The Chicago Blackhawks have a lot of training camp battles to settle, but right now the back end is taking on greater significance.
Several young defensemen have been making the case to make the final cut, but the path is much more narrow this year.
Alex Vlasic established himself as an everyday player last season.
The Hawks have a lot invested in Kevin Korchinski, but he’s not a roster lock after a shaky rookie season.
And free agents Alec Martinez and T.J. Brodie joined the D-corps in the offseason, further complicating the picture.
So, a lot is at stake for prospects Isaak Phillips and Louis Crevier, who manned the third pairing against the Minnesota Wild during the preseason game Tuesday night while Martinez and Brodie sat.
Meanwhile, defenseman Wyatt Kaiser, another contender, has been sidelined by an unspecified injury since Sept. 23.
Goalie Drew Commesso doesn’t have to worry about challenging for a roster spot right now, but he still found himself in the spotlight.
“We’ve got Commesso playing 60 minutes,” coach Luke Richardson said before the game.
The Tribune talked to three of the prospects — Phillips, Kaiser and Commesso — about their stakes coming out of training camp, as well as their development on and off the ice.
Isaak Phillips, defenseman
Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Isaak Phillips takes a shot in the first period of a game against the Seattle Kraken at the United Center on Nov. 28, 2023.
Phillips signed a one-year contract extension (cap hit of $775,000) on July 29 and will become a restricted free agent after the season.
After playing parts of three seasons with the Hawks, the 23-year-old is waiver-eligible, meaning the Hawks would have to expose him to other teams in order to send the big blue-liner to the Rockford IceHogs for a fifth season.
“Maybe it’s in the back of my mind,” Phillips said. “It doesn’t give me any sense of security. I’m here to make the team.
“I don’t want to be on waivers. I want to show that, yeah, I don’t want them to lose me. I want to be here for a long time, and I want to contribute to this team, and that’s first and foremost on my mind.”
Phillips changed his approach to his training this offseason.
“I worked on a lot more game-scenario stuff than I have in the past,” he said. “Maybe it was more boring for me this summer, picking up pucks off the wall, retrievals, things like that.
“But that’s 90% of my game on the ice, getting the puck and making a first pass. So it might have been more of a boring offseason for me, but I think it was more productive.”
Overall, he says he believes he’s ready for the NHL — if he gets the nod — after playing 33 games with the Hawks last season, and 20 games over the prior two seasons.
“Just another year being around and maybe not as much anxiety, going out there for your first preseason game, stuff like that,” Phillips said. “So hopefully that translates on the ice.”
Wyatt Kaiser, defenseman
Blackhawks defenseman Wyatt Kaiser looks for an open teammate against the Tampa Bay Lightning at the United Center on Nov. 16, 2023. (Trent Sprague/Chicago Tribune)
Kaiser and Commesso play different positions (defenseman and goalie) but they have at least one thing in common: They journal.
“You kind of reflect on the day or whatever. You’re not wasting the day not thinking about anything,” Kaiser told the Tribune last week.
For Commesso, it’s part of a morning motivational routine that he started halfway through last season.
“I’ll wake up, make my bed, get everything set, and then I read the Bible for 10 to 15 minutes. I think it just sets my head space in the right place,” the goalie said. “… And then I have a meditation and motivational quotes app.
“So I’ll spend about 10 or 15 minutes reading that, and then I just like to journal on some things that I took away from it that morning, whether it’s a good quote, something that I listened to, some advice that someone said. I look at goaltending so mentally, and you’ve got to do some extra mental work just to get into the right mind frame going into the day.”
Kaiser has that in common with Commesso too: He adds Bible verses to his journal.
His guiding principle from Proverbs 3:5: “Trust the Lord with all your heart, and don’t depend on your own understanding.”
“A lot of times your thoughts will kind of go crazy,” he said. “Don’t depend on them. … People should seek His will and do the things that (are) His principles: serve others, don’t think so highly of yourself.”
Commesso said, “Wyatt and I are close, and we know what each other does. I think in that aspect, we get along very well because I would say we have a very similar approach and mindset. I think it’s been helping both of us.
“It’s great. We like to talk about it and do Bible studies and stuff together.”
Kaiser said the inspiration for journaling comes from his grandfather, Blane Comstock, an American Olympic goaltender.
“He’s got a ton of stories, but (sometimes) he’s like, ‘I don’t remember a ton of stuff, it kind of all blends together. I remember here and there.’ But daily stuff, he recommended, ‘You might as well start a journal. He’s like, write down what you did in the day. Now you look back 20, 30, 40, years and recall what you did and who was there.’
“It’s kind of peaceful, writing that down,” Kaiser said.
Kaiser said that since he started journaling a year ago, it helps keep him grounded.
“It keeps me in the present a little bit more. Your brain’s not going way forward or backward.”
That skill should be useful with an injury sidelining Kaiser from camp.
Richardson said Kaiser has been cleared medically, though he didn’t offer a timeline for his recovery.
“He’s good to go,” Richardson said. “He’s back in the gym and going to make his way back onto the ice. …
“We’re hoping (that with) a young guy, he’s in great shape, (and) he’ll recover pretty quick.”
Kaiser hopes he has shown enough on tape.
“Not bad,” he said of his camp. “There’s still a few things to clean up.”
Kaiser said the Hawks front office will make the best decision for the team, whether that means he makes the roster or not. He’s not concerned about what he can’t control.
“You’re never going to have the past. You’re never going to have the future, really. All you’ve got is right now. …
“If you’re worried about tomorrow, it might affect you right now.”
Drew Commesso, goalie
To hear Commesso talk about his game, you’d be convinced he has taken a quantum leap in his development.
“I feel much more comfortable, confident this season. I think I got a lot stronger and quicker in the offseason, and it allowed me to be ahead of plays in training camp here,” he said. “I just feel really, really comfortable in the net this year.
“I feel like I really belong, and I feel like so far I’ve had a great training camp.”
Commesso credits Boston University goaltending coach Brian Daccord and IceHogs developmental goaltending coach Matt Smith for helping him “drastically” improve his footwork, scan the zone and make better reads.
“My reads are a lot better, and it’s allowed me to have a little more time,” Commesso said. “I really worked on reading the ice this summer, and reading plays, and a big part of goaltending is what you do before the save to put yourself in the best position to make the save.
“Sometimes you’ll get lucky bounces, pucks will go off guys’ shooting pads or sticks. You can’t control that. What you can control is giving yourself the best chance. And by doing that, you’ve got to be able to read the play and sometimes see things before they happen.”
Commesso is set to play a second full season with the IceHogs this fall.
He has personal goals in mind but he’s keeping those to himself.
“I try just to focus on the task ahead and not look too far ahead,” he said. “What’s important is doing the little things that lead up to success and not worrying about the outcome. …
“I feel like when I’ve done that, I’ve had great success.”
