Every Shift Season 4 Episode 1: Fight For Your Teammates | Chicago Blackhawks

Every Shift Season 4 Episode 1: Fight For Your Teammates | Chicago Blackhawks

The outcomes always follow good process. You might not get the outcomes you want right away, but you’re going to get the outcomes long term, especially if you have the talented group, which I believe we have. Excited and proud to name Jeff Blashel the next head coach of the Chicago Blackhawk. I felt like my experiences that I’ve had as a coach and my skill set were a perfect fit for this job. I’ve been through what a lot of people within this organization have been through, and that’s a rebuild, and those are hard. Going to Tampa, one of the organizations that’s maybe the most successful over the last 10 years. Seeing how they ran their program, I know I can walk in in day one and know what it’s going to take for us to be successful. It’s the hardest league in the world for a reason. And you better have that earn this mentality as opposed to any type of entitlement. The league doesn’t care what you’ve done. The league only cares what you’re doing now. [Music] [Music] The Chicago Blackhawks have a new bench boss. Jeff Blashill has arrived in Chicago and is getting the full city tour. First stop on the list, a trip up north to Halis Hall. You want the opportunity to coach in a city with with great passion and and certainly I know uh this city has great sports passion, has great passion for the Blackhawks and that’s what you want. You want that opportunity to be in those types of cities where people care. I’m a Midwest guy. I grew up a Midwest guy. Chicago people are are my type of people. We lived a lot of our lives in Michigan. Like I was in Grand Rapids for a while and we would come over for like a weekend with the kids when the kids were young. So I know what a great city it is for sure. Ben. Yeah. How are you, man? Doing great. Good to meet you. Yeah, good. Good. Yeah. Just kind of I’m just just moved into town like two weeks ago. So I was in uh I was in Detroit when you were there, though. Uh I coached the Red Wings when you were there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For not the whole time, but uh for a little bit. We went to one game a couple years ago and and my kids absolutely love that. And then we went to a Blackhawks game, too. I mean, it’s electric. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. The sports fans here are awesome, you know? So, it’s what I always felt honestly about Detroit with the Lions like cuz my actually Bob Quinn’s a really good friend of mine. So, when Bob was there, I was like, Bob, if you could win here, it’ll be unreal. You know what I mean? And now that now Yeah. And I that’s how like this town’s, you know, sick. They just they’re just dying for a winner. Really didn’t matter. All all the sports. For sure. For sure. You want to come to a game, you let me know. Okay. Get that done. All right. We’ll do, man. Yeah. Good to see you. Okay. Same. Okay. Y. Next stop is a trip up to Wrigleyville and Jeff is shaking off some dust preparing for his first pitch at Wrigleyville. Right now we’re talking pucks with Jeff Blasual. What did you do to prepare for the first pitch today? So I have taken So it’s been about 6 years since I’ve thrown a baseball. So I had I did I was in the uh I was in the at Fifth Third Arena. We were working on it over yesterday and today I hit I hit one in the dirt though. So we’ll see how it goes today. I got to take myself a little bit of a picture, don’t I? That’s actually sick. I took my kids here one year and in the very last row like the very last row we said it was actually unreal and then we like you could see the city like it was actually sick. Hey now I got to be a hero. Two in a row on the on the moon. [Applause] I got it through without grounding it. So that’s that’s all I need is I just I didn’t want that thing to hit the dirt. Congratulations. Thank you. Yeah. Excited about it. For sure. Congratulations. Yeah. I appreciate. Yeah, I know. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. For sure. So, yeah. Thank you. Thank you. It didn’t hit the dirt. That’s all that mattered. Yeah. I’ve done this. Trying to go high. I’ve done this a few times. I hit the dirt my very first time and got booed by the crowd. So, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, this this is better. Yeah. As the summer months start to close, players leave their hometowns and come back to the city to prepare for the season. Forward Frank Nazar and defenseman Wyatt Kaiser are at the United Center ahead of UFC 319. To welcome in the then middleweight champion, Drius Duplexi ahead of his night in the octagon. Frank, so nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Thanks for having us, guys. So awesome to see you. Let’s go. Got you Jay. Oh, that is insane. That’s so cool. You’re holding it, right? I can hold it. Yeah. Doing no way. Oh my god. Wow. [Laughter] Have you been to a hockey game? Never. You’ve never been to a hockey game? I’ve never seen You got Yeah. You got Is that a puck? Yeah. Let’s see. I’ve never seen one. That’s never seen a puck. Like if you feel it like this hurt you. No, this thing can get you. It’ll knock your teeth out for sure. We got We got a few guys. Yeah, he’s pretty shocking to see um a guy that, you know, that mean aggressive in the the octagon. He’d be so nice to us and just, you know, really excited to be here. Thank you so much for this. This is really incredible. And I’ll see you guys at the fight. Thank you so much. Yeah, for sure. Hey, best of luck. Thank you so much. You don’t need it, but we already got it. See you guys next week. But yeah, thank thank you. Being back in Chicago means a visit to some youth camps. Frank makes a pit stop to spend a day with some young hockey players in the community ahead of training camp. What’s up, buddy? NHL? Yeah, I play in the NHL. Is that your your goal? You want to play in the NHL? Oh, yeah. What’s up, guys? Oh my gosh. Hey, listen up. Listen up. So, we got we got Frank Mazar from the Hawks here. He wanted to come in and say hi to you guys today. Uh, do you guys know Frank plays? Do you know what college he played for? Green. Whoa, dude. Is that It’s got to be a joke. The other one. Wait, say louder. Yep. Go blue. Go blue. NHL’s player did you look up to when you were a kid? Oo, I mean I think a pretty obvious one’s Patrick Kane. Just greatest Americanb born player and saw the success he had here and being pretty close from from Detroit. Got to see him a lot. Why didn’t you? Why didn’t I? Yeah, cuz the Blackhawks were there. Why would I not want to go to the Blackhawks? They’re the best team in the world. Do you know how to skate? Do I know how to skate? Just a little bit. Not very much. Can you teach me? Can you help me out? You got to use your hands. Oh. Oh. Yeah. Whoa. Good job. [Applause] Nice goal. Whoa. Is that your celebration? Oh, [Applause] [Music] wa. [Applause] Thanks for having me out, everybody. Thank you. It was a lot of fun. Don’t leave. You guys are great. A Don’t leave. I know. I know. I don’t want to. Hey, Frank. Thank you guys. Have a nice day. Thank you. Frankie Nazar signs a 7-year, $46 million extension. Nazar is already cemented himself as one of the key pieces of this rebuild. He’s going to be an elite player in the NHL. There’s a chance people end up saying like that’s one of the best contracts a team’s ever signed to a young player. Up. Congrats, man. Thank you so much. Thank you. You know, I think the one thing when we started this whole process, uh, Rocky Works, he was a big he was a big fan of our plan, where we’re going, kind of the youth movement, and you’re obviously a huge part of that with the news today. So, we figured we’d sign the the extension in his office. Oh, wow. Yeah, let’s do it. Jeez, that’s awesome. Let’s do it. You call on Oh, should I FaceTime with mom? Group Facetime. This is a new one. Group FaceTime. Dad probably doesn’t even know what that is. Flipper’s here. Hi. What’s up? He’s going to put pen to paper. So, make it official. It’s right here. Yep. Right there. I’m going in the year. I want to win. I want to be the best player I can be. I want to be better than last year and I want the team to do better than last year. And, you know, this this is more of a bonus than than anything. So, I think it’s the same mindset. Everything’s the same. It’s just go out and execute. Let’s go. Seven years. Let’s go. Congrats, buddy. Thank you. Awesome. Thank you. Where you at? You guys at work? I’m at work. Fans at home. He was meeting at Washington. We can reenact We can reenact it this weekend when I see you guys. Yeah. Yes, that’s that sounds good. The team is two days away from training camp and the coaching staff is starting to develop the schedule as a group. An allimportant attribute in a new coaching staff is chemistry. Something Jeff Blill put at the forefront when selecting his new team. We were going to pull up the video this morning. There’s some some uh Yeah, there’s some talks, right? So, there’s some he said it didn’t bounce, but no chance it bounced. Let’s pull it up. Put it up. We need to pull up the video to see if it bounced. Let’s put it up. Oh, look at that. No way. Hold on. Let me see. There’s no way it bounced. We got another. There’s zero chance it bounced. I thought it bounced. I looked. There’s no way. I know it didn’t bounce. No, you got to go. You got to go to the other view. Hey, when you throw a curveball, there’s a chance it goes in the dirt. If you go to I see the hawky. There’s no way. There’s no way. Pull it up 100% and not slow, bro. No chance at Look at that right there. Right. Right there. no chance of bouncing. I think chemistry on a staff is just as important as chemistry on a team. One of the things I think is really important that I’ve learned is you want your group to be able to challenge uh me as a head coach. Watch this and tell me how we can make this better. My gut is starting back where that other It’s not about being right. It’s not about proving you’re right. It’s about getting to the best answer. And I know we we’re a group that can do that. I know we’re a group that can have those heated conversations and saying, “What’s the best answer? what’s the best thing for our team at this moment and that’s what we’re going to continue. Does that make sense to you? You understand what I’m saying? Which one do you like better? You want to get somewhat diverse staff in a sense that they bring different things to the table. You guys who have coached a lot, guys who have played. I think it’s important to have somebody on your staff that’s kind of gone through what the players are going through in terms of having been an NHL player. From that aspect, I was really thrilled to be able to to get the three assistants we have. So, that’s day one. talked about the skate test yesterday. Any uh rethoughts on that? I as I was coming over here, I was like, five is a lot. It’s hard enough. It’s going to be pretty hard. I think [Applause] I’ve known honors for probably 15 plus years. coming into this honors was somebody that number one could give us some continuity from one staff to the next understood all our players especially a lot of our young players we had coached in Rockford that was something that was really important soon as we did it like shot under the can and then pass don’t look look right I noticed like right here it’s just you go go see what I mean it’s one thing to know somebody it’s another thing to have some coaching interaction and really get a feel for what he’s about so I I thought it was great to be able to get him and and not just the continuity piece but keep an elite coach on our staff. You lost two to one. 20. We got 20. You never done 20 before. Don’t be afraid to shoot. Shoot as much as you can. Okay. Mike Valuchcci is somebody that, you know, we become really good hockey friends. I knew what he was about as a coach. I knew what his foundational principles were. You guys can’t be level. It’s got to be a guy’s guy. And I think he’s somebody that again, as I said with Anders, has that connection to players. Quick, quick, quick. Yeah. There we go. And then finally with Michael Pekka, I think it’s really important on your staff to have guys that have done it. Our blue line is going to be our bread and butter. That’s where we’re going to kill a lot of time. Certainly Michael throughout his career, he won two selkies. He played on Canadian Olympic teams. He can bring a lot of those experiences to our players. Seems like the guys around the room, they’ve enjoyed Jeff Blash and the new coaching staff’s approach. They’ve enjoyed the style of practice uh that he’s implemented, which has been pretty intense. Push-ups. 20 push-ups. We’re done. Go. 20. When you go through struggles together, it makes you a stronger team. There is just an urgency from Jeff Blashel. Players feel that and they feel’s confidence in his own message and they say, “Okay, this guy seems to really believe what he’s telling us, so let’s effing go. All [Music] [Applause] right, game one here, right? Great challenge against a great team, but I know you’re ready for that for sure. Make sure no matter what happens out there through those emotional highs and lows, we stick together as a group. We fight like crazy for each other, boys. Okay, let’s go here. greener beauty beauty one beauty two beauty that might be it already you’re it’s time for a new hunt and that hunt begins tonight and the rest of this week for all 32 teams of the national welcome to the 2025 2026 NHL season time to man your battle station moves in that shot off the post and it’s up into the nanny Frankie Frankie, I got I got patiently plays it to the far half wall and now it’s outleted and a step moving in. Nazar to breakaway scores. The first goal of the season to Frank Nazar on the breakaway and the Blackhawks on the road have the early lead. We got to keep our lane discipline, boys. Got to keep our lane discipline. Nazar scores the first goal of the season. Swatted towards the net, blocked in front on the doorstep. score. The Panthers answer and it’s the fourth line. Poking it home. AJ Greer. We’re tied at one. And Tom Lindell put the puck in the Hawk zone. Knight Poke checks it away as it bleeds toward the net and then is taken back the side of the net by Verhaney. He shoots and scores. And the Panthers now lead two to one. And now the gloves drop. Felo and Greer. And they’re not done yet. Nope. There’s more there. Felo over the top. Both benches tapping their sticks. You just asked me about Felino. There’s that leadership. They’re not a fancy team by any imagination, right? Not a fan. They don’t do like anything crazy. It’s just hard work, effort, heaviness. You got to do the same thing. There’s levels, right? Preseason’s one level. First game, 20 games in going to keep, right? So don’t expect it to be the same as preseason matters now. Hey great guy, right, man. I don’t expect I don’t expected it to be him every night though. You understand that? Make sure we’reing got a whole group of guys willing to fight for each other. Okay. The biggest question is first of all it’s two to one. Okay. So in the moments of that period we didn’t play very good. Are we better than this? Like I don’t think there’s any doubt we’re better than this individually. Make sure we pick up our games here, boys. Skate, let’s go. They’ve got to get quicker zone. Quicker breakouts from Chicago. They spent a little bit too much time and often one of their best puck handlers defensively was Spencer Knight. Everything in, boys. Everything in. Make them defend. You don’t want to defend all night. Wedges the puck behind the net to Esso Lindell. He’ll move it around up the right wing side, but it’s taken away by Vertusi. Then Nazar over the Panther line to save Turvine and he shoots. He scores. And the Hawks have tied the game at two. Oh, sweet play made by Frank Nard. I like tell you something. Spencer Knight, we’ve been saying right from the outset, has been razor sharp against his former club, his original club. And Spencer Knight coming up huge. Sticks on the ice here. Sticks on the ice. Hunts it. Hunts it. Keep in front of the circle. Cross corner it goes. Leading in. Samage out in front. Score. Tiptoe by Buckquist out of midair from the Samage feed. The Panthers have the lead and Chicago will run out of time and the Panthers will win on opening night as the Rats fly here at Emirate Bank Arena. We’re going to have peaks and valleys and we got to do a way better job of those valleys not being so low. We don’t want to be a team that’s close, you know, we want to find a way to win that game. Um, but that’s part of the growth process. Third power play of the game for the Hawks. They’re 0 for two. Chance here to regain the lead midway through the third period. Clean off. Termin put it in front. Stolen. Peak. Rebound. Jabad. Nazar. Stop. Oh, down. And all sorts of rough stuff. Look out. And they’re working out with numbers. Bing in with Jano. B in. Jamal stopped by Solder. What a save with the right pad by Arbert Sold. Here comes Connor Murphy with Manard. He’ll let it go on rebound in fronts away and more chaos in the Boston cleard in this one again. Final seconds tick down and this game going to overtime. [Music] You don’t want to get painted in that. It’s a twoon one. Minton works the puck in with Geeki. Minton scores. Get a point and we’ll look to get their first win in their home opener when they play host to Montreal. What’s the scrum in the third period like? Fun. Uh, you know, it’s fun getting those um, you know, you’re into it and they’re a big physical team and um, you know, when you’re out there, we don’t like them, they don’t like us. So, um, you know, that’s a fun part of hockey and, um, you know, obviously I like how we, you know, stood up for each other and, um, you not going to kind of, you know, take it even if they’re, uh, you know, a little bigger. With the team heading home from Boston, they’re still looking for their first win. But something is different about this year’s roster, and people are starting to take notice. These first two games, they’re setting a good baseline of like what it takes to be competitive in the NHL. hustle, back check. You’re seeing that commitment from the top of the roster to the bottom. This feels like a a team that has a different vibe to it. It feels like a team that is is building towards something. [Music] [Applause] [Music] I am very pleased to be able to welcome you to a night that has been 100 years in the making. The home opener of the Blackhawks centennial season. Tonight we reflect on a franchise and a legacy that began in 1926 when the best game in the world came to the best city in the world. Over the last century, there have been unforgettable moments from that very first puck drop to the roar of Chicago Stadium to the championships that brought this town to its feet. Tonight, we’re going to unveil our centennial banner. Now, we were going to have the president of the Blackhawks Alumni Association unveil this banner, but I’m very sorry to report that Troy Murray cannot be with us, and he’s heartbroken to miss this. As you know, he’s in the fight of his life. As we unveil this banner, how about we send some love to a great friend, a Blackhawks legend, and a great man. Let Troy know how much we need him back here. Let’s blow the doors off this place. Come on. Oh, let’s welcome Darren Pang to the broadcast after that incredible ceremony, the home opener in the Centennial season. That was something else. Hawks and the Canadian Jeff Lashel got his first point as Hawks head coach in Boston the other night. This one’s underway on Chicago Sports Network. Come on boys. Spend time in the end here. Spend time in the end. Asar gain in front. Here’s a chance. That shot stopped. Li go and a good save by Spencer Knight. Rebound corral by Ma. Takes a hit from Boulder and clears the puck all the way on the and Murphy gave a good shove right after that right there. Pins it in the corner. Then Bernard pump a little scrum after Mat taking Bernard out to the corner. And Bernard’s not taking any of this. You know what this year we heard him say after the game in Boston on Thursday night. Hey, be right on the boards. He’s going to go for him. Evans against Nazar. Desar wins the draw. Jeremiah in front of Renzel. Right circle posters and fires. He scores. His first National Hockey League goal. Come on, let’s go. First of his career. And it comes a short time after the Canadians open the scoring. We’re all even again 5 minutes into the second period. Oh, big hit at center. G. goes terra is going to come in and here he goes. Big Louis creier going at it with Kaden Gy are heating up here at United Center. Here we go. Listen to this crowd. We love the response. Nar scores an open on the power play and it’s all tied up at two. Final minute to play in the third period. Tie game home opener but a good one. Cfield let it go. Put back across the crease. Hudson tried to sneak one and that was blocked by Renel as Knight scrambles back into position. Cfield shot stopped. Rebound blocked by Felo. All sorts of pressure. They score. A shot from the blue line finds its way in. It was Ghoulie I believe will let it go. What a heartbreaker that is. This one comes to an end as the Canadians knock off the Hawks 3-2 in Chicago’s home opener. That’s some hard hockey. They played their hearts out. A tough pill to swallow for certain. Um, you know, it’s it’s disappointing because I thought we’ve made progress here and it’s hard when you’re when you’re not getting W’s to continue to to to stay with it, but it’s just something that we’re going to have to do. We’re in position to to win every hockey game. We need to continue to do that but then find ways to win. We’re not, you know, here for moral victories, but we are here for process. Trying to walk it in front and the score. The rebound slides free to Fino. Nice play. Here’s Marovski. Scores on the power play. Two-1 Hawks to the line. Carolina trying to get it out. Kicks on Switzer with the empty net. M. He’s got one. Make it true. And that’ll seal it. And the first win behind the bench of the Hawks for Jeff Flashel as head coach. The biggest thing for me, man, we’ve been in a spot four times. So, it sucks that we didn’t come out with two points. I get it. You keep putting yourself in the spot and now you start to learn how to win. Now, you start to go. Okay. So, we got to make sure we take this out. We apply it here on Wednesday against St. Louis. Big one hit there. You just move on to the next one. Go find a way to win. We made him wait a little long to get it, but uh first win as the head coach in the Chicago Black Hawks. One thing I’d say to that is I love this group, man. I love this group. I really do. I think it’s a special group. So, we’ll uh we’ll keep there’ll be many more of these, man. I’m really enjoying it with you guys. Let’s keep battling. Okay. [Music]

The wait is over. Season 4 of Every Shift kicks off with an inside look at a pivotal summer for the Chicago Blackhawks.

Rising star Frank Nazar signs his first contract extension, solidifying his future with the franchise. Meanwhile, a new voice takes the reins behind the bench as Jeff Blashill steps in as head coach, bringing fresh energy and vision to a young, hungry roster.
 
Go behind the scenes from training camp to puck drop, and get exclusive access to locker room moments, coach’s meetings, and in-game mic’d-up action from the first four games of the regular season. New leadership. New expectations. Same Blackhawks tradition.

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