see players who can help the Blackhawks in bottom-six roles in the next few seasons. The Blackhawks seem deeper in that respect.
9. The Blackhawks especially seem to have solid center depth organizationally. You have Jonathan Toews, Dylan Strome, David Kampf and Ryan Carpenter in the NHL next season. Kurashev, Johnson, Matthew Highmore, John Quenneville and Jacob Nilsson provide depth options. Beyond that, Dach should be ready in a year. Evan Barratt has a chance to be a solid bottom-six center and should turn pro after next season. Jake Wise is worth keeping an eye on at Boston University the next few years, too.
10. It’s too bad Niklas Nordgren wasn’t able to get on the ice this week. I think he’s a forward who has the potential to be an offensive difference-maker in the coming years. He battled injuries this past season. He needs to stay healthy and remain in Finland’s top division next season.
11. Cole Moberg and Antti Saarela haven’t been practicing most of the week with the Blackhawks’ top prospects, but they’ve been noticeable in the second group. Both were draft picks this past June. Moberg has size at 6-foot-3 and seems to be solid on his skates and with the puck. Saarela, who is the younger brother of Aleksi, skates really well.
12. With Jokiharju out of the picture, it’ll be interesting to see who the Blackhawks call upon from Rockford next season. Carl Dahlstrom might end up there again and would probably be the front-runner just because of his experience. After him, though, there should be a lot of competition. Nicolas Beaudin and Chad Krys, who have both been good in camp this week, add to that, too. Both probably need some time with the IceHogs, but there’s a path for them to the NHL.
13. There are a number of prospects who are going to have to take steps in the next few years if they want an NHL contract. Ryan Shea, Jake Ryczek and Mathias From’s draft rights expire in 2020. The following year, Josh Ess and Roope Laavainen’s rights are set to expire.
14. It doesn’t sound like the Blackhawks have much communication with goalie prospect Wouter Peeters any longer. He isn’t attending camp this week, and his draft rights expire in June 2020. The Blackhawks were obviously more hopeful about his potential after drafting him in the third round in 2016.
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15. The Blackhawks’ Russian prospects don’t attend the development camp because of their KHL contracts. I asked Bowman about those prospects Tuesday. He especially highlighted Artur Kayumov. I think Kayumov will sign with the Blackhawks after next season. I also made sure to ask about the possibility of signing Maxim Shalunov and Ivan Nalimov. Bowman said: “Yeah, they’re further down the development curve, though. They’re older. They’ve shown they can play in the KHL. So I think, contractually, that’s the challenge with them. They have contracts and they’re locked in. But I think as they’re getting to the point where they’re not locked in, then we’ll have longer discussions about seeing if they’re ready to play in the NHL.” Personally, I don’t think Nalimov will ever sign, but I think Shalunov is still a possibility for the 2020-21 season.
Ian Mitchell participates in a drill at development camp. (Scott Powers / The Athletic)
Ian Mitchell’s third diary installment
Today was a lot of fun spending time working on defenseman-specific drills and splitting up and getting more one-on-one with the D coaches. Listening to Brian Campbell, Mark Eaton and Anders Sorensen, those three guys are very knowledgeable. I just think it’s great for our development to work with those guys and listen to what they have to say. I really enjoy doing the D-specific stuff and, honestly, wish we’d do more of it because I kind of enjoy it.
One thing I really liked today was working on breaking the puck out under pressure, where there’d be a puck and you’d have to shoulder check and fake one way or the other to break out the puck and then make a play and pass it up to the next guy. That’s something I really enjoy doing. Then we did some D shooting from the blue line and working on boxing out to the corner, so all things that are really important to defensemen in the NHL.
I’ve worked with Mark Eaton over the years, and I just think he’s a great teacher. He has a great way of explaining things and putting things in terms that are easy to understand. He and I have a great relationship. He’s a very calm and relaxed guy, so it’s always nice to talk to him after a game because maybe if I didn’t have the best game or if I had a really tough game, it’s the same demeanor from him. It’s calm and kind of giving me tips — also just asking me how life’s going. He’s been great for me to just have that contact with him. It’s a relationship that’s really important to me.
With Brian Campbell, he was an unbelievable NHL player, and he plays the way I’d want to play in the NHL. Just a great skater, a great puck mover, offensive. So watching him skate out there, he still looks like he could play in the NHL. He’s so fluid and smooth. He’s definitely someone I look up to when I think of guys I want to be like, especially with his size. That’s something on the ice he’s talked about too. He said it doesn’t matter how big you are. You just have to learn to play the right way and learn how to be smart with your size, your stick position and body position, which are things we’ve talked about before. Just picking his brain on things and having a chance to talk to him for a pretty length out there is very important to me. He gave me some good pointers on how to play a two-on-two and just body-position things that he thinks are very important for defensemen who are under 6 feet.
When I look back over the years coming to the camps, first and foremost, it’s the mindset that has changed for me. Coming in my first year, I was just nervous as hell to get out there and get my first NHL camp. Now I’m just so much calmer and my mentality is that much different just to learn as much as I can. And then tactically on the ice, I just feel so much more powerful and stronger. I feel like rarely do I get beat defensively, and when I do, I kind of know why or I kind of have a plan to make it better and know what I’m going to do next time to make sure that it doesn’t happen. I think I’ve just become more mature in my game and my approach, too, off the ice.
(Bowman had said earlier in the day he believed Mitchell was ready to turn pro now.)
They did want me to come out and play, but at the same time, they did respect my decision. Right from Day 1, they said it was my decision. Of course, it’s very humbling and exciting they feel like I could make the jump. At the same time, I want to make sure I feel personally 100 percent ready. I’m just glad there’s a great relationship and communication because, I’ll say it again, I really want to be a Blackhawk. I’m just glad they do respect it, but obviously in the business of hockey, not everyone sees eye to eye on that kind of thing. I’m just glad they have supported it and continue to support me. Next year I want to be in the NHL. We haven’t sat down yet, but Stan did say — yesterday I talked to him — he did say we’ll catch up in the next couple days and sit down and talk. I’m sure I’ll talk to him.
The business of hockey can be hard, and I saw that with Blake Hillman (who played with Mitchell at Denver and wasn’t given a qualifying offer by the Blackhawks recently). Blake’s a really good friend to me. To see that he didn’t get another contract, I was obviously disappointed for him. I know he was definitely disappointed. That is the business of hockey. You’ve got to perform every night. Professional hockey is really tough; it’s tough to do that. I think that’s maybe another reason I want to be absolutely 100 percent ready to come out before I make the jump.
With camp winding down over the next few days, I’m just really looking forward to getting out on the ice and working with the development staff. Then of course on Friday looking forward to the scrimmage and playing a game. That’s always the best day.
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Camp videos
Michal Teply handles the puck:
Kirby Dach with the finish:
Adam Boqvist in a shooting drill:
Jake Wise in a drill:
Alex Vlasic in a defenseman drill:
(Top photo: Scott Powers / The Athletic)