Why Wyatt Kaiser’s STRONG Start to the Season Has Blackhawks Fans Excited! | CHGO Blackhawks Podcast

Why Wyatt Kaiser’s STRONG Start to the Season Has Blackhawks Fans Excited! | CHGO Blackhawks Podcast

Why has Blackhawks defenseman Wyatt Kaiser been so awesome? Find out from our pal Pety next on CHDO Blackhawks. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Happy hump day. Welcome in to the CHGO Blackhawks podcast. Hope you’re having a great Wednesday. I’m Jay Zawoski. That’s Mario Turbosi. Sarah is running the show. Steven is standing by helping out with stuff as he always does. We are going to get to Pety here in a moment, but first want to remind you we are presented by Bet 365. Whatever the moment, it’s never ordinary at Bet365. Download the app. Use our code cho365. When you sign up, hit that like button, subscribe to our YouTube page. Make sure you do the same thing on your favorite podcast app. Without further ado, we’re gonna bring in our pal Steve Peters of Inside the Coaches Room, ESPN. Our former colleague here at All City, our video analyst, and I know we’ve got a lot of new viewers as the Hawks have sort of picked up steam here. Pety is the best at breaking down hockey. He’s been with us since we started. And we have had a lot of demand from our viewers to say, “What is going on with Wyatt Kaiser? Why is he playing so well?” So, that was Pety’s assignment today. How are you doing, buddy? It’s good to see you. I I’m doing really well. And and more importantly, it’s it’s seven games into the season and the Chicago Blackhawks are in a playoff position. Too early. May maybe a shame, but it’s good news. Yeah. Don’t they exactly don’t they say by Canadian Thanksgiving, you know, the playoff standings? Isn’t that the old uh Exactly. I think that’s it. We’ll take it. I think that’s it. We’ll take it. So, I know you’ve got a lot for us. Um, and I don’t know how up on Wyatt Kaiser you were before I reached out. I don’t know how close of an eye you’ve been keeping, but before we get to the breakdown, just your thoughts watching the tape on not only why Kaiser, but the Blackhawks this year. You know, this is this is a different team. And this is the things that you wanted to see from last year’s Blackhawk team with the young players playing exceptionally well, them defending a little better. You want to see Spencer Knight playing extremely well, but most importantly, you want to see this team taking a step forward. And I think I know it’s only seven games in. I know it. I I understand that. Don’t don’t get get on me about being too optimistic, but they’re doing those things. They’re doing the little things better. They’re quicker on pucks. They’re in games. They’re in tight games. Even the games they’re losing, they’re they’re staying competitive and close till the end. That’s what you want to see from a Chicago Blackhawks team. And I tell you what, it really does start on the back end. this this back end right now and you talk about the youth of this back end. My goodness, if they can continue to grow together and keep this young core defense together for years to come, honestly, there are there are really good he’s coming to Chicago. Well, it’s been really interesting uh the way Jeff Blashel has been using the 11 forward, seven defenseman setup uh to not only kind of work some matchups with guys like Frank Nazar and Connor Bard in the forwards group um but also to use it to not sit defenseman that he thinks should be playing and can be beneficial to be playing namely the right side where you have Sam Renzel and Nardam Levchenov and now Lu Krevier working in. How do you feel from, I guess, from a coaching standpoint and how this defense has been playing, how that has been playing out and how that’s been affecting some of those guys? You know, what we we talk a lot about the 117 across this league and there are few teams that can do it exceptionally well. It’s hard. It’s hard to manage a bench 11- seven. What it does do, and especially for the Chicago Blackhawks, it gives some of those key players when they’re playing well, whether it’s Frank Nazar, as Connor Bedard, when they’re moving, gives them an opportunity to get more ice time. So, that’s a win up front. Um, on the back end, it allows you to put the players in a position where you can make them most successful. It can give you better matchups. It can give you guys not getting extended on on ice time. Get the right penalty killers together. It gives you a lot more options back there on the back end, especially when you’re running that many young defenseman in the same lineup, which is absolutely unheard of in the league to have this many young defenseman in the roster at the same time. So, Blast’s done an outstanding job at managing that so far. The concern of 11-7 we’ll see later in the season as you start to look at the the minutes that Bard and Nar and then those top forwards are getting. Are they getting too extended? Are they getting tired? Are they getting hurt? Those are the things you start to look for as the season progresses. But right now, less than 10 games in, I think it’s been been one of the strength of the Chicago Blackhawks is their ability to put the line and the matchup out on the ice that they want at any particular time. Yeah, I know we’re very like highly aware of analytics and I saw, you know, Domision from the Athletic publishes predictions for this year. Again, he still has the Hawks finishing second to last and he is a primarily I’ll say basically only an analytics guy. Um, but I’m telling you, and you said it, like it just looks different. They are competing. They’re in games and and I have felt and and maybe you have too over the last couple years that while the rosters haven’t been great, it felt like they were underachieving a little bit. Like they probably should have been better than they were over the last couple years. And I’ve just been really impressed with BL’s, you know, not only, you know, managing the 11 and seven, but getting the most out of his veterans. Like Tyler Bertusi is engaged to a level I’ve never seen before. That guy is doing everything he can to win every game. And I I just feel like just him having the buyin from the team has gone such a long way. They believe what they’re being coached and they respect what they’re being told and it’s made a huge difference. Yeah, I think that having BL come in with a new coaching staff at the beginning of the season. I think it’s really shown how this team is improving. I I think you looked at last year and you really had a lame duck coaching staff at the end of the season. It’s hard to build a culture and send a message when you’re having that kind of a staff that you go as a veteran player specifically knowing that things are going to change as things go forward. Blast’s bought in that consistency consistency and you know this is the way it’s going to be like he’s not going anywhere. It’s his way to play and and I do think guys are bought in. I think this team is defending better. I think they’re defending the rush better. I I think they’re they’re just more cohesive as a fiveman group on the ice and and it’s it’s early. It’s early times, but under Blasio, this team’s playing better and they’re they’re moving their feet better. They’re more aggressive. They’re just more fun to watch. The Blackhawk team right now is young and fast just like you wanted them to be, but they’re more consistently doing that under Bl. I I think this has been a great experiment so far. Now, having said that, Jay, it’s a long season. We’re seven games in. There are a lot of bright spots here. There are some tough days ahead for this Blackhawk team. And you look, you can’t, you know, look at the end of the month and the early November. That’s a really, really, really tough road trip for that team. You’re going to have to see where they’re at when you’re middle of November. When you get through that road trip, I think that’s going to be the real good indicator of where this team is going to be moving forward this season. Now, you sent me uh some of the statistics that you found on your own um regarding where Wyatt Kaiser as we move the conversation on to Wyatt Kaiser where he stands with the team and and Sarah made a graphic. Here are the categories where uh Wyatt a Kaiser leads take he’s with takeaways plus minus zone denials stretch passes defensive DZone passes at five on five neutral zone successful passes five on five and he leads the Hawks in plus minus like he’s just he’s having a great season. Yeah, and one of the things about Kaiser and most of these statistics, the ones we didn’t put on there is goals as an assist. That’s not W Kaiser’s game. Like Sam Renzel and Levchov, I think, is going to show more offensively as his career continues to progress. W Kaiser is not that guy. Like he’s not he’s not going to lead the Hawk defense in scoring. He’s not. But that’s okay. He does what he does exceptionally well. And what he does is he moves his feet well, skates well, and he moves the puck well. And you can put him out in any situation. And I believe he’s not going to be a guy that’s going to be your first guy over the boards on the power play. Other than that, Wyatt Kaiser can be out there at any time. He can be out there against the best players because he can skate well enough. He can defend well enough. He can be there get there offensively because he can get the puck off the wall so well and he can move the puck so well. But most importantly, he gets you out of trouble in the defensive zone. And it’s not because he’s big and strong and pushes you through the glass. It’s because he’s smart and he’s good with his stick and he’s good with his feet and he makes plays so that you defend less. All around this kid’s exceptional. Like I I I Jay, I thank you for putting me on to this task because he does a lot of things very very well and he does very few few things poorly. I didn’t see him making grave mistakes, big turnovers in bad situations. He’s just consistently good at all of the little details and he’s not going to be that top hair guy because you have different guys to do that, but he’s going to be a guy that can play in the middle of your lineup that does things the right way. Does it surprise you at all that he’s been the one pretty much tasked with helping a guy like Ardam Levchenov get comfortable this season and and um be, you know, his primary uh defensive partner this season because how much of what the Blackhawks have invested in Levanov getting to that that top tier level. Yeah, I I was but but when you look at it again, you go, it’s probably the perfect fit because he’s a guy that can cover up for defensive mistakes and Lev’s going to make some. He’s turning the puck over in the defensive zone. He still gets pushed off the puck. And you could say the same about Sam Renzel, who’s by far the he’s the guy. Like Renzel’s the guy. We all know Renzel’s the guy, but you look at him in the defensive zone, he’s still getting pushed off the puck. He’s still turning the puck over. Those are the mistakes that Kaiser is not making that he’s able to cover up the mistakes of Renzel and Levchov. So, I think right now the pairing with that he’s spending most of his pairing with with Lev, I think it’s a great matchup. I I I I don’t have any insecurities about having those two on the ice when they’re defending the rush against really good players. And I don’t know if I could have said that if life should have had a different player on his left side. Well, that’s is we were cuz I don’t know if you’re aware he was pretty much without a contract until Kaiser. I’m talking about until the day before camp training camp. Yeah. And we didn’t have a lot of leverage because he was a restricted free agent with no arbitration rights. And the question we were asking was, what is it that Wyatt Kaiser is really good at? Like what is that one thing about his game that he can point to and say, I can do this better than everybody? And I think you just answered it and the answer is I can do everything which not everybody on this team can do. Mhm. Yeah. But but but again, it’s it’s he he’s not he’s not Quinn Hughes. He’s not Lane Hudson. He’s not those defenseman that you look across the league and go, “Okay, I know that guy.” W Kaiser is a guy that if you’re not paying attention, you probably don’t notice him. And and I think that’s a good thing. I mean, it’s hard to go, “Oh, what a great breakout path under pressure.” Yeah. It’s not It’s not a breakaway through the middle of the zone like Macar makes. And I think that’s why you don’t notice the little things that he does so well because he just goes about them quietly. He He’s more like, you know, I don’t want to put him in the Gustaf Forsling quite yet, but he’s that he moves his feet well. He’s got a really good stick, defends well, he he can block shots on the penalty kill, and yet you’re not going to see him on the top power play. A and I think that those are the players that can really help a team over the hump in winning. He’s a guy that’s going to be really, really, really important to this Blackhawk squad going forward over the next few seasons. I think it’s important that he got locked up. I I think this is a great move. And again, watch him really watch him closely over the next few games. focus on him when he’s on the ice and how he just does those little things really well. Have actually, it’s funny you say that because I have actually made a point over the last few games knowing you were coming on to keep an eye on him specifically and you you said it like it’s the little things he does, the stick placements, the angles, the stick lifts here and there. Like it is stuff that you will not see on a box score or on highlights or anything. But when you’re seeing it from our perch in the press box, which is the best seat in the house in my opinion, it’s like we’re at the blue line. It’s great. We could see everything happening. He is always making the right read, always taking the right angle. And he is so good with that stick, uh, and just really smart, really confident. I’ve been incredibly impressed with him this year. And uh it’s kind of you would say Renzel is a little bit like found money because he was a late first round pick kind of a project that really has blossomed. But Kaiser is a guy who over the last couple years as we were looking ahead two three four years it’s not a name we really included in that conversation very much and now he has solidified himself uh in that conversation for sure. So I he’s been awesome and uh do you see potentially you mentioned Gustaf Forsling who started his career here had to go to his third team to really find his game added some offense as he went on. Could you see Wyatt Kaiser as his career goes on he’s 26 27 years old adding a little bit of offensive punch to his game. I I I do but not in the way you expect. Not in that coming in off the blue line excuse me like I like you think of Charlie Makavoy coming in off the blue line and attacking the net. I don’t see that. What I do see is I see a player that’s going to be able to deliver the puck and get the puck to the front of the net. I see a guy that can get the puck through because again of his footwork. He’s going to be able to change the angle on shots and deliver the puck to the net. Not off a big one-time, just that casual wrist shot and it’s going to get through. And I think that’s where you’re going to look for him to add on your def on your offensive side of the puck is his ability to deliver the puck because his feet are so good on the blue line that he can he can move away from trouble. and two, his ability to change angles with his shot. So, I think he is going to get more shots through. So, I’m I think more tips, screens, rebound opportunities. So, you’re going to see him more involved with with assists and and helping the play and helping more secondary offense from in front of the net than I do see him being an active player coming in off the blue line, you know, and attacking the net like you’ve seen with Renzel where he is he can be anywhere on the ice in the offensive zone at any time. I don’t see that in Kaiser’s game because honestly, he wants to be more responsible defensively. He will be more offensive, but not to the level of what you’re talking about some of these players like Levino and Renzel. Okay, we’re going to take a two-minute break with PD. When we come back, we’re going to go into the film room and break down frame by frame what why Kaiser is doing so well. In the meantime, hit that like button. Back in 2 minutes on CHDL Blackhawks, presented by Bet 365. Whatever the moment, it’s never ordinary at Bet 365. New customers to Bet365 can now get $200 in bonus bets when you bet $5. Win or lose. And if you like betting on hockey, boy, do we have a deal for you or bet 365 their early payout offer. You’re a winner if your team gets a threegoal lead and you get an instant payout on straight bets and parlay selections marked as winners. Download the app. Use the code CHGO365 when you sign up and you’re going to be eligible for those $200 in bonus bets if you’re a new customer. Again, sign up. Use the code cho365. Deposit $10 and place a bet for $5 to get 200 in bonus bets. Whether or not your bet wins or loses, whatever the moment, it’s never ordinary at bet365. Must be 21 or older. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis and counseling services can be accessed by calling 1800 gambler. Offer inapp only. And you are ready for a real cola because let’s be real, the world’s gone soft. We got people at this company complaining that their blueberry lemonade was stolen. Guess what? Still, they did you a favor by stealing the blueberry lemonade. You don’t need that in your life. It’s going to make you weak. It’s going to make you soft. RC Cola is going to make you strong like bull. put hair on your chest if you want that. Maybe you don’t. Whatever. It’s going to do it. You’re going to get it no matter what. That’s right. RC Cola tastes like a punch in the thirst. It’s the same bold cris flavor it’s always been. Since 1905, RC Cola has not changed its stripes because it didn’t need to. It’s the original cola that never folds under the pressure. Do yourself a favor, stock up for this weekend’s games. You got the Hawks tomorrow. You got the Bears this weekend. Lots of reasons to have RC in your fridge. Ice cold, ready to go. RC Cola is not a soft drink, just damn good cola. All right, we’re back with Petey. Let’s get to it. You put a ton of work into this. And uh just so everybody knows, after the show, we’re going to publish a YouTube link to Pety’s Inside the Coaches Room page where there is a full video breakdown of this as well. So, uh you’re going to want to check that out. All right. What do we need to know, sir? And some of these projects. Uh oh, am I back? Am I Am I Okay. Yeah. I I I I I just think that these projects are fun and this is how you learn more about the game is by watching whether it’s a team uh and their systems or a particular player. So without further ado, do you want to get to it, Jay? Let’s do it. Let’s roll it. Some of the skills we talk about his puck moving skill. I know it’s hard to see on stills, but here instead of just throwing the puck away off the glass, he’s able to move to his backhand and deliver the puck up the middle of the ice. He beats a forcheer that’s right on top of him. And Chicago’s going the other way. in these tight spaces. A young player is going to throw this puck up the wall. It’s going to get pinched and it’s gone. But he’s got patience. He looks to the middle of the ice. He finds where that open ice is and he’s able to deliver a puck that most coaches don’t want you to make through the middle of the ice and he’s successful. This is one of those small players where he has Koolie on his back and he puts Kulie behind him and separates Kulie from the puck and he just makes a simple play to his partner and they’re out of the zone. It’s these simple plays. Here’s a pass to the middle of the ice again. He knows he’s going to get hit. great vision, but Chicago’s out of the zone. Takes a hit, makes a play, and Chicago’s able to get on the offensive. We talked about his ability to do these stretch passes where he leads Chicago from the defensive zone through the neutral zone. His vision on making plays like this all the way to the far blue line are one of his biggest skills. And he does it by his vision. He looks at the opponents, he sees where the opponents are. And then he makes that play through sticks, through traffic, and he’s able to get Chicago going the other way. Again, we talk about his vision. He looks, he checks his shoulder, he knows that that he’s got forwards moving up the ice. So when he does get the puck and get around it, he can get that puck up the ice quickly. Exceptional puck mover. Again, when you see his ability to look, know what’s happening up the ice, checks his shoulder just quickly so he knows what the traffic is coming on both sides, so when he gets the puck and rounds it, he can make a really good play up the ice. Offensively, this is what I talked about his ability to not get trapped into corners because young players can get stuck on the wall and it’s it’s easy to turn the puck over here. He gets to the middle of the ice cuz he moves his feet so quickly where he’s able to get out of traffic. Again, he brings the puck off the wall so he doesn’t get stuck along the wall in that corner. He moves to the middle of the ice where he gets a better shooting angle. That’s why he’s able to play like that because he moves his feet so well and he moves them well so he can keep the puck in the offensive zone. something we saw with Chicago towards the end of last year where the D were pinching more with his speed and his ability to move his feet. He can keep the puck in the offensive zone over and over again where he comes down low and keeps the puck in the zone, but it’s his defending and his ability to use his stick, not just his body because he’s not the big guy, but get his stick in lane and separate the opponent from the puck. This little push, he pushed that Vancouver player in the back and steals the puck. And you talk about his rush reads here is again his foot speed and his ability to use that speed through the neutral zone. So, Florida looks like they have a break, but again, it’s his foot speed. He’s able to get neck on neck with that player. Use a stick and knock it off his stick. Same with St. Louis. It looks like it’s a lane up the ice, closes them off using his speed, gets the puck. This one’s exceptional because it’s a lot of speed coming up the ice with Anaheim. And watch how the Anaheim Duck player puts on the brakes and he stops as well and puts a stick to the inside. It’s a really skilled play by a young defenseman. And so he closes off the middle of the ice and again turns the puck over and his stick is outstanding. Stopping the puck at the blue line, getting the puck turned over again. Here’s an an in a in overtime stopping a twoon one because he gets a stick on the puck and the puck goes back the other way in overtime. And outstanding penalty killer. He’s in the lane blocking a shot. He’s able to find this lane. This play he came out of the corner to get into the shooting lane, block a shot. But again, it’s his stick on the penalty kill. He’s able to stop the Boston Bruins from entering the zone because he’s got a great stick. Here he puts a stick in the shooting lane, not allowing the puck to come to the seam and end up in the slot. Again, because of a great stick and he does have good anticipation offensively. You can see here when he steps onto the ice, he sees the change of possession. He rushes all the way in. He’s able to get this shot off past Dosttol and get his first goal of the season. So, he does so many of these little things well. And that’s why he is one of the top defenseman two ways on this Chicago Blackhawk team. Now, that is outstanding stuff. And behind the scenes, people don’t know, Pety’s calling that live. All right, we’re playing the video. He’s doing it. This is not recorded. Pety is live. There is no delay, no Q cards. Top of his head. That is a brilliant man. Looks like he’s done video sessions before. Yeah, I fooled him again. Fooled him again. I I tell you what, it was it’s it’s hard to really see the nuances in these steel frames. Unfortunately, there are some copyright rules with the National Hockey League to make it more difficult, but it does give you an idea of some of those little skills, his hand movement, his stick placement, and most importantly, his footwork. He is so fun to watch his first two or three strides when he gets going. Man, he’s fun to watch. I’m excited to to to watch him more closely as the season goes on. It’s something I did with Flaskic last year and Renzel when he came up and even Levchov, but now why why Kaiser is is slowly impressing me. So I I appreciate it, Jay, for for giving me this little project to work on. Well, I’m I’m glad you mentioned Renzel and Lev because towards the end of last year, you did a video on those two, breaking it down, and it was outstanding. And just as a reminder to our listeners or to our new listeners, like Pety, you were raving about those two and their potential. And now that you’ve had the chance to break down a couple games watching Kaiser, uh you you did sort of get to them earlier. What I’m seeing from those guys now that they’re here, you know, clean slate. Last year they come up, there’s nothing to lose. They’re out of the playoffs. There’s no stakes. Um I’ve seen both of them probably love to a higher extent than Renzel. You can sort of see them thinking on the ice, processing things instead of just using their instincts and and playing. Uh what have you seen from those two in this new season that maybe was not there last year? Yeah, I think with Lebanon specifically, he’s a guy I think last year when he came up the season was nearly over and it was honestly didn’t have anything to lose and he played like that. He didn’t he just went and played and I thought you saw some of that offensive spark that they really want out of him. Um I don’t see that this year yet. I think he is more tentative. I think he’s more concerned about making mistakes. So, I think he is a beat slower with the puck and his decisions than he was a season ago. I think he’s still turning the puck over defensively below the goal line too much. I think he’s he’s he’s going to have to build some confidence and that’s hard. He’s 19 and and he needs to get a little physically stronger and a little more confident and that’s going to come with play because I know the tools are there and the toolbox is full of some great skills, but right now he’s off to a little slower start than I anticipated offensively. with Renzel. I think this is what he is in the short term. Like this dude, riskreward. Like he’s coming. Like I I’m I’m off the blue line active. I’m going to be around that goal line. I might get tap in a nice play to the front of the net for a goal or I might get beat up the ice on a twoon-one because I’m where I probably shouldn’t be. I I think he’s a guy that’s going to be more dynamic and more exciting to watch right now. One concern with Renzel that I have and it’s small. It’s in the defensive zone. I’d like to see him make puck decisions more quickly because right now he’s not physically strong enough to fight off that forche or fight off that opponent where where where he will as he gets stronger. He he’s not very and he’s tall but he’s not a real muscular kid. He’s going to have to work on that so he can be more of a macar in the defensive zone where he’s able to protect the puck better and push players off the puck. He is going to be the guy that’s going to be on the score sheet though, like he’s he is exciting and I think it’s going to be that riskreward like oh my goodness, he turned that puck over in the neutral zone or oh you’re going the wrong way. You’re going to hear that with Renzel, but you’re also going to hear oh my goodness, there he is on a breakaway scoring again. So I I think both of those two young defenseman have a lot and a lot to to to to progress and their ceiling is very high. I’ve said it many times and you go across the NHL right now and look at the the the top six or 7D on all these teams. Nobody and I mean nobody has the depth and the youth of the Chicago Blackhawks. I love to hear that. That’s exciting. Um, with Levino, one thing that I think and Jay and I have kind of talked about it a little bit that I’m noticing with him this season is sometimes the passes he’s making, not necessarily because I think his play style sometimes is looked at as like, oh, he’s not giving 100% effort or he’s making lazy plays, but I think it’s more or less that he has just more of a natural talent to make things happen that it looks like he’s not working as hard to to do it yet. Um, but I think one thing is with like his puck handling and his passing, a lot of times in practice and in games, we’ve seen him kind of fan on passes or the passes don’t have the the zip that you’d want to see. Is that probably something from from your perspective you might see with a player who is thinking too much and is maybe not playing with that like aggression like you were saying that he had at the end of last season. Yeah, I think it’s tenative play. I think that that does come with confidence because you’re so concerned about making a mistake or making the wrong play that it doesn’t allow you to make the right play that you’re grabbing your stick too tight or you really don’t want to put in puck into areas that you maybe shouldn’t. And he’s second on turnovers by defenseman by the Chicago Blackhawks. Again, led by Sam Renzel, but that’s a guy that has the puck on his stick an awful lot. So, I do think Levino as he continues to get more ice time and continues to build confidence in those situations where he has to make those plays, the skill is there. It it is going to come and it’s it’s only seven games into this season and he hasn’t caused that much trouble. He’s still a plus four and plus minus and if he were minus five, six, seven, I’d be more concerned, but he’s not right now. Um, so I do think he as his confidence grows, I think he’s going to be fine. What else have you observed from this team? Uh just just sort of watching the what you’ve watched so far uh maybe just aside from a defense like Frank Nazar has been a big story. Conor Bard’s improved play. What has stood out to you? Yeah, Spencer Knight’s been great. What has stood out to you? It is Spencer Knight. We have to talk about him. I mean, he’s third in save percentage. He’s eighth in goals again. So, you got a top 10 goalie. When you have a top 10 goalie, you have a chance to win every night. I think that was one of the biggest moves by this management team in the offseason is getting him extended. And now you’ve got a guy that you feel can be your number one for a very long time. and he has been a big difference. I I look at the forwards and what’s going on up front. I still think you’re going to see some more experimenting with lines and and I don’t think that’s uncommon for a Blackhawk fan to see them shuffling things around trying to find that perfect mix for Bedard. But the one thing you’ve seen this year, and maybe it’s just me, I it’s Frank Nazar and the excitement he brings when his feet go over the boards and that speed and that pace and the getting to the net and that reckless abandon and and in his offensive side of the game. I wanted to see that out of Connor Bernard and now with a couple of seasons of Conor Bard, I know that’s not his game like like Frank Nar, they’re completely different players, but I do think that’s the excitement that you’re seeing now. You’re seeing more depth in this lineup than you saw a year ago. I don’t think you’re leaning topheavy anymore. I think you’re getting more goals throughout this lineup. I think this team gets to the net extremely hard, especially their veteran players. But the biggest change I see with Blash, when we talk about selling a message, is I think this team is defending better. And I I know Spencer Knight gets some of the credit for that, but secondarily, when you look through the neutral zone and giving up rush chances, you look at a team right now that when they’re in structure and they get the opportunity to, they’re really trying to stop their opponent at the blue line. They’re trying to get three guys across and they’re trying to slow down their opponent. Now, it doesn’t always work because you turn the puck over and people can come at you before you’re in structure. But I think their their neutral zone structure is better and and tighter and I think they’re they’re better around their own net. They’re not giving up those those five alarm bell saves from from the slot area as much as they did a season ago. So, I do think Bla has helped this team defend better and through the neutrals and in the defensive zone. This team’s better. They they they just look like they believe and you know anything you do in your life it’s hard to do if you don’t believe you can do it well. This team believes right now and again there’s a long long long long way to go but as a Chicago Blackhawk fan you just wanted to see the light at the end of the tunnel and it’s been dark for years and this is some excitement and there are some things that gosh we have offense and good grief we can defend and our goalender is really good. Just wait. When this all comes together, this is a really, really good team. And you want to be with the Anaheim Ducks and the and the Utah Mammoth and the young teams in the West that are starting to excel. And you’re right there. Are you gave us four longs there? Long long long long way to go. Are you saying a long long long way to go till a cup or a long long long way to go to the playoffs? Well, and I and I apologize that too because but you got to understand I’m from Arizona and we’ve played against the Blackhawks enough to understand the Blackhawks equate success with cups. That’s what they want to see. They want to see competing for a Stanley Cup. Is this a playoff team this year? I don’t think they are. And I think that there are teams right now that are uh outshooting their coverage and I think that Seattle Kraken is a team that’s going to come back down to earth a little bit. Chicago is going to hang in there for a while, but there are teams out of the playoffs right now like Edmonton and Minnesota and Dallas, even the LA Kings that I still think are really good hockey teams. They’re going to find their way and climb back into the standings. I don’t think this is Chicago’s year, and I think that’s okay. I think the longer they can stay in a playoff spot or compete for a playoff spot is better for everyone. So, this is a huge step forward. When I say long, long, long, long, I mean competing for a Stanley Cup. Is this a playoff team or a potential playoff team over the next two seasons? I think they are. I think this year is going to be tough. Next year is where you’re looking to be where Utah and Anaheim are. I think they’re behind those teams because those teams have got a head start on their rebuild. But I do think this once they get there and you can get into the playoffs and you’ve got all these young defenseman locked up and you’ve got these young forwards locked up, you’ve got a bright future where you’re looking at three, four, five, six, seven, eight years in a row in the playoffs instead of just one where you sneak in at eighth and you’re done. That’s not what this team wants. You want to be there perennially. I think this is a playoff team. Not this year, but but the following two seasons, I think you’ll see the Blackhawks back in the playoffs. I love it. All right. Thank you, Pety. We appreciate you as always. I’m sure we’ll catch up several times throughout the season. And if you ever see anything that you think needs our attention, please let us know. Let us know. I will. We’ll throw you on. Keep an eye on those Blackhawks. Thanks again for having me on, guys. I really I really appreciate it. And uh can’t wait to see those Blackhawks as they progress. All right, buddy. We miss you. It’s good to see you again. Follow Pety at s Petershockey on Twitter and check out Inside the Coaches Room on YouTube and we’ll put the Yak Kaiser video. We’ll link to it after the show today at CHTO Blackhawks on Twitter. Thanks, man. Thanks, guys. All right, that is our buddy Pety C. Peters, uh, ESPN inside the coach’s room. Outstanding stuff. We’ll react on the other side of the break zone here on CHL Blackhawks presented by Bet 365. Finances can be messy and confusing and frankly stressful. You need Monarch Money. Monarch Money acts like your personal CFO, giving you full visibility and control so you can stop earning and start growing. Don’t just manage your money. Start building wealth with 50% off your first year for our listeners. Stay tuned for that offer. I started using Monarch Money uh earlier this month. Saw where I was spending money, where I was frankly wasting money. And just having that knowledge has saved me probably 30% of what I was wasting money on just from the awareness of it. And now I’m plugging in more accounts, getting my 401k in there, all those sort of things, and really getting a big financial picture. It’s helping me out big time. It’ll do the same thing for you. Get control of your overall finances with Monarch Money. Use our code cho@ monarchmoney.com in your browser for half off your first year. That’s 50% off your first year at monarchmoney.com with our code cho. Does uh Monarch Money have a category for money saved for tickets? It should. It should. You can create custom categories. That would work. Hey, and once you do that with Monarch, head over to the Game Time app and buy yourself some tickets to any sporting event or concert or theater event, whatever you want, uh, through their app, because that is the app that gives you the advantage back to the fans. It’s the hack for un locking amazing tickets and experiences in just a few taps. What’s awesome about the Game Time app is that the fees are upfront and included. So, what you see is what you get. It’s what you pay. Nothing surprising at checkout. Uh what is surprising with Game Time is their lowest price guarantee, which means if you find the same ticket for the same seat to put your butt in, they will on a different site, they will credit you 110% of the difference. That’s how much they care about you getting the best deal through them. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Game Time. Download the app, create an account, use the code chdo, and you’re going to get $20 off your first purchase. Tap ticket go and download the game time app today. And we’re back on CHDO Blackbox. I see a lot of people in the chat saying, “Oh man, I’m late. I missed Pey.” Rewind it. Yeah, you can you can DVR on YouTube or watch it twice. We’re not that bad. Yeah. No. Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead and rewind it. Still got half an hour of you guys. Yeah, you’re fine. Just don’t skip the ads. Yeah, you got to see Harry Nick Felino yelling at Eagles on your uh on your RCS when we got to confirm if that is him or not. We’ll ask him when he gets back. Maybe he filmed a new one when he was uh had his leave of absence. Sure. Um yeah, I mean great stuff from PD. And I did cringe a little bit when he said they have a long long long way to go. And I I thought, well, am I seeing things incorrectly? Because it doesn’t seem that far away that they’re going to be a good team. It’s a it’s a realistic uh viewpoint to say that this this team is still um under construction. Like this isn’t the finished product. This season isn’t okay. Things are the rebuild is done and this is this is it moving forward. Like there’s still a lot of growth needed for the team. So that is the longer process is the growth and not all the guys that you expect to be part of that contending window that Kyle Davidson is trying to create with this team, an extended window, not all those guys are even here playing in North America or even in the organization yet. So there there is um still a ways to go before you look at the Blackhawks and say this is the team in its full form and hitting on all strides. Six games into the season. Um they are above expectations. Seven game seven games. Seven seven games into the season. Um they are above expectations already. And yeah, you mentioned, you know, the Athletic and Dom Lucision’s, you know, updated season standings, expectations, all that stuff. They’ve jumped one spot up from being last place to being second to last place, jumping the sharks. Uh um but I I I I think as this season goes on the and we’ll we’ll talk about it later this week about you know expectations and what may or may not change them. But I think as this season goes on if you get continued performances like we’ve seen through the first seven games. This is going to be a team that’s not going to be near the bottom. Yeah. And I’m not saying playoffs, but I don’t think get your Gavin McKenna Blackhawks jerseys printed early. Like I think this I think if we get what we’ve seen through seven games for an extended stretch, it’s going to get a lot of people excited, get a lot more eyes on the block, get a lot more positivity going on uh for for this team moving forward and a lot more um expectations as the rebuild goes on. as you get those guys in here of the Fondels and Bu and and and so on and so forth, Canerov. Um, get those guys into the mix and then you’re and then you’re talking about a team that’s on the path to contendership. I it’s good vibes early on season. Here’s the thing though is I and I’m trying to our desire for this team to be good for professional reasons and personal reasons is strong, right? Like we have seen a massive uptick in viewership. We have been happier to come to work. Yeah. Like we’ve been better men at home like all the things that I mean when when things are going well with the Blackhawks, things are going well for us. And I’m trying to look at this from a don’t overhype it, don’t get too excited. Like there’s going to be rough hatches and there are for the 8-2 win ahead against St. Louis somewhere in there is going to be an 8-2 loss where everything looks horrible. Like it’s coming. It could be tomorrow night. It could be. Who knows? It could be the that tomorrow night’s game could be the screeching halt of this of this season. Who knows? It really could. Even though it’s the last place in the Eastern Conference, Tampa Bay Lightning, they’ll be okay, I think. It’s still the Tampa Bay Lightning. I I just it just looks different. And yes, did they get wins last year and the year before and the year before that they did, but I felt like almost every win they’ve had over the last three seasons has been boy, I don’t know how they pulled that out or it was an unbelievable individual performance that kept them in them. And you could argue that Spencer Knight has had five unbelievable performances that has kept them in games, but you know, I it just they have the edge in play in the analytics. They’ve got more possession. They’ve got more high danger chances. That was never the case last year. Never. If it was close to 50%, you felt like that was a massive win. If they were 47, 48% like, “Hey, that’s one of the better games they’ve played in a while.” This year they’ve been on top in that department several times and they just I don’t know they just don’t feel like a team that’s barely hanging on for 60 minutes night after night after night. It doesn’t feel that way. In fact, for all the times that they have this season where it’s like, okay, they’re really it’s getting taken to them a little bit. We saw with Utah a little bit. We saw with Ford a little bit here and there sporadically in other games. you’re seeing them do the same to the opponent almost as often. So, I don’t know. It just to me it just looks like a different and a better team. I’ve watched a lot of hockey in my life and I I’m no expert, but like I don’t know. I know what bad hockey looks like. I’ve had a lot of exposure to it lately and years years before the dynasty. This does not look like bad hockey. This does not look like a team that’s smoking mirrors. Yeah. I I think this is a team that through the first seven games they’ve been able to do the things that the teams of the past two three seasons have haven’t been able to do. They’ve been able to not let one bad thing turn into two turn into three turn into 10 bad things. Um they haven’t so far had to react to the first goal of a game or the second goal of a game and have to try and dig themselves out. More often than not in games this season, they’ve landed the first punch with scoring the first goal and getting out to leads. They’ve, you know, they’ve been going into third periods with legitimate chances to win or have the lead going in the third period. Like that, that is a thing that we haven’t seen all too often in the last few seasons. And I think one of the the other things with this team, not only their structure and their their style defensively, how they’ve been executing that, they’ve had the goalending to back it up with with Arvid Sautum and Spencer Knight playing really well to start the season. They’re also finishing their chances that they’re getting. And I think that that’s that’s one of the big things from the last few seasons is that they’d get chances, but then it would be, you know, uh, Zack Sanford would get the would get the chance or it would be Buddy Robinson or something like that or like, you know, no offense, we have his stick somewhere in the office. Tyler Johnson would have like a breakaway and you’re like, “Okay.” But now it’s, you know, you’re getting guys, you’re getting the effort from Bertusi, you’re getting Tavo um creating offense, you got Badard, you have Nas, you have more guys on this team now that you have trust in being able to actually capitalize on those chances. And I mean, you look at the the the numbers so far this season, uh, at all strengths, the Blackhawks are second in the NHL in PDO, which is a stat that combines save percentage and shooting percentage. They’re at a 1.057, which means they are 0.057 better than flat average. Right. The only team they’re trailing behind is the Winnipeg Jets at a 1.08. Like that is that’s a high number. Yeah. So they’re getting great goalending. They’re finishing their chances. That’s that’s that’s evident by that stat and that’s what’s giving them the success early on. Now most PDO heavy teams crash regression eventually. Um but I I think early on you’re you’re getting really good goalending. You’re finishing chances and it’s things that you didn’t have for the last few seasons. So it makes it feel a lot better. And I think when there is that eventual like you know regression to the average uh that you usually see from PDO teams um what you have to fall back on is playing within your structure and eliminating turnovers and staying out of the penalty box. Yeah, the structure this year has been really good. If they can get to that, clean up the turnovers, clean up the penalties, you’re going to be able to continue to be a team that’s in games and that is competitive and that is getting wins that last year you wouldn’t have gotten. Well, and those names you mentioned earlier, you know, um and and uh Bejian says the ethnic who break away. There’s no one on this roster right now that’s not an NHL player. Yeah. Yeah. Especially in the forward group. You might you could argue that like all right, maybe Lev needs some more AHL seasoning. You could maybe argue that for Renzel a little bit, but like fine in other scenarios. Yeah. But forwards, those are all NHL forwards. Even Ryan Green who was supposed to start the year in in Rockford and then got got recalled um because it was Laferty that got or um Sligert that got hurt. Yeah. Even Ryan Green’s played really well and that was a guy that was supposed to start in the AHL and he’s he’s played himself into a more regular lineup spot and as the lineup starts to get healthy again with Dickinson and Burkovski who as you uh saw uh today is away from the team because his his wife uh had their second child I believe it is I think so. Yeah. Um congrats. So the congratulations to the Burkovskis and Bertus as well. They had a a child in late September that was uh publicized yesterday. But um when Burkosi comes back, you got Felo back, when Dickinson’s healthy, like Ryan Green could be a guy that isn’t the odd man out. I mean, he he could be. He’s still it’s it’s his rookie year, you know, he’s still less than 10 games into his NHL career, but he’s a guy that when given the opportunity has really ran with it 100%. All right. Uh, Hawks are in Tampa tomorrow. They’re there. Now, why don’t we uh take a moment? We can hear from Blackhawks head coach Jeff Washel. He actually talks about in this uh this is after practice today about his time with uh John Cooper in Tampa. That’s pretty much the whole bulk of this. And then he gets some injury updates at the end. We’ll talk about it on the other side as we look forward to tomorrow’s game against Lightning. Cooper’s asked what he learned from you. I want to know what you learned from him. Nothing. That’s No, I’m just kidding. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. you know, um, first off, I would say, um, you know, Cub and I have been friends for a long time, and I think we’ve I’ve learned a lot from him over the years of our friendship. Um, specifically over the last 3 years, you know, I mean, you get into a setting like the setting here, uh, you get a chance to learn not just from Coupe, but from the the great, uh, coaching staff that he has, um, from the great players that are that are on the team, and you just learn from all those guys. Certainly with Coupe, I would say uh he did a really good job of delegating and and utilizing his staff. And I think it’s easy sometimes as a head coach to try to do everything. But ultimately, I think if you know what I what I kind of from that process, what that allowed him to do was when he spoke, it mattered, you know, because it he would allow his assistants to run some meetings and things like that. So when he spoke, it mattered that much more. Um, but I’d also say it allowed him to focus on probably what’s most important and that’s the relationship with the players and the communication with the players and um, so it was a good opportunity for me to kind of just a reminder to myself that, you know, you can you can have all the X’s and O’s you want, but our number one job is is to get the most out of our players. And the way to do that ultimately is to build relationships, hold them accountable to be in the fight with them. And I think he does that as well as anybody in the league. And Jeeoff, I should know this, but remind me how did the two of you like really connect? We we ended up we started coaching probably in uh we we coached a a team Michigan in like uh for the USA hockey festivals in like 2000. So, you know, so it’s probably been 25 years of uh and then we just we we hit it off uh um and and we ended up becoming really good friends through the process and I recruit players off him when he was coaching junior and I was coaching college. We coached against each other in junior uh for a couple years and then again we coached against each other for a long time in the NHL. I guess an unrelated question. Did do you expect Barakovski to be here tomorrow? Uh I’ll know more on that tomorrow. Not sure. Okay. Yeah. Dickinson, it looked like he was kind of partial to his Yeah, I don’t expect Dicki tomorrow. I would anticipate uh Sunday would be a better opportunity for him, but but we’ll take it dayto-day still. I don’t know that for sure, but that’s my guess. All right, there he is. Uh Jeff Blashel, Ben Pope, we we interrupt this uh Tampa Bay Lightning features feature interview uh for Blackhawks news. Thank you. Yeah. Uh if Burkovski doesn’t play and Dickinson doesn’t play, that’s fine. Are we finally going to get a Sam Lafery day? Uh maybe. Well, I mean, look at the next lineup take for Sam Lambert to play a game. Well, look at the So, look at the lineup from today’s from practice. Ben Pope, obviously, uh, he had it out there. No one else want to go to Florida, huh? Not for Not for just one game. Uh, I mean, you look at it, you got Riel with Baddard and Bertusi. Uh, everyone lost their mind over that. Potential spot filler for Burikovski though, right? And look, I would say if you’re Andre Burkovski and you just had a ch, you know, your wife just had a child back here in Chicago area, don’t take the red eyee to get to Florida to play a game to then fly back to like just take the extra day off. Like there’s a playoff chase, baby. Let’s go. No reason. Just take the extra signed up for it’s fine. Um less scrubs team would be furious. Terrain with Nazar McKev Doc with Green and Donado and then Slagert Felino Laferty Vic Renzel Kaiser Lechnov Chryslick Murphy and Creier is also there. Um so you do have one extra spot filled. You have you have 12 forwards and seven defenseman. They’re not going to scratch anyone from the defensive group. They’re going to go 11 and seven and Sam Lafert is going to sit. That’s It’s just what it is. Yeah, that’s just what it is. And And do you know what? That’s fine. That’s totally fine. When Dickinson and Burkovski come back, you probably have Riel go back down and down the lineup, probably sit eventually. Um, and then I’m I’m I’m interested because as we were kind of talking about with with Ryan Green, the way he’s played, um, how he’s how he’s taken advantage of this opportunity with Burkovsky and Dickinson back in your you still have one extra forward if you’re sitting Lafery, if you’re sitting Reichel. Yeah. Is it Slagert? Is it Green? Is it Doc? Like I’m I know we kind of had this conversation earlier this week, but I’m still very interested to see if and when you get back to your full 14 forward group, who are the three that are coming out? If you’re saying Lafer is already one of them, who are the two others? Yeah, that’s a that’s a tough question because I know a lot of people have sort of thought maybe Colton Doc could use a sit, but I think he’s been really effective. I mean, look, he’s he’s not a topline player. He earned that opportunity early in the season and did okay. Yeah. but he’s not the kind of guy you can put up there permanently, but I think he’s done fine in the role he’s had. He’s was leading the league in hits at one point. Um I haven’t checked in on that lately, but he’s got to be close to the top still. I think he’s brought what you’re asking him to bring, which is consistency, physical play, responsible, you know, don’t hurt the team sort of stuff. And he’s been fine with that. And he does bring a little bit of what the team lacks. I don’t know who that extra sit’s going to be. Um it’s it’s a tough call. And I guess you could justify sitting Ryan Green just because he’s a rookie and because he’s But like we’ve been saying, if they’re here, they should play. They should play. If you’ve got young players here, they should play. And I would say who So who is in who is in that category to you of if they’re here, they have to play? Green. Yes. Doc. Yep. Yes. Uh Slagert. Um yeah. Yeah. So then it’s Riel because we have pretty much been being told for the last eight months that the Hawks have already made up their mind on Lucas Reichel and it’s a matter of someone picking up a phone and giving a decent offer for him and he’s gone. Mhm. So, if we’re going by that logic of the kids that are part of this future have to play and you’ve got to scratch three, then Lucas Reichel is going to be the odd man out here. Yeah. I mean, if you’re Yeah, but that’s But that’s if you’re scratching Laferty and you’re scratching Riel, you still got one extra forward for 11. Yeah. So then you’re so then you’re still talking about Doc or Slagger or Green and I think if you’re scratching you could scratch the same maintenance if you’re if you’re scratching green that’s the guy I for sure am sending Rockford and then you carry 13 forwards right that’s what I would do you could rest Slagard who has had already since the preseason two injuries you could just say ah all right night off maintenance right take a little breather you don’t need to send him to Rockford. You kind of know what you have with Lavy. I think there’s more there, but I I don’t think I don’t think Lannon Slayer coming to Rockford is going to develop any further. I think you pretty much have him in I don’t think there’s anything that you’re saying like he’s developing in Rockford. He’s he’s an NHL player. He’s got to he’s got to grow in the NHL. Well, we’ll see. I you know, we’re going to find out soon. Hopefully, if if they have this dilemma where everybody’s healthy, that’s a really good thing. Yeah, it’s a it’s a great problem to have. And I mean sometime and sometimes these things work themselves out. Injuries are inevitable. You don’t wish for it, but there always seems to be something where some guy someone goes down with like a couple weeks kind of thing and then and then okay, here’s opportunities for other players to get in and out. So, tomorrow’s morning skate will give us more of a indication of who’s available because sounds like Dickson’s not. Uh, Burikovski is still a question mark, but again, I say just stay stay home. It’s fine. It’s the eighth game of the year. It’s a oneoff road trip. Just be with your family for one more one extra day from with your family is is better than uh the people at RC Cola are raging right now. Yeah, the world’s gone soft. RC Cola family second. Baby was born 3 days ago. Get over it. Get on the ice. The playoff chase. I’ll never I said Les Grain earlier. I’ll never forget. He was so mad Peanut Tilman missed a game cuz his wife had a baby. He should have planned I believe Les said he should have planned the intercourse better. Something along those lines of wait stop. What’s nine months from today? It’s not it’s game day. It’s not a Well, yeah. It’s not a uh it’s not an out of Well, it’s it’s an out-of- pocket thing to say. Yes, it is. But it’s not a um out-ofpocket line of thinking because these you know professional athletes they do plan those things where okay like like think about a lot of a lot of players will have you know we’ll have kids in the summer because it’s the off season or you know right before the se you know that that window of like June to September they try and think like okay like let’s let’s line it up for there so that you don’t have to leave your team uh for for the um the birth and and and all that stuff like you you have it to where you’re in a spot where oh this lines up with the offseason and I can be home and not be traveling and all that stuff. There’s I think I forget who for the athletic uh I think I’m pretty sure it was the athletic did the story the last year or two about said topic and I think the quote coming from it was like it’s like a a lot of banging going on in November or something like that around the NHL cuz that lines up with like June uh being the the the due date and and whatnot. So, it’s it’s it’s a thing. It is a thing that that you know pro aletes will uh we’ll we’ll tell you about. So, next time we talk to uh Burkoski, we’ll get the inside story. Take it when you can get it. The rare instance someone’s in the mood, you got to jump at the opportunity. Um Lightning tomorrow. Yes, they are 13 and two. Garbage. They have uh one They lost their first game 5-4 to Ottawa, second game 5-3 to New Jersey. They beat the Bruins 4 to3. They lost a caps in overtime. They lost to the Wings in overtime and then they lost to Columbus uh 3-2 on Saturday. No wins this season for Andre Vasilki. Uh Yonis Johansson has a single uh Lightning win. This John Cooper’s on the hot seat on paper is a winnable game. Sure. And this is the sort of stuff that I want to see. How do they do against teams like this? Teams that are top like look, they’re one three and two. But they’re not a one three and two team. No. At the when the smoke clears, the Lightning are going to be firmly in the playoffs and they’ll be maybe winning a round, maybe winning two rounds, whatever it might be. Remember, Vaselleski was hurt up until the start of the season, so he’s not fully back yet 100% probably. We don’t know who we’re going to see in goal tomorrow. We’ll find out tomorrow. We’ll do a pregame, by the way. So, don’t miss that. Uh pregame will be at, let’s see, 5:45 p. So, 5:15. Yeah, pregame tomorrow. Um, so we’ll see who starts for them, but I want to see how the Hawks hold up against a Stanley Cup level roster. We saw it against the Panthers and it got ugly for stretches of that game. They ended up losing by one. They hung in there. They battled. But now I want to see, you know, without the momentum of opening night and all those sort of things, how they fare against this is going to be a pretty good measuring tape game for the Blackhawks. And uh, I can’t wait. It’s been too long of a wait for a game here. Been a lot of days off. Yeah. And they’ve been off since Saturday Tampa. Yeah, it’s a weird schedule. Everybody’s rested. What? Pull up the schedule that you put into chat GBT that perfected it practice. Um, looking at uh some of the analytics and advanced stats. Um, the Blackhawks are better than the Lightning at 5v5 in Corsy4 shots four, goals, four, and they’re just off pace of expected goals for at 55 early in the season. Yeah, rosters are like you just said, Tampa Bay’s roster is more on paper. Yes, this is a playoff team. Blackhawks, no, it’s not a playoff team. But the start of the season like it you you break down the numbers teams are comparable. They have this is this is a time where this Blackhawks team if they’re going to beat Tampa this year this is the perfect time to jump on them when they’re sputtering out of the gate 100%. And I I hope they know that. I hope they get the message and I hope there’s, you know, I don’t know if if players anymore are like win one for the coach who coached here last year, but if you’re looking for something, if you’re looking for some extra motivation, uh it’d be cool to get a win for Bluel here. I I’m just uh I don’t know. I I’m really don’t know what to expect next game. And as you look ahead for the Hawks, it’s Tampa home uh versus LA Sunday on the or home against Ottawa on Tuesday, then in Winnipeg on Thursday. So, it’s it’s getting tougher here. LA, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Seattle, Vancouver, Calgary, Detroit, Detroit looks really good. They’re hot. So, it’s not getting easier. So, this the the mention of mid- November, that Detroit game is November 9th. They play the Devils November 12th. If we’re still talking about the Blackhawks in the same tones we are now, then we’re cooking. Then we’re talking about something. I I remember a few weeks ago um or not a few weeks, a few episodes ago on 32 thoughts. Well, we are going to hit overtime here real quick. So, if you’re watching on fast, switch over to allo.com. There we go. Better than yesterday. Thank you. I’m working on it. That’s all you want to be is better than the version of yourself yesterday. What is it? Good, better, best. Good, better, best. All right. Best since we are in overtime, why not just promote? We have a new better. Oh, we got a new graphic. Ah, new shirt. Oh, new shirt. The good, better, best shirt. So, yeah, go to allc city.com. Um, all city locker. CHO locker. You can buy that. Look at that. Another new bear. Anyways, continue, guys. Go get it. Another new bear shirt. Um, what was I talking about? New bear shirts. Nope. Oh, there’s another one on the screen. That’s not what I was Oh, yeah. Yeah, there’s another one. New release. New releases. Weekly. Uh, weekly episodes podcast. 32 thoughts. Um, there’s the thought train. Um Elliott Freriedman was saying that a stat that his is his own research over the last I think about have been within four points of a playoff spot or in a playoff spot uh at I think it was the American Thanksgiving so you know late November only 10 didn’t make it. That’s crazy. So if this Blackhawks team is is in that range, Elliot Freriedman’s math favors them or they make history. Yeah. Either way. So it’s I mean it’s it’s it’s not an exact science, but that’s that’s kind of the barometer that I think you can you can go by. And by that time you’re talking about, you know, you’ve played about 20 games. It’s a quarter about the quarter mark of the season that you kind of know what you got and what what you don’t out of most teams. Now, there are obviously teams that go on crazy runs and turn things around. The Blues in 2019 when they won the cup, they were dead last at the all was it the All-Star break? Uh or was the new year two? Yeah. So those things can happen and teams that, you know, are in playoff spots at the trade deadline can crash out and miss. Like obviously those things happen. Um, but yeah, I mean it’s it’s it’s not uh it’s still early, but it’s not impossible that you could talk about a Blackhawks team by this time in in one month from now. We could be saying every game, every point actually matters because potentially expectations might be shifting a little bit. Can’t wait. Still early. Let’s get through Tampa tomorrow. Um, but we’ll see. All right, let’s see it tomorrow. 5:15 pregame. Uh, 5:45 puck drop. We will be here before ESPN Plus. ESPN Plus or Hulu. Or Hulu. Uh, but it’ll be there. So, don’t yell at us when you can’t find it. It’s on ESPN Plus or Hulu. And yes, there are free trials available of all those things. So jump on them if you don’t have them. Bob Wizen on the call with AJ Marshall. That’ll be fun. Yeah, I like Bob Wiz. That was great. Awesome. All right, we’re going to wrap things up. We will talk to you tomorrow at 5:15 on a CHL Blackhawks pregame show presented by Bet 365 [Music] [Applause] like the mayor.

📬 Chicago sports in your inbox: https://allchgo.com/newsletter

Wyatt Kaiser’s strong start to the 2025 season has Chicago Blackhawks fans buzzing. The young defenseman’s skating, confidence, and decision-making have stood out early on, and the CHGO Blackhawks crew breaks it all down with special guest Steve Peters. Peters joins Jay Zawaski and Mario Tirabassi to analyze Kaiser’s film, highlight what’s working in his game, and discuss his long-term potential under Jeff Blashill. Tune in to the CHGO Blackhawks Podcast for in-depth breakdowns on Kaiser, Connor Bedard, Frank Nazar, and the future of the Blackhawks’ blue line.

00:00 START
02:00 Steve Peters joins the show
07:40 Wyatt Kaiser leads hawks in?
17:45 Steve Peters breakdown Wyatt Kaiser film
25:30 Artyom Levshunov
27:30 Spencer Knight, Frank Nazar, Connor Bedard
36:00 Playoff team? When?
45:20 Jeff Blashill interview

An ALLCITY Network Production

ALL THINGS CHGO: https://linktr.ee/chgosports

WEBSITE:
http://allCHGO.com/

BUY MERCH:
CHGO Locker

FOLLOW ON SOCIAL:
Twitter: @CHGO_Sports
Instagram: @CHGO_Sports

GET OUR FREE NEWSLETTER:
http://www.allchgo.com/newsletter

Empire Today: Schedule a free in-home estimate today! All listeners can receive a $350 OFF discount when they use the promo code CHGO. Restrictions apply. See https://empiretoday.com/chgo for details.

Monarch Money: Use Monarch Money to get control of your overall finances with 50% off your first year at https://www.monarchmoney.com/chgo

PrizePicks: Go to https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/CHGO and use code CHGO for $50 instantly when you play $5. PrizePicks. Run Your Game!

HelloFresh – Get 10 FREE meals at https://hellofresh.com/freeblackhawks. Applied across 7 boxes, new subscribers only, varies by plan.

Ray Auto Group: Get into your next vehicle with Ray Auto in Fox Lake!
Ray Chevy: https://www.raychevrolet.com/
Ray CDJR: https://www.raycdjr.com/

Better Help: This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Never skip therapy day, with BetterHelp. Visit https://www.betterhelp.com/CHGO today to get 10% off your first month.

Head to https://factormeals.com/chgohawks50 and use code chgohawks50 to get 50% off. That’s code chgohawks50 at https://factormeals.com/chgohawks50 to get 50% off!

Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code CHGO for $20 off your first purchase.

When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions.

Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.

#Blackhawks #ChicagoBlackhawks #HopOnTheRide