CHICAGO — It’s not clear if Connor Bedard was happy to see the media again Friday, but he was certainly glad to be away from it for most of his offseason.
“I think just way less stuff, like I didn’t do an interview for a couple of months, which was unbelievable,” Bedard said when asked about his offseason.
With that free time and much more, Bedard went to work. After his first NHL season, his biggest focus was adding speed this offseason while he was back home in Vancouver. He sought to simulate NHL play as much and increase his skating within it.
It’s early, but Bedard does look faster than he did a season ago. He feels it, too.
“I feel good,” Bedard said. “I should, I was training for a while. We all were. I think everyone does. The pace of the skates has been good. I’m feeling pretty good.
“I think there’s a lot of room for me to grow in my game. I’m looking forward to that. Going into the summer, it was fun to kind of have a feeling of what I needed to do to be a better player in the league. I feel like I did as much as I could in the summer to achieve that.”
We all have some ideas on what a faster and more experienced Bedard could do this season. Bedard does, too. He just won’t be divulging that.
“Yeah, I’d never tell you, but I have stuff in my head, for sure,” Bedard said.
Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson was willing to be more specific.
“I think it’s just growing that 200-foot game and I’m sure from his standpoint he probably wants to up his offensive output as well,” Davidson said on Friday. “But I’m excited to see him with some new linemates and really taking that step that now he understands the league and being able to impact the game on both sides of the puck and also give us a few more memorable moments on the offensive side of things.”
Davidson provided more specific injury updates for Artyom Levshunov and Laurent Brossoit. With Levshunov, Davidson said he’s expected to be back in four or more weeks. Brossoit will likely be back a little sooner than Levshunov but also around four weeks.
Levshunov’s injury occurred while he was training in Florida in August. He took a puck off his foot, played through it for some time and finally had it examined.
Did Lukas Reichel really give up his No. 27 for Jeremy Roenick? Well, sort of.
While Reichel respects Roenick’s on-ice accomplishments, the number change was actually suggested to Reichel this summer after Roenick was named to the Hall of Fame.
“(The Blackhawks) texted me in the summer, and they’re like, it’d be good if you changed your number, and I said, yeah, no problem,” Reichel said. “I’m 22 (years old), so I didn’t really know him, but I knew he was a great player. That’s why he’s in the Hall of Fame now. You got to respect that. For me, 27 wasn’t really my number. I’m not superstitious with numbers. I think 73 looks cool.”
Seventy-three is the number Reichel wears when playing with Germany, so he was happy with that. His number flip did force Jalen Luypen into changing as well.
“I actually feel bad for Luyps that he didn’t have a choice to choose a number, but he has 43 now,” Reichel said. “I said, sorry, man. Seventy-three, I had with the national team. My dad is born in 1973, so that’s why I had it in the national team. That’s why I have it here.”
Even if Frank Nazar doesn’t make the team out of camp — and based on early lines and the kid’s temporary stall in the locker room, it’ll be an uphill climb — it’s awfully crowded up front for the Blackhawks. The additions of Ilya Mikheyev, Tyler Bertuzzi, Teuvo Teräväinen, Pat Maroon and Craig Smith, plus the returns of Taylor Hall and Andreas Athanasiou, have made the roster math quite difficult. Barring injury, at least a veteran or two — possibly more — will be either scratched or shipped out by opening night.
That’s fine with Davidson, who made no promises to any of his signees regarding playing time.
“No assurances or anything made,” Davidson said. “That’s for the players to decide on the ice, who’s going to be in that forward group. Or the defense group, for that matter. It’s open competition. We made the players aware at the opening meeting that we signed and brought in a lot of new faces, and that was done for a purpose — that this team shouldn’t be an easy one to make, or an easy one to hold your job in.”
Being back in Chicago is different in some ways for Teuvo Teräväinen. In other ways, it’s the same.
One of those ways it’s exactly the same is Teräväinen is he’s actually living in the same River North condo he did during his last stint with the Blackhawks seven years ago.
“The guy who I rented the place from the last time just texted me about it if I want to,” Teräväinen said. “It makes everything a little bit easier to know. It’s pretty funny, actually. Good memories.”
Teräväinen is dreading one aspect of being back.
“I don’t look forward to winter that much,” Teräväinen said. “Carolina was nicer for that. We’ll see how that goes.”
Kevin Korchinski was the youngest defenseman in the league last year, and at times, he looked like it. And not just in terms of positioning. Sometimes, he was just overpowered in front of the net by bigger, older forwards. So Korchinski focused on getting stronger with his offseason training. He was wary of sacrificing speed for size — “not just being a bodybuilder, but an athlete” — but said he added “six or seven pounds.”
“Getting stronger, getting bigger helps you in the D-zone battles, just being able to hold your own,” he said. “I obviously had a longer summer than usual to get in the gym and put on weight. I just feel stronger and leaner. … Net-front battles and hitting guys, pinning guys, it’s a bit easier. But you kind of test yourself in the games, when guys are going 120 percent. That’s when you can really test yourself.”
Luke Richardson is more focused on Korchinski’s positioning, and wants him to be a little more daring at the blue line. Last year, the coaching staff showed Korchinski a lot of video of Duncan Keith — while making it clear they didn’t expect him to become the next Duncan Keith. But Richardson wants to see Korchinski trust his speed more. Last year, he too often sat back or “floated around” at the blue line, forcing him to lunge forward when there was a loose puck, allowing an opponent to chip the puck past him and blow by him as Korchinski had to switch gears and directions.
“You don’t have to be in a scramble mode all the time,” Richardson said. “With him, unless it’s McDavid or MacKinnon or someone like that, I think he can keep himself inside that offensive blue line a little bit tighter and not just floating all over the place. … He’s got a lot of skill and when he decides to get that puck and go offensively, he’s dangerous. It’s more when there’s a transition or the other team has the puck and they’re coming at us, just to be a little bit more forceful coming into our zone. He doesn’t have to run people over, but he’s a big body and he skates really well.”
(Photo: Patrick McDermott / Getty Images)
