Talking about breaking the ice.
Defensive prospect Isaak Phillips knocked Connor Bedard to the ice — but not too hard — after Bedard entered the zone and turned his back to pass to a trailing Taylor Hall.
Everyone was trying to make a name for himself during the opening of Chicago Blackhawks training camp Thursday at Fifth Third Arena.
Coach Luke Richardson liked the level of competitiveness he saw from the outset, with young players vying for a spot on a veteran-heavy roster.
“You saw a little bit in the rookie tournament,” he said of the Tom Kurvers Prospect Showcase in suburban St. Louis. “This is the real NHL camp. Sometimes you expect a little bit of a letdown, I didn’t today. It was crazy fast, a lot of execution out there. Nice goals.”
Meanwhile, the Hawks were cryptic about the status of rookie defenseman Artyom Levshunov’s foot injury.
At least one report said he would spend two weeks in a walking boot and as many as six weeks out of action.
“I know he’s in the gym right now working, at some point graduating to the ice,” he said. “All I know is the same timeline that was originally released. I just know I see a smiley face in the dressing room every day.
“He’s a fun guy and loves to be around. He can’t wait to get out there. The trainers will have to wrestle him off until his timeline.”
Here are five other things we learned from Day 1 of camp.
Photos: Chicago Blackhawks open training camp at Fifth Third Arena
1. “Captain” Nick Foligno enters the chat.
Nick Foligno was formally introduced as the 35th captain in Hawks history Thursday, with general manager Kyle Davidson at his right side, as he expressed his gratitude after donning a sweater with the “C” emblazoned on the front.
“Having been a captain before (with the Columbus Blue Jackets), I know it means nothing unless you have a group that trusts you and is willing to follow you, and more importantly, we do this together,” Foligno, 36, said. “I’m truly grateful to this organization for putting that belief in me. I don’t take that lightly.
“Being an historian of the game myself, I’ve seen what’s come here before me, with Mr. (Chris) Chelios and Mr. (Denis) Savard and obviously a great captain in Jonathan Toews and that leadership group. I’m humbled and honored to take this on, this responsibility, and grow this to where this fan base and organization expects to go and do this together with this great group of guys.”
Added Davidson: “If you were around the team last year, I think everyone felt it. It felt very much like Nick was one of the main voices in the room.”
Defenseman Connor Murphy, who was named an alternate captain for a fifth straight season, agreed that it was organic how Foligno took the mantle in his first season with the Hawks.
“He’s a natural for sure,” Murphy said. “He’s done it before and it’s just a makeup of his character and personality to be that presence. It’s definitely a smooth transition for him to come in and do that so quickly.”
Now that Foligno has the title, he said he’s not going to resort to a locker-room to-do list.
“It’s not going to change anything as far as how I’m going to go about my business,” he said. “It’s not about mapping out. It’s making connections and understanding your team and what the wants and needs are at that time and having a vision of where you’re trying to go.”
Defenseman Seth Jones was Foligno’s teammate with the Blue Jackets for five seasons, from the latter half of 2015-16 to April 2021, when Foligno was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“Nick has always been Nick, deep down,” said Jones, another alternate captain. “When I got to Columbus, I was 21 years old, so I got a firsthand (view) of what he’s talking about when the young guy comes into the team and what we were trying to build there. … But he’s a very personable guy, always asking to go to lunch, always wanting to go to dinner with different guys on the team to establish those connections.
“He wants everyone to be a tight-knit group, so that if you trust each other off the ice, you’re going to trust each other on the ice.”
2. Bedard gets new linemates (for now).
Bedard and Hall were reunited on the same line to start camp.
That had been the plan last season, but Hall, a former Hart Trophy winner, missed a chunk of the season after a shoulder injury, then the remainder of the season after suffering an ACL tear in his right knee. He played just 10 games.
Free-agent acquisition Tyler Bertuzzi joined that mix at right wing.
Meanwhile, Kurashev, Bedard’s most common linemate, centered a line with Lukas Reichel and Teuvo Teräväinen.
That second line will be one to watch.
The Hawks are in a quandary with Reichel. He’s not steady enough yet at the NHL to play on the top line — and even the second line is questionable — but he profiles as a poor fit on the third line and certainly the fourth.
Meanwhile, can Kurashev produce without Bedard?
Of course, playing with a generational talent in Bedard boosts your numbers, but Kurashev’s production dropped significantly when they didn’t share ice, from 2.2 goals per 60 minutes in five-on-five with Bedard versus 1.09 without him, according to naturalstattrick.com, despite the shots rate and scoring chances being similar.
The Hawks will rotate line combinations, see how they’re “pushing each other,” leading up to the first preseason game, Richardson said.
“We might give it a few days and switch it for Saturday and Monday, or just Monday, then get right into it in the exhibition games,” he said.” Even if there’s an icing and we want to throw one guy out there and leave two guys out there, we’re going to try to experiment with that.”
The Hawks open the preseason Wednesday against the Detroit Red Wings at the United Center.
3. The scrimmage was a new wrinkle.
Camp featured a scrimmage right out of the gate. Typically, players get a warmup day or two of drills.
“The scrimmage was great today, the pace was good,” Jones said. “Me and Nick (Foligno) were talking earlier, maybe the next couple of days (we should) get a little more contact in — not killing guys, not running guys over, but setting the tone in that sense, defensively (and) on the forecheck.
“You push other teammates to be better, your team’s going to get better.”
Added Richardson” “We wanted to get right in. We expected the guys to come in shape. We talked about it.”
Team leaders encouraged everyone to put in extra conditioning work leading up to camp.
“I loved the pace today,” Richardson said. “The pace up and down was excellent. We’re going to push that for the next couple days and then a day off, and then again on Monday, and then we’ll get right into practices for the games.
“If we can continue that, we’re going to be a hard team to keep up with.”
4. Following Toews’ footsteps, but “there are no shoes to fill.”
Foligno had been acting as a de facto captain last season, his first with the Hawks, but the team wanted to leave the position open after it was vacated by Toews — a three-time Stanley Cup champion — after the 2022-23 season.
Foligno said he and Toews haven’t connected yet, but “one thing I’m going to make clear is that there are no shoes to fill. That’s been done. That’ll never be touched. His legacy will live on for a very long time.”
“But what I’m excited about is a new era, so to speak,” Foligno said. “It’s about growing this team to that direction and understanding we have a lot of great players coming. … It’s about building that the way I know how. Maybe because I’m older, I’m not worried about trying to hold a candle to that.”
Foligno said he’s excited about starting a new path to success with this revamped group, but “I appreciate everything Jonathan’s done, and he’s given us a hell of a blueprint in order to do so.”
At first blush, Foligno and Toews seem quite different: Toews could be terse (not to say he wasn’t welcoming) while Foligno is folksy (though he gets serious when needs to be).
Jones said both have led by example, but Foligno’s more vocal.
“Definitely two different styles,” Jones said. “There’s not one size fits all for being a leader.”
Said Richardson when asked about their similarities: “I think the competitiveness. You heard Nick talk about how competitive he is, I think that’s Toews. He doesn’t accept losing. And Nick, as much as we lost last year, he was acting like we just lost a seven-game series every game all year.”
And as for the differences?
“Nick talks a lot more,” Richardson said, laughing. “Tazer thinks a little bit more and reacts a little bit off of that. Other than that, no. One is a little bit more loud.”
5. When it comes to jerseys, it’s a numbers game.
Several Hawks trotted onto the ice in new sweater numbers, which the team had announced this summer.
Perhaps the most jarring to the eyes was Kevin Korchinski, who wore No. 14. He was No. 55 last season.
Levshunov, the No. 2 pick in this year’s draft, will wear that number.
Others include Lukas Reichel (No. 73, formerly 27) and Joey Anderson (No. 22, formerly 15). Newcomer Craig Smith will wear No. 15, his number with the Dallas Stars and Nashville Predators.
Free-agent acquisitions Tyler Bertuzzi and Teuvo Teräväinen will sport Nos. 59 and 86, respectively. Bertuzzi wore the same number with three previous teams.
Mike Hardman had worn No. 86 the previous three seasons, the only other Hawk to put on the number Teräväinen last wore in 2016.
