Blackhawks look to build momentum on homestand; notes on Bedard, Kantserov, Frondell, Nazar, & more

After a day off on Wednesday, the Chicago Blackhawks were back to work with a morning skate Thursday morning (Oct. 15) ahead of hosting the Winnipeg Jets at the United Center. Spirits were high coming off a 5-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins Tuesday night, their second win of the season. Let’s take a pulse check of the team as they try to build some momentum on their current homestand, which includes five more contests.

Bedard & the Kans

The biggest news in Blackhawks-land of late is the return of Connor Bedard. The Blackhawks’ cornerstone returned for the Penguins game a good four weeks ahead of his timeline following offseason shoulder surgery. It was obvious from the first shift the Blackhawks are a better team with Bedard in the lineup.

“To miss what he's missed and to be able to come out and play that well is pretty impressive, said head coach Jeff Blashill. “Connor put an incredible amount of work in to come back as quick as he did. He did everything he could possible to put himself in a position to come back quick. So certainly I think it's testament to him and his desire to play and his work ethic and his commitment to the team.”

Bedard centered the top line, with Roman Kantserov and Patrick Kane on his wings. I’m officially dubbing them “Bedard and the Kans”. Get it?! Bedard and Kane and Kantserov; as in Bedard and the “cans”, just with a “K”? But I digress.

Together this trio combined for two goals; one on the power play and one at even strength. Bedard provided the primary assist on a power play goal by Kantserov, and Kane the secondary assist on a five-on-five goal by Kantserov. Yes, that gave Kantersov two goals on the night, and he now has three goals on the season to lead the Blackhawks. Bedard’s assist was his first point of the season.

It was a joy to watch Bedard again in person; he’s such a dynamic player. He obviously elevates the entire team when he’s in the lineup. Blashill spoke after the game about the deployment of Kantserov-Bedard-Kane together.

“Connor creates separation a lot, so it creates space. Then when the other two have space, they're really, really good players. So it's just a good kind of combo. The other thing I see is Roman is very happy going to the net. So you still have a guy who will go to the net on the line, because sometimes I think those kind of lines get too spread out, and you don't get any play at the net. I thought they did a pretty good job of doing that. I think when they check for their offense, they're going to be really, really good. They got to make sure they don't cheat for offense but check for offense.”

So far, so good for this line. They should be super fun to watch moving forward.

Frondell is the real deal

We certainly can’t forget the second line of Tyler Bertuzzi, Anton Frondell and Teuvo Teravainen. Against the Penguins, Teravainen scored two goals and assisted on Bertuzzi’s empty net goal. Bertuzzi also provided a helper, giving him a two-point night, and Frondell notched two primary assists.

On the season, Frondell currently leads all rookies across the league with six points (1 goal, five assists). He also had a stellar night at the dot against the Penguins, winning 14-of-23 faceoffs for a 61% success rate. That included winning 11-of-18 against none other than Sidney Crosby.

Blashill touted Frondell for that and more postgame. “I think Frondell, that's a lot of Crosby, man. That's one of the best players all time and certainly the generation that he's played in … he's got a really good ability to check for offense and he's still just growing and learning. I mean, he's just at the cusp of what he's going to be, and he's still a really young kid. So for him to do that's pretty impressive.”

Frondell certainly looks like he can play center and drive play for his own line. He’s only 19 years old and played in just 19 NHL games. This kid could really be something special.

Nazar draws back into the lineup as the third line center

Frank Nazar missed the last two contests after being suspended for a hit to the head on New York Islanders’ Bo Horvat on Oct. 8. The 22-year-old was filling in as the top line center for much of the time Bedard was out. But at morning skate ahead of the Jets game he was deployed as the third line center alongside Ryan Donato and Oliver Moore. Coach Blashill was asked about this after morning skate.

"If Frank's line can be dangerous, which I think they can be, it gives you four really good lines. They'd all be a little bit different, but it gives you four really good lines. You look throughout the league and the teams that are really successful and win games on a consistent basis have that. Because it's hard for one line to be at their very best every night and have to carry a team. They’re always going to have A and B games, and when you get good, one group's at their B game, the other group's at their A game. It just kind of switches night in and night out. And you can kind of, in order to play a pressure system, you have to be able to roll lines. You can't just have one or two lines going. So we think having Frank in the lineup, if he can get that line going at a high level, which I know he can, that'll make us a way more dangerous team."

For reference, here are the four lines Blashill is referring to, with the defensive pairings thrown in for good measure.

Kantserov-Bedard-Kane

Bertuzzi-Frondell-Teravainen

Donato-Nazar-Moore

Smith-Greene-Greenway

Del Mastro-Levshunov

Vlasic-Cole

Kaiser-Rinzel

With a center group of Bedard, Kantserov, Nazar and Ryan Greene, that makes for quite the depth down the middle. The Greene, Cole Smith, Jordan Greenway line has been one of the most consistent so far this season, and we spoke above about the top two lines finding their groove. If Donato, Nazar and Moore can find some chemistry and success, that could spell good things for the Blackhawks.

Byram day-to-day with an upper body injury

Defenseman Bowen Byram was not at the morning skate on Thursday, as he’s day-to-day with an upper body injury. This is unfortunate for the Blackhawks, as they just got Bedard back and were skating with a full lineup. Hopefully Byram can return soon.

In his stead, Ethan Del Mastro skated on a defensive pairing with Artyom Levshunov. This is an interesting decision, considering Kevin Korchinski is also available. Korchinski has much more of an offensive-minded game, same as Byram. Here was Blashill’s explanation of going with Del Mastro.

“I thought Delly played pretty well when he went into Buffalo. He hasn't had a chance since, but I thought he played a good game when he went to Buffalo (Oct. 3 game versus the Sabres). I think Delly’s got a little bit of gamer in him when he gets out there. He's not afraid of the moment, which will be important. And then I just think being probably simple, fast, and hard out of our end; simple, fast, and hard in the neutral zone. He's got ability to make a play in the O-zone. So just do those things, make the right play. I don't necessarily want him to make the simple play, but you got to be fast and hard to don't overcomplicate it.”

Teravainen will take Byram’s spot as quarterback on the top power play unit. Per Blashill, “I think Teravainen is one of our smartest players. He's played it in Carolina … His confidence with it kind of leaves the other unit the same. So I just felt like he was the right guy to be up there.

For reference, here are the power play units:

PP1: Bertuzzi, Bedard-Kantserov-Kane, Teräväinen

PP2: Donato, Moore-Nazar-Frondell, Rinzel

Thoughts on Lardis being sent to Rockford

Corresponding with Bedard being reinstated on Oct. 13, Nick Lardis was assigned to the Rockford IceHogs. Lardis has struggled to start out the season, so this didn’t come as much of a surprise. I asked Blashill his thought process in sending Lardis down, and he gave a very good in-depth explanation.

“At the end of the day, I guess there's two kind of aspects to it. One is what's best for Nick Lardis, and two is kind of what's best organizationally. Not just for the team, but also making sure you keep your organizational depth too. So I would say this; the other night we had a decision to make of who to play, and I wanted Oliver (Moore) to play wing. So then you need a center, and so at that point; we had other guys ahead of Nick in the lineup today, so he's going to be a healthy scratch. So rather than make him a healthy scratch, let's have him go down and play.

The other side of it is, I thought Nick looked really good coming into camp. He did okay through the early part of the year, but Nick Lardis is a goal-scorer, and when you're a goal scorer, you want to see the puck go in the net. I think he's got a chance to go down and put the puck in the net and feel good about himself. So the next time he goes in the lineup, he's got lots of confidence of scoring. Where if he was up with us right now, he's not going to see the puck go in the net in games if he's not in the line of number one, number two.

He's (also) not getting the opportunities like on the power play and things like that. When Frondell moved to that other unit (because Bedard came back), that takes Nick off that unit. So then all of a sudden you're losing another opportunity. So for me, it made all the sense in the world to have him go down and do what he does well and be ready to come up at the right time when we're going to need him. At some point we'll need him this year, and hopefully he comes up and plays great.”

It might seem unfair to send Lardis down and still have a guy like Dominic Toninato up with the Blackhawks. But Toninato is a center and a fourth line role-player, while Lardis is neither of those things. Hopefully Lardis can see a lot of playing time in Rockford and gain his confidence back.

The Blackhawks have Bedard back, Nazar returned, and a bunch of young players finding their way. As Blashill said, this is one of the best forward lineups they’ve had yet this season. Hopefully the defensive corps can hold their own despite Byram being out, and the Blackhawks can build on the momentum from Tuesday’s win. This is the best time to get things back on track, when they host five more games on this current homestand and have home ice advantage on their side.

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