CHICAGO — Understandably, the attention leading into Sunday’s game was on Chicago’s Connor Bedard and Minnesota’s Brock Faber, the two leading contenders for the Calder Trophy, awarded to the league’s top rookie. Really, in a late-season matinee between two Western Conference also-rans, what else was anybody going to talk about? Even the Blackhawks’ X account — which usually focuses exclusively on its own players — spotlighted the matchup in a pregame post.
Trying to quantify Faber’s stellar all-around game and measure it against Bedard’s offensive brilliance has been a parlor game around the league the past few months. On one side of the debate, you’ve had old-timey counting stats such as plus-minus and ice time. On the other side, you’ve had a seemingly endless highlight reel of jaw-dropping plays. Neither truly captures the totality of a player, of course, and comparing a 21-year-old defenseman on a mediocre team to an 18-year-old center on a historically bad team is basically impossible. But it’s made for a fun debate, all the same.
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But what if Alex Vlasic had played one fewer game last season? In that case, he still would be considered a rookie under the NHL’s arcane definition. If that were the case, would Sunday’s game have been considered a three-way Calder showcase?
“We think so,” an obviously biased but also correct Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson said before Chicago was blanked 4-0 by Minnesota. “That’s how much we value him. He’s played top matchups every game all year. Big minutes. He’s playing physical and he moves the puck very well.”
Just as it is for Bedard and Faber (witness the latter’s deft little drop pass on Kirill Kaprizov’s second goal on Sunday), the eye test is easy with Vlasic. He’s 6-foot-6 and uses every bit of his lanky frame to kill plays at the blue line, to steer forwards to the walls, to win puck battles and to create offensive chances in transition. He doesn’t have the offensive numbers Faber has — the Wild defenseman has a substantial 43-16 edge in points — but Vlasic has shown flashes of a more offensive game, making pinpoint stretch passes and generating a few short-handed breakaways for himself. On Sunday, he darted to the net and handled a nifty Bedard feed for a golden opportunity that Wild rookie goaltender Jesper Wallstedt smothered.
The underlying numbers back up Vlasic, too. Just last week, The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn had Vlasic facing the sixth-toughest minutes in the league. Faber, who has been Minnesota’s clear No. 1 defenseman, wasn’t on the list. Despite those brutal matchups and despite being on a team that’s routinely underwater defensively, Vlasic entered Sunday’s game with a team-best expected-goals share of 48.02. At five-on-five, he’s minus-2 on a team that’s minus-79. That stat is frankly more impressive than anything Bedard or Faber can point to. Vlasic is playing 21 minutes, 26 seconds per game, second on the team behind partner Seth Jones. He also leads the Blackhawks in penalty-killing minutes.
There’s a reason The Athletic’s Harman Dayal had Vlasic as the second-best defensive defenseman in the league — not rookie defenseman, not young defenseman, just defenseman. He’s been that good. And he’s already asserting himself as a leader of this next generation of Blackhawks.
“We just love how he plays, and the composure,” Richardson said. “Now he’s starting to show some of the maturity already on the bench and on the ice, taking charge, talking to the forwards about certain situations — and maybe even giving them a little bark down the bench. Which is fine! The coaches like to hear that. It’s been going on forever, the forwards yelling at defense and defense yelling at the forwards. When the forwards don’t get the puck in the offensive zone two times in a row in the second period and he can’t get off, when he comes off and barks down at them, there’s no one barking back. They know he’s right, and I like that. That’s a sign of leadership.”
Of course, comparing a defensive defenseman to a more offensive-minded one is almost as tough as comparing a defenseman to a forward. It’s all moot, anyway, because Vlasic’s six NHL games last season disqualify him from the Calder race. But he is, for all intents and purposes, a rookie himself. And he belongs in the same conversation as Bedard and Faber and so many other great young players around the league. Brilliant in their own ways, cornerstones for their franchise to build upon, someone and something to be excited about in an otherwise disappointing season.
Some quick game observations:
1. Wallstedt was making his second NHL start. In his first one, back in January, he gave up seven goals to Dallas. In his second, on Sunday, he had a 24-save shutout. The Blackhawks now have been shut out 13 times this season, including 10 in their last 33 games. It’s a staggering display of offensive ineptitude. The Blackhawks didn’t have a power play on Sunday and Richardson wasn’t even mad about it, because he knew his team didn’t have the puck enough to draw any penalties.
How does a team beat the mighty Dallas Stars one day and barely even show up against the middling Wild the next? The Blackhawks couldn’t explain it, either.
“Wasn’t a lot of life out there,” defenseman Jaycob Megna said. “A lot different from (Saturday).”
“A tough effort,” forward Colin Blackwell said.
At one point midway through the second period, Minnesota had a 23-6 edge in shots on goal. The Wild were basically playing keep-away from the opening puck drop.
“It was like a dog chasing his tail,” Richardson said.
2. Richardson tried to juice the offense by shaking up his lineup mid-game, putting Bedard with Andreas Athanasiou and Lukas Reichel. It didn’t have much of an effect, as Bedard has one of his quieter games of the season with just three shot attempts — only one on goal. Per Natural Stat Trick, the Blackhawks had just three high-danger scoring chances all game, and only one of them came with Bedard on the ice.
Still, for the record, Bedard is Richardson’s choice for the Calder. A shocking development, for sure.
“Of course,” Richardson said, smiling. “That’s automatic, right? I mean, his production offensively is great, but now that you’re adding better and more conscious responsibility away from the puck, I think that shows a lot of maturity in a young player. And when you have the point production still coming when you’re doing that, that’s a sign of a real solid player that’s going to be here for a long time doing this.”
3. Faber skating the puck up ice and making a slick pass set up Kaprizov’s second goal, but the Blackhawks didn’t exactly make things difficult on the Wild on that one. While backtracking in the neutral zone, defenseman Kevin Korchinski was pointing to fellow rookie Landon Slaggert to stay on Faber so he could focus on the trailing Kaprizov. But Korchinski ended up doubling up on Faber, leaving Kaprizov all alone for the drop pass.
Just @Brockfaber14 doing Brock Faber things. 😍 pic.twitter.com/lqEQzr4oTA
— NHL (@NHL) April 7, 2024
“There was communication, but then there was miscommunication,” Richardson said. “I guess (Korchinski) thought (Slaggert) wasn’t going to get there, so we double up. We both go to (Faber). We have to have clear communication and we put that on the D to call that early. If (Korchinski) thinks a guy’s got good speed and he can get there, then the D stays in the middle and our forward will push to the outside. But if you don’t, you have to call him off. The D is skating backward (so) you see everything because you’re facing forward. The backchecker doesn’t really see the next guy coming, so you have to be his eyes. I think (Korchinski) said the right thing at the beginning and maybe decided that (Slaggert) wasn’t going to get there and he went to help. He wanted to help, which causes more harm.”
Just another lesson in a season full of them for the young Blackhawks.
(Top photo of Alex Vlasic: Chase Agnello-Dean / NHLI via Getty Images)
