Jeff Blashill on Learning Process | Chicago Blackhawks

Jeff Blashill on Learning Process | Chicago Blackhawks

looked like there was a lot that went right tonight. Uh a couple mistakes and you know is that uh you know youth lessons learned especially sometimes. Yeah, I think there’s definitely you know I think with uh one um we’re young but especially on D you’re young so you kind of have you know a bit of a roller coaster at times of some real good stuff and then some mistakes that you know as we continue on we got to start kind of evening out that roller coaster and have it really good and not quite as many mistakes and um but that’s a learned process. Um, and it’s not just on on, you know, it’s it’s it’s not just a youth thing at all. I think as a hockey team, we got to keep getting better at that. Uh, um, to kind of eliminate those the the big errors. Um, you know, I don’t think we started we’ve we’ve ended games better than we started. Uh, so we got to make sure we do a better job of that. But overall, you know, I thought we there were certain areas we took steps. I think, uh, we’re making progress. You know, the whole goal is to be as ready as we can next Tuesday. And, uh, today was a a good learning time. on that third goal. What do you want Samzel to take away from that? Um, well, not alone on him. You know, I think the whole unit, you know, I put them out there. They know how much time’s left in the PP. They have to make sure at the end of that thing um that they don’t turn it over and that we’re able to get guys on and off. And I I’d like to be aggressive. I don’t want to be uh conservative in that thing. You know, especially when it’s the second period, you can you can easily get guys on and off. And then, you know, Sam was part of it, but but so was Connor and uh and really the whole unit. You got to make sure that as a as a group when we’re aggressive in those situations that we don’t end up giving up a chance out of it. What do you make of the power play overall? Six chances. I think it was 15 scoring chances but no goals. Yeah, you know that the other night I think we scored and it wasn’t really that good. You know what I mean? And all a suen you kind of score out of nowhere. Um to me everything’s process driven and I thought there was a good amount on the on the power play process-wise that if you do that over and over and over again you’ll you’ll get rewarded. And so we just got to continue to build on that. Early on I I thought we struggled a little bit on our breakin. So just something we’re going to have to keep working on, but uh I was happy with it. Coen Doc said that he wanted to showcase a different element of his game with the scoring tonight after being physical in the first two. What do you think of his game? Um I well I think what can really uh make him special too is both you know in both those elements and uh I thought he was uh was looked like a big power forward tonight in the sense of you know he had some moments of physicality but he’s also really strong on the puck and he’s got really good hands and so that’s a great combination if you can kind of continue that on a nightto-ight basis. The one thing about this league is it’s an everyight league and so you know any of our guys have to make sure that it’s a you’re never going to be at your best every single night. I get it, but you got to be as near to your best as possible. And he certainly was really good tonight. Again, the decision to send Kinsky down earlier, what went into that? Um, basically, you know, we get to a point where um uh we want to get to AD. We want to practice with one team. And so, honestly, it’s as much as that as anything else. Get to try to get to where you don’t have too many guys you could practice with one team. Um, you know, our plan would be for him to still play another exhibition game. So, it’s not that uh he won’t find his way back up here for on the weekend for one of those two games. So, um you know, I think it’s a as I said at the beginning of camp, we have more good players in spots. Um it’ll be competitive and whoever ends up going down just has to go down and and thrive. And the one benefit I think when you do get sent down is, you know, sometimes as a young player, you’re up here surviving. Uh when you get when you go down, you can thrive and and gain tons of confidence from that. So, um we’ll see how the rest of the week works out. again, he’s going to get another chance to come up and uh play an exhibition game. How would you assess Ethan Del Mastro’s camp so far his preseason? Um, you know, again, he’s kind of it’s been it’s been good. Um, uh, you know, I don’t think I think there’s a lot of guys that that are still working to to try to grab a spot, you know, um, and he’s in that mix, but it’s been good. Um, he’s had different partners at different times and um, he’ll get another chance certainly one of the two games to showcase himself. There was a coverage breakdown on the second goal. What did you see on that one? Yeah, you know, the second goal and then they had a chance, Larkin had a chance around the faceoff dot in the second period that was similar. Um, probably more than anything else, our wings responsibility to kind of have the a shared responsibility covering that F3 when the puck’s low. So, that would ultimately be our our two wings responsibility to to make sure we have that covered. It’s uh something that I think um we can continue to get better at. uh making sure those guys are tied on a rope, kind of working that the dot the lane back and forth and making sure they have that F3 covered. Matt Rick got back in the lineup tonight. What are your thoughts on him through his first couple? You know, I think he’s you think he played solid. He’s smart. Um he’s a good puck mover. Um I think he played solid. So, um he’ll get another chance on the weekend, too. And it’s obviously a real competitive uh group back there to figure out who’s the the right six to start with. How do you feel about the chemistry that Burkovski is building with uh Baddard and Donado on that line? Yeah, I think I think it’s it’s been a a good bright spot. Like I thought I thought Andre was really good tonight. Um you know, he’s a he can hold on to a puck. He can uh uh kind of he’s a he’s a skilled player. He’s got a give and go in his game. Um uh you know, so I think he’s done a good job. I think there there does appear to be some chemistry building. that’s what you hope out of camp is, you know, I I I had some thoughts of kind of tweaking the lines a little bit, but reality is you only get a few games to play together. Might as well try to build chemistry as much as you can. You mentioned uh starting getting to faster starts. Is there anything specific that team could do in that aspect? That’s a good question. You know, I think when these things and listen, it’s been a few exhibition games and some of those were traveling in, you know, you’re flying in. So, I don’t want to make too much of it. It’s something we’ll just continue to look at. I just got to make sure that that you know come the drop of the puck that we’re uh we’re ready to execute. I would say not ready to like mentally play or ready to work hard but just probably our execution can get a little bit better.

Head Coach Jeff Blashill discusses progress and improvement areas following 3-1 preseason loss to Detroit

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