Christmas Is Here With 2 Wins and 3 Points

Be happy. Christmas has arrived early.

In the past week, the Chicago Blackhawks were able to win 2 games and gain 3 points. The Hawks kissed the bottom of the standings. If only for a moment, Hawks fans had visions of another #1 draft pick and pissing off hockey fans everywhere.

The Hawks are 9-17-1 and have a goal differential of -29.

We are bad.

After Isaak Phillips was sent down to the AHL, he was called up again after Jared Tinordi was placed on concussion protocol. Per Charlie Rhoumeliotis, Tinordi is now on Injured Reserve.

The defensemen had an ok week. Vlasic scored a nice goal (see below). Nikita Zaitsev went beast mode against the Blues on Saturday. And Seth Jones, despite having 0 goals, looked good this week.

You can hate all you want on Jones. He played well. He just needs to score.

Lukas Reichel is also back in the line up. He's down in the 4th line until he can produce. He'll probably be there this week too.

With the Bedard rumors behind us, a couple of wins in the bag, let's take a look at the previous week.

Contents

• The Games
• Player Spotlight - Alex Vlasic
• Playbook - The Blackhawks Defensive Structure
• Sickbay
• The Week Ahead

The Games

All games go back to last Monday (12/04). Stats are from Natural Stat Trick.

Hawks vs Predators 12/5 7:30 PM
4-3 Shoot Out, Hawks lose

The Blackhawks finally pulled off a loss that wasn’t a total snooze fest.

Predators visit the Windy City and win in the shootout to give the Hawks one point. With this loss, the Hawks visited a familiar spot. Dead last in the NHL. Being worse than the San Jose Sharks means something.

The Blackhawks' third line, once again, put forth an effort that got rewarded with 3 goals. Nick Foligno got 2 goals and 1 assist, and Jason Dickinson got a goal as well.

The second period opened up with 4 goals scored in the span of 3:10. The Preds scored 2 goals and the Hawks answered back with the Jason Dickinson goal and the Foligno goal. It shouldn’t be a huge surprise that the Dickonson line is producing. Former Blue Jackets captain Foligno seems to be the most vocal about the Hawks' efforts. Dickinson, who played very well late last year, is putting forth an admirable effort. Joey Anderson, who played very well in Rockford this year, notched a primary assist. Put that together and you get a third line with the best possession metrics of the Hawks at 60% Corsi For (CF%).

Seth Jones also had an excellent night. He put up 2 assists in 29:04 of ice time and had 6 shot attempts, 2 shots on goal, and 3 scoring chances. He only needs to score a goal. (Spoiler alert. He would not score a goal this week).

Lukas Reichel returned from the press box and joined the 4th liners. With 12:21 of ice time, Reichel put up 1 shot on goal and 1 shot attempt. He’ll have to prove to Richardson with production if he wants to move into a top-6 role.

The shootout gave us Connor Bedard’s official first shootout goal, which was a beauty. We can now forget about his preseason shootout attempt against Marc Andre Fleury. Shoutout to Chris Vosters sick call on his shootout. Sarcasm, of course. Can we please get more than screaming his name?

Arvid Soderblom didn’t look great in the shoot-out. During the game, he displayed his lack of rebound control. He saved 27 of 30 shots for a .900 Save Percentage (SV%). He faced 9 high-danger chances and saved 6, posting a .667 high-danger SV%.

Hawks lose their 4th straight. But hey, at least they scored more than 1 goal.

Hawks vs Ducks 12/7 7:30 PM
1-0  Hawks Win

In my game preview I said that because these two teams were bad, this would be a fun and sloppy game. I was wrong.

The Blackhawks ended up pulling the W in a manner about as exciting as watching paint dry. The lack of talent on this team is putting a dull product out there on the ice. With a plethora of dump-and-chase hockey, the Ducks outshot the Hawks 37-25.

The only interesting period was the first period. The Hawks outshot the Ducks 19-12 and had 6 high danger chances. The second period produced the lone goal of the game (a powerplay goal, might I add). And the Hawks were outshot with 31 shot attempts against their 16.

The third period had the excitement of a wet noodle. Only 1 shot on goal for the Hawks, 3 shot attempts, and 0 scoring chances.

The bright spot, other than Petr Mrazek possessed by the spirit of Dominik Hasek, was that the Hawks' defense looked better. I go more in-depthon the Blackhawks' defensive structure below, but they played smarter. Seth Jones looked solid defensively and made smart plays. They just really struggled on breakouts. Numerous times they passed the puck to nowhere and created turnovers (a trend this season).

The powerplay looked better. The first Hawks powerplay of the game was a solid effort. They won the draw and were able to maintain puck possession for almost the whole PP. They moved the puck around and took a lot of shots. They did switch their powerplay entries as they moved away from drop passes. The third PP was 4 minutes as a result of the double minor. Phillipp Kurazhev received and one-timed a nice Bedard pass, who read and drew defenders.

Overall, Hawks win. Some improvements. I do want to point out Vlasic. He has been getting involved offensively and joining the rush. He is looking more confident with each game. Korchinski played well too. He had an amazing drive to the net which gave Hawks fans a small taste of the future.

One last note. This game polarized me against the broadcast team, namely Chris Vosters. Vosters needs to do a better job at painting a picture of what’s going on. He just shouts names and it’s something that I noticed last year. There’s no improvement and it’s making the broadcast unlistenable. What killed it was his lack of awareness of what was even going on. When the Ducks drew a penalty and pulled the goalie at the end of the 2nd, Vosters assumed the Ducks were “trying something new.” Come on man.

Hawks vs Blues 12/9 7:00 PM
3-1 Hawks Win

The Hawks did it. They finally did it.

Ladies and gentlemen. For the first time this season, your Chicago Blackhawks have won back-to-back games. It only took them 26 games to do so.

This was a good game. The Hawks started strong. 4:43 into the game, we get what turned out to be an Anthony Beavillier tip-in. Nikita Zaitsev initiated this one with a mean shot. At first, I thought the goal went to him.

The second goal would come from Alex Vlasic, who continues to impress. He shot broke the matrix and went top-shelf.

Dickinson would continue being awesome and get a goal late in the second period.

Overall, a solid effort. Mrazek, once again, stood on his head and prevented the Hawks from losing or giving up more goals. His shutout streak would end in the third period after Oskar Sundqvist scored on a 3-1 breakaway. That breakaway came at the start of a Blackhawks powerplay, by the way.

The Hawks' effort seemed to fizzle out as the game went on. The cliche "a two-goal lead is the most dangerous lead in hockey" holds. The trend I am noticing is the Hawks' effort. Their first periods have started to get better, which is good. Once the second period starts, the Hawks look tired and don't hold possession for the rest of the game.

At all strengths, the Hawks had the best possession in the first period with a 65.12 CF%. The 2nd and 3rd periods had them at 30.43 CF% and 23.81 CF%. It's not like the Hawks had a lead to protect. Vegas showed us last year that being aggressive when leading is more effective than protecting a lead. Maybe I'll write about that another day.

Mrazek stopped 38 of 39 shots. The Hawks had a total of 24 shots on goal.

Hawks vs Capitals 12/10 6:00 PM
4-2 Hawks Lose

Not a horrible effort from the Hawks.

The powerplay continued to be the glaring issue that the Hawks still blunder. There were 6 powerplay opportunities for the Hawks to capitalize on. They scored on zero of them.

Some good opportunities did not go in simply due to luck. Bedard had two shots that broke the sound barrier but no goal. He had 2 assists, 6 shots on goal, 10 shot attempts, and an individual expected goal of .36. That last stat may point to the quality of his shooting, which tends to miss the net and go wide.

The goals the Hawks gave up were either off of a rush or a sneaky backdoor goal. Either way, it did not help Arvid Soderblom's case as he stopped 23 of 27 shots. That's a .852 SV%.

Going back to shot quality. The Hawks had 34 shots to the Caps 27. Hawks also had the upper hand in shot attempts with 62 to the Caps' 55. Even though the Hawks had the volume, the shot map below indicates their poor shot selection.

Goals for the Hawks were 2, with Kurashev and Connor Murphy scoring.

Player Spotlight

Alex Vlasic

Alex Vlasic continues with an impressive performance this season.

Last year, he spent the season with Rockford to further develop his game. When he was called up to the Hawks at the end of the season, he looked good. His long reach broke up plays, he was more physical, and he showed decent passing skills.

This season has been the same thing but on another level. His defensive game is on point. Per Natural Stat Trick, he leads all defensemen with 15 takeaways at 5v5. He is third in blocked shots at 40, behind Seth Jones and Connor Murphy. He also has 5 points with 1 goal and 4 assists.

As of late, his offensive game has been improving. Other than his goal, he has been getting more confident in the rush. Yes. The rush.

Vlasic has been carrying the puck into the offensive zone, proving to be a dangerous option on the attack. Although he is a defensive defenseman, his offensive game deserves recognition.

He still has a long way to go, however. Will he be a top-pairing defenseman? I think that's a bit of a stretch. We can safely say he can be a solid second-pairing defenseman in our future.

Playbook

Last week we took a look at the Blackhawks power play entries and a little bit of their power play structure. This week I want to take a look at their defensive structure. Man has it been terrible. So what gives? First, the obvious. This is a bad team with young defensemen and veterans who are either bad or not playing up to expectations. As such, defensive breakdowns will happen. That’s the reality. It’s not a coaching problem. We can't really even say it's a coaching problem until Luke Richardon has a competent roster. As you’ll see, the Blackhawks implement a simple structure in their zone. The players are failing to execute the plan.

Remember Jeremy Colliton? Those were some dark days, weren’t they? Part of his problem was implementing man-to-man coverage. This is where every player on defense picks an attacker and sticks with them the whole time. With how fast hockey is, this requires incredible defensive awareness, communication, and speed. Attacking players can cause defensive breakdowns with puck cycling, strong passing, cutbacks, etc. Once you cause confusion, the defensive zone falls apart, gaps appear, lanes open, and players have an empty net to shoot on.

That is why, more than ever, coaches have moved away from man-to-man and most teams implement zone coverage or a variation of it. Zone coverage is where every player is assigned a “zone” in the defensive end, all they have to do is protect their zone. Sounds simple, right?

It is. It’s a system used in youth hockey.

In the Blackhawks case, they use a variation that is widely used across the league and is rather simple. “The Box + 1.”

First, I want to talk about a very important defensive principle.

Maintaining mid-ice position.

There is a very important area of the ice that must be defended at all costs, called “the house.” The house includes the slot (high and low) and the inside seams. Most NHL goals come from here. This is also the attack zone when you are on offense.

With a Box +1, you have 4 players form a “box,” they are all assigned their “zone” and the rule is simple. Protect your zone. One player is generally activated, he applies pressure to the puck carrier. Down low, he will have support from the low forward. If the puck is passed, a new player activates and pressures the new puck carrier. It’s a bit of a mixture of man-to-man with zone coverage working together. And of course, there are many variations of this and it's never this simple in the NHL.

The advantage here is that you are supposed to never be outmanned in the house. All four players defend the high-danger area while one player pressures the puck carrier. This forces shots from the outside.

At its most basic form, you can divide the defensive zone into 4 squares. Each player is assigned their square, or area of the ice. The weak side players (i.e. the side where the puck is not in play) need to be like security guards. They are on the lookout for the attacking players sneaking into the house. They are not puck-watching. Although their body is facing the puck, their heads are on a swivel.

Most NHL teams will generally play loose when the puck is in the high zone. This applies pressure right away. The attackers are pushed away from the middle of the ice and toward the boards, or force a dump-in.

Once the puck is below the goal line the defense will button up and protect the house. Some teams activate the "button up" a little earlier. This is known as a “Low Zone Shrink.” Players who are not defensively confident tend to button up right away. This causes the attacker to lose pressure, and gain time and space to make a dangerous play.

The Blackhawks tend to button up as soon as the attackers enter the zone and this is not by design. All five players button up right away and this allows the attackers to have a lot of space. This space gives the attackers passing lanes and freedom to cycle and outwork the Hawks until eventually they score a goal. This is one of the reasons why you hear Luke Richardson ask his players to be more aggressive in the D-zone.

In the above picture, the positioning isn't horrible. The "+1" is collecting a loose puck while Jones goes low to support. Bedard positions himself to be ready for a breakout. Unfortunately, I cannot upload the clip here. The Ducks end up gaining possession and create a decent scoring chance. Troy Terry (#19) is in a nice position and Cam Fowler, #11 in the lower left corner, has a lot of space for him to creep in.

In the picture above, the Hawks' defensive structure breaks down and leads to a shot on goal. The Hawks just lost a board battle and the Ducks got a nice shot on goal. If the Ducks' Right Defensemen pinched in, he would've been able to create a dangerous play.

The Hawks have been better positionally in their zone as of late. Problem areas continue to be breakouts and defending against the rush. Players need to be much more aware and communicate better to prevent those back-door goals.

The Box +1 isn’t hard. It’s not complicated. It’s not mental gymnastics like the Colliton era. It’s easy to understand and widely used in the NHL.

I hope this helps understand what it is the Hawks are doing out there on the ice. Again, there’s a lot more going on to their defensive struggles than just this simple structure. However, if you get frustrated, hopefully you understand why and who to be frustrated at.

Sick Bay

Injured players are accurate as of 12/11/2023 per CapFriendly

Taylor Hall – Knee/Out for season

Andreas Athanasiou – Lower body/week to week

Colin Blackwell – Lower body/day to day

Samuel Savoie – Femur/Out for the season

Lukas Philp – Achilles/6 months

Jared Tinordi – Concussion/Unknown

Week Ahead

Hawks @ Oilers 12/12 7:00 PM
Hawks @ Kraken 12/14 7:00 PM
Hawks vs Canucks 12/17 12:00 PM

Let’s Go Hawks.
Dirty Third