Head coach Jeff Blashill’s coach-speak, & how it serves the Blackhawks

As the calendar flips to September, training camps are about to get underway across the NHL. It’s an exciting time in the hockey world. For the Chicago Blackhawks, this will be their second season under head coach Jeff Blashill.

Even with finishing 31st in the league, the prevailing opinion was that Blashill’s first season as head coach went well. His reputation for developing young players checked out, and the team seemed to respond to him. Every coach has his own style, and Blashill is no different. Throughout the season, he preached common themes and easy-to-understand terminology. Blashill-isms, I like to call them. Let’s touch on some of this coach-speak in an effort to better understand his approach headed into the 2026-27 campaign.

Blackhawks Papa Bears

On the third day of training camp last September, I asked the new head coach about the most tenured member of the team at the time, defenseman Connor Murphy. It was the first we heard of one of Blashill’s favorite terms for the veterans.

“I think it's an important role for him and any of our vet players to, I use the verbiage Papa Bears. Be guys that can really help guide our young, be an extension of our coaching staff, but just in a guiding way. You know, I'll be the disciplinarian. Their role is to help, put an arm around them. Help guide them. Help kind of teach them the little nuances.”

Considering the plethora of young players on the team last season, this was a very important role indeed. Nick Foligno served as the captain last year, while Jason Dickinson and Murphy were alternate captains. They were the “Papa Bears” all season, until all three were moved at trade deadline. Then veteran Tyler Bertuzzi took over the role of alternate captain, and a Papa Bear in his own right.

Bertuzzi will likely continue in a leadership role this coming season, while another big Papa Bear will be Patrick Kane. The kids will be super excited to learn from this Blackhawk’s legend. Kane has expressed his willingness to mentor them as well. On defense, 37-year-old Ian Cole will play a similar role with a very young blue line. The next closest in age to Cole are Alex Vlasic and Bowen Byram, who are both just 25. That’s a 12-year difference. It’s safe to say the Papa Bear concept will continue.

Check for your offense, not cheating for your chances

Let’s move on to more of the standard of play, or expectations of the team. From day one, Blashill preached to check for your offense. He wanted the players to buy in to playing the right way; a checking game that wore the other team down and didn’t cut corners. Done consistently, this would make them a better team in the long run. One of many winning habits, as Coach referred to them. He expanded on this in early December.

“I think the biggest thing that we'll continue to talk about is, we're not going to cheat for offense, we're going to check for offense … You can’t give up the number of chances we gave up over the last two games. Once you do that (check for offense), you’re going to end up having the puck more. And when you have the puck more you’ll score more."

In early March, Blashill was reiterating the same concept.

“Over the course of the season, we have established a number of the winning type habits that we've wanted to establish in the beginning of the year. And that was what was most important for us. All those things like stopping on pucks, learning how to check for your offense, not cheat for your offense. I think we've improved in those areas coming out of the break."

"I think we've improved in some defensive areas. We have been happy with our defensive game. Ultimately, we're a team that needs to do both better. We need to defend better, and we need to score more. But we also need to learn how to do that in a winning fashion. If we just simply cheat for offense and score more, we're not getting anywhere in the long term. We need to make sure we learn to check for our offense. And I think we've done that from the beginning of the year until now.”

Blackhawks improving on defense

Blashill hinted at defending better up above, which is a perfect segue into this next section. Another prevailing theme for the team was to improve on defense. As we all know, the defensive corps is very young, so focusing on their improvement was a key part of the entire team being better.

In late December, Blashill called out the defense after a 7-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. “Fundamentally, we’ve got to get better defensively. And if you get better defensively, and you limit scoring chances on a consistent basis, you just don't (have to) dig yourself out of holes like that.”

Obviously, better defense leads to more offense. In early January, Blashill noted how the two go hand in hand. “I think when you play the right way in, when we play the way we're capable of; we still have to improve in our defending. I think we're gonna be a good team. Our speed and tenacity can be a good equalizer, and I thought that showed at times tonight.”

He expanded on this even further a few days later. “From day one, we needed to continue to become a better defensive team. We still do. And I think if we can grow our defensive game and get more predictable offensively, it only helps.”

The additions of Byram and Cole should help the team be more well-rounded defensively. But it will definitely be an area of emphasis this season as well.

When to make a play, or live another day

Ah, this was one of Blashill’s favorites! It had to do with the balance, the decision-making that eventually comes from experience. But with a young group it needed to be continually stressed. Here’s Blashill in March.

“I talk all the time about learning when to make a play and when to live another day. And that's kind of been our biggest teaching lesson as we've gone on. And it hasn't been perfect. There's a bit of a roller coaster involved in it. But I think our guys are understanding it, and I think their intent is generally the right thing. Their intent is to try to play winning hockey. And as long as the intent is there, they'll continue to get better and better and better and learn how to produce in that type of structure.”

As the end of the season approached, Blashill gave some examples of this both offensively and defensively.

Whether it's a defenseman, knowing when to really try to go take-to-tape, or when to kind of punt and live another day. And when it's a forward you hit that offensive blue line, knowing when to just tuck it behind the tight gap and give it to a guy that's driving hard, and knowing when to take advantage of softer gaps and all those things … I want our team ultimately to be a team that can make those skilled plays, while being smart about it."

Blashill’s positive coaching style, feeding confidence

One thing that’s impressed me about Coach Blashill is that he held the players accountable, but also seemed to put a positive spin on any sort of criticism, or teaching moments.

I referred above to a 7-3 loss to the Penguins in late December. The Blackhawks were going through a particularly tough stretch of losing at the time. It would’ve taken a toll on any team, but was very much affecting the confidence of this very young and inexperienced team. Instead of ripping into them for everything they were doing wrong, Blashill took a more realistic approach.

"I just told them, listen, for sure it’s hard. Is it hard? 100%, we’re going through a little hard stretch right now. But I actually really like this group, and I like who they are as people. I like who they are as competitors. I like who they are as hockey players and I like the potential in the group. Even for the rest of this season. We got to grind through this. Yes, is this what any of us want to go through? No, but that’s, I was gonna say, that’s F-in life. But that’s life, man. You know, you gotta grind, and it doesn’t always go the way you want. We can’t feel sorry for ourselves. We got to continue to work together. But I am pumped to go work with this group tomorrow and try to get better for the next game."

Blashill was pointing out the big picture. Keep looking towards the future. Keep competing, and it will pay off. Conversely, he was then asked about how he helps players individually when he sees their confidence dipping.

“Pushing the right buttons with players. And what does pushing the buttons mean? It means knowing when to applaud them for doing it right, and knowing when to get on them for not doing it right. And making sure that we're showing them the path to greatness individually. And when they're taking steps in that direction, make sure they know it. And when they're not, make sure they know it."

To me, it's pretty black and white that way, and we've continued to do that. You have to have a feel a little bit. When you're constantly correcting mistakes guys’ confidence can really sink. So you got to have a feel for when to kind of lay off guys, and when to be able to get on guys, but never alleviating the standard. And I think we've done a good job of that as a staff.”

There’s a fine line with holding players accountable while also building confidence and pushing players to be the best they can be. Blashill and his staff seem to understand the nuances of this mental side of the game.

Growing as a team and a family

Another huge point of emphasis from Blashill was growing and evolving together as a team. With him starting as the new head coach, it was a chance to reset and begin with a clean slate. He also used this as an opportunity to constantly pound home his belief in the group as a whole. After a practice in late December, he spoke to that sentiment.  

“I've been through different struggles with different teams at different times, and this is a team that I loved coming to work with today. I believe in what their potential is as a group, not just in the future, but now. I think we've probably played better than our results over the last little bit, and so we just got to keep grinding. But it's a team, it's a group that I think they want to be good, man. They want to come work. They want to get better."

"There's zero excuses. Nobody's pointing fingers. And when you go through tough times, it's easy to point fingers, you know? And I think there's way more pointing thumbs than pointing fingers in this group, and it's just a group that I really enjoy being around. Not just because they're good people, but I think they're really good competitors, and they're guys that want to continue to improve here.”

As the season wore on, Blashill said this in February, “That's kind of been our model from day one, is continue to get better on a consistent basis, take steps towards greatness.” In March, he addressed the trade deadline. Obviously, by this point the organization knew they weren’t playoff-bound, and they were going to lose some players at the deadline. Blashill pointed out they could eventually be in a different position if they continued on the right trajectory.

“We don't want to be in this spot a year from now where at the trade deadline we’re however many points out. We want to be in a better spot than that. To do that, we are going to have to grow internally. The majority of guys in that room (now) are going to be here (in the future). So we have to grow as individuals. We grow as a team. We look forward to the challenge on a nightly basis.”

This next statement was specifically about rookie Anton Frondell, but it epitomizes the approach Blashill takes with every player. “You help coach him, you teach him, you stay patient, and you make sure he knows what he's great at.”

One final thought; this one being from more of a team perspective. On April 6 and with just five games to go in a losing season, the Blackhawks faced the San Jose Sharks. The Sharks, by the way, were still motivated by a potential playoff spot. Blashill’s mindset headed into this contest: “I understand that they're playing desperate to try to gain a playoff spot. For us, we're playing desperate to get better every day.”

Blashill’s coaching style is definitely based on approaching things with a positive mindset, and his Blashill-isms will continue as he heads into his second season behind the bench in Chicago. Time will tell whether the Blackhawks can take this foundation he’s set to the next level.

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