Tony Granato On Blackhawks Power Play Struggles & Hot Start to the Season! | CHGO Blackhawks Podcast

Tony Granato On Blackhawks Power Play Struggles & Hot Start to the Season! | CHGO Blackhawks Podcast

The Blackhawks have been playing well, but if the power play was working, it would look a lot better. How would Tony Granado fix it? We’ll find out next on CHGO Blackhawks. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Happy Monday, if there is such a thing. Welcome in to the CHDO Blackhawks podcast presented by Bet365. Download the Bet365 app. Use our code cho365 when you sign up, whatever the moment. It’s never ordinary at Bet 365. In a moment, we’re going to be joined by Blackhawks analyst, former player, former coach Tony Granado. But first, we’re going to tell you to hit the like button, hit the subscribe button on YouTube, and on your favorite podcast app. Make sure you are following or subscribed and leave us a fivestar review on Apple Podcast or Spotify. So, let’s go right out. We have a limited amount of time with Tony, so we’re going to get right to it. Uh Tony, thanks for being with us. This is the first of what will be uh several visits over the year, and we’re excited to have you. Thanks for doing this. Thanks for having me, guys. We’re happy to have you. Absolutely. Uh the big story coming out of last night’s game and the big story today at practice was the Blackhawks power play. it has simply uh not looked good uh this season. Today they moved Andre Burkovsky up to the first unit. Um what are you seeing from the Hawks power play? What is not working and what would you do to fix it? Well, I think there’s there’s two key components to uh getting set and getting zone time. One, it’s winning a faceoff. The first draw obviously is in the opponent zone. So, if you can win that first draw and get set, uh, it means a lot to your power play because if you got to go back and chase it and break out, uh, obviously you’re you’re giving the penalty killers a kind of excitement to start the PK and they think, “Oh, it’s off to a great start.” It gives them a lot of momentum. So, I think first thing is is not necessarily having to win every draw, but it’s to make sure that you don’t lose the draw clean and give them a clear. I mean, there’s lots of teams that have great wingers or centers that can tie up a little bit that you can jump in and help on a faceoff so they don’t get a full clear even though you don’t win the draw. I think that would be the number one thing of figuring out how to just get more pucks off of faceoffs to start in the offensive zone. And then the second thing is is definitely the breakouts and the entries. So when you cross the blue line, the plan and the and they’re running the routes and and making sure that everybody is is uh accountable on finding ways to recover pucks on the entries. Uh those two things once I think they settle into that and focus on those two points, I think their movement with the puck when they are set and their options that they do have uh are good. I think it’s been actually really good. So uh last night’s game without Bertusi in there, they threw Nick in there. probably didn’t get a whole lot of reps practice-wise before that. Uh I think missing Bertusi there yesterday hurt them and especially in a tight game like that. Uh but you know, you said Barovsky got some reps today uh on that on that first unit. I think he’s a guy that has gained confidence uh since the start of the season, especially with Connor. Uh I think that uh he’s earned that opportunity to be with that group. So uh great playmaker, big body. Uh I think he sees the ice really well. I think he can help bet you. Well, you mentioned confidence and and at practice today, I actually asked Jeff Lashel about the power play. And he said that confidence was such a big part of it is when you’re feeling good, when things are going well, it makes you play better in a power play. With that in mind, you’ve got two really young defenseman running the power play units for the Hawks. You’ve got Renzel on unit one, you’ve got Lev on unit two. What have you made of their uh initial uh entry into the power play world? And uh do you see guys out there in those roles struggling or do you think they’re holding their own in that regard? I think they’re holding their own. I I mean yes, that’s a big responsibility for a young kid to make an NHL roster and then say hey there’s your first power play unit. You’re going out there with Badard or Nazar. Uh you got Terravan and you got Patuzzi out there. For a young kid, you know, it’s pretty overwhelming that you know you step into that position. Uh but he’s poised. I think the one area that you got to keep reminding him is, hey, you’re out there for a reason. You’re not out there just to to be a player that has to give the puck to everybody else. You got to find a way to become a threat. And to become a shooting threat is always the most important thing for the guy on top because that alls that does as soon as you become a shooting threat and you wind up like you’re going to deliver it to the net. PKers have to respect that. They have to tighten up. They have to collapse back to the net in case the puck does get there to cover uh to cover from behind. So, I think that’s the probably the one thing that I would keep encouraging the young defenseman to do is to make sure when you get that puck, you’re not out there just to be a distributor. The first thing you have to be is a a scoring threat or a shooting threat. And when you do move the puck, then that’ll give more time and space for the guys that you distribute it to. with the move of Burikovski up to the top power play unit um and and moving Terravine and down to the second one. I think a lot of uh talk has been since Terravine has been here is like play playing him with Bardarden. We haven’t seen it at five on five and you know now that they’re off the top power play unit. How do you think that will affect Connor? Uh, and then how do you see Terravine being able to be a little bit more effective on the power play as you he can be a really good distributor at at at five on five, but I don’t know if we’ve seen that translate so far this season uh with that top power play group. Correct. And and Terravan is an elite passer. We saw that on the game-winning goal in Tampa the other day. That’s that saucer soft pass that laid to the space that Nazar skated to was one that maybe, you know, only 10 or 12 players in the league could make. So, he is an elite passer. Um, you know, I I there hasn’t been great chemistry. I think probably because the the smaller players together, I think probably isn’t the greatest fit. So, having a bigger body uh with Connor sounds and looks better. Uh Barakowski is a guy that can grind it out in the corners a little bit, get to the net front a little bit better than Terrain can. Obviously, Terrain’s passing skills on the power play. Uh I liked him on on the first unit. I liked how him and Bertusi worked that, you know, side of the ice when Bertusi would release. Um, but, you know, I think at this point they’re just going to try a few things. I think being interchangeable at points is going to be really important as well. So, just because Terrain’s moved to the other unit. I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I think, you know, I think Blash is going to experiment as the season goes along on giving guys different opportunities. And then at the end of the day, uh, to be a good team, you got to be compatible with everybody. you got to be able to play in that slot, whether it’s the first unit, the second unit, whether it’s not on a unit, you still have to perform uh and what’s of asking you. So, so, so I think getting those different spots, playing with different players, playing different spots on the power play is only going to help their development and growth uh as the year goes along. So, I think a little change right now is a good thing. Well, we’ve been seeing a lot of change in rotation and guys having to be able to play with everybody with the 11 forward, seven to defenseman uh lineup that Lashel’s gone to basically every game except maybe opening night. The first one. Yeah. Um, how have you seen that that working out? I know he’s he’s liked to use that to get Connor and and Frank some more ice time and and and also kind of leveling out the def the defense. How have you seen that playing out? Yeah, I think that’s the biggest thing, you know, with the young D, especially since they’re relying on 4D to kill penalties, having Krevier as the seventh D. Uh so in case one of those four guys, you know, get a penalty, you have another defenseman that you want to kill penalties, he doesn’t want uh Lebanon off and he’s kept Grizzlick off PK units for the most part. So, uh, having that bonus defenseman back there in case one of your regular D do get a penalty, I think has been really important, especially with the amount of penalties that the Hawks have taken, uh, through the first eight or nine games. So, so I think that’s a luxury. And the other part, like you just said, it gives you more flexibility on the bench. When you got a player going, uh, you can instead of disrupting the flow of your bench, you already know you’re got 11 forwards. It gives them the ability to to find the guy that’s really going and get him some more ice time. And again, the Hawks are young. they get a good hungry forward group handling two or three extra minutes a night. Uh as long as it’s not the same guy and he’s playing 23 or 24 minutes as a forward night after night, I think that’s a something that Blash has really enjoyed being able to do to mix and match. And then another thing it does do is it keeps the other team a little offbalance if they’re trying to match especially defensive pairs against Connor or certain players. Gives them an opportunity to kind of get away from those matchups as well. just sort of zooming out away from the special teams necessarily. Um, this team out of the gate is overachieved standings wise. I think they’re they’re in a better position than maybe we had expected. And if you look through, you know, the preseason predictions from everybody, everyone says last, second to last. Um, some of the underlying, at least the public analytics say that this is sort of smoke and mirrors from the Hawks. Your expert eye, you’ve been watching them all season. Do you think what the Hawks are doing right now is sustainable? Do you think they’re a team that has taken that next step? I’m not going to say playoff team, but a team that’s going to be playing meaningful games late into the season. Well, I I do think that what they’ve done uh through these games is has started in the net. I think there’s no way we can deny that the fact that Spencer Knight has stepped up and shown the Blackhawk fans why Kyle Davidson’s trade last year uh wasn’t just a trade to get rid of Seth Jones contract and and do whatever. was to acquire a piece to the puzzle that was going to be a very prominent uh marquee player for the Hawks moving forward. And he’s settled into that. He’s handled that uh you know role of being asked to be the guy uh and he’s been the best goalie in the NHL. You you can look at stata statistics, analytics, whatever. and the eye test what he’s done for the Blackhawks on how he’s calmed down any uh sort of uh uh struggles in their own end or any mistakes they’re made. He’s there. And so that’s the foundation piece that I think has been the uh part that I think gets everybody so excited. I don’t think he’ll be able to play at that pace the whole year. I think he’s going to have some drops. I think there’s going to be some games where he gives up three or four that he’s a he wasn’t great tonight. But so far he hasn’t had those games. Uh, and what I think that does for your young defense is it says, “Okay, when we clear out and box out and we do these little things, if there’s a loose puck around the net, we just shoot it to the corner, we’re going to be okay.” I think it gives those guys more confidence of not having to uh overdefend or think, “Oh my gosh, we got to dive in front of a shot and run ourselves out of position to do that. Our goal is going to make that save.” So, I think he’s settled down the team. I think that’s been the brightest spot. Uh back to your original question, you know, what what should the expectations be now that we’re, you know, uh a tenth of the way through the season? Should they be can they make the playoffs? I don’t think that that’s fair to say with what they’ve done, we should expect them to make the playoffs. What we should expect them to do is see lots of games like we’ve seen where they’re going to be tight. There’s going to be a lot of new challenges for them that they’re going to face. Uh and then just keep playing as hard as they’ve been playing. If they do that, who cares how many That’s my This is my opinion. I don’t care how many points they get. If they continue to play as hard and play for each other like they have uh through the start of the season, it’s going to be a fun year. It’s going to be a year that’s going to be the step in the right direction. It’s going to be all of the things that Jeff Blashill and Kyle Davidson and and the rest of management planned for this team for this year. So, uh with that being said, I kind of skipped around your question. I think they can be 500 and that’s realistic. And if they can push past that because they get the power play going, they stay healthy, uh, and some of the other younger guys, you know, grow into their their roles a little bit more, uh, I think it’s going to be a really fun, uh, year for Hawk Hawk fans and for, uh, from a development standpoint, a very, uh, positive year. Well, you talk about, you know, how Spencer Knight provides confidence for the for the team the way he’s playing and, you know, some of these results early on can can provide some confidence. I think one of the guys that is driving this team, at least early on to start the season has been Frank Nazar, and he’s not a guy that’s short on confidence. And um, you know, we’ve heard a couple of the the veterans talk about how much energy he brings to the group. I know Ryan Donado mentioned that after with the game a couple of nights ago. I think it might have been the uh the game that was on ESPN. Um, when you have that kind of player and and you kind of have that guy that has a personality that’s a little bit of infectious around amongst the group and you have this young of a team, do you feel like the way that the early momentum has gone, the lesson learning or the, you know, the the hard nights in the league that a lot of these guys, these young players have to go through, do you think they can kind of roll with that confidence, roll with that momentum and learn lessons while also hitting positive results. Like cuz we talked about it this season is there’s going to be a lot of growing pains in the idea that they’re going to lose games and they’re going to, you know, look look bad losing them. But can they go through growing pains, so to say, while getting those positive results and and learning those same lessons? Answer is yes. and and you know, you brought up a good player there in Frankie Nazer, not just because of how well uh he’s played and scored and and done uh you know, really since the last 10 games of last season. Uh he’s proven that he can score every night and make big plays. Uh, the one thing that I think he does that we’ve talked about and hinted about is it gives, you know, Conor Bard, whether you want to say a running mate, whether you just want to say a buddy, whether you say somebody that he’s can experience this, you know, growing into to being uh a player that can not only be a superstar because everybody knows how talented you are, but a team that can bring a team together. I think having a running mate like that is perfect pair. Uh, so I think that the influence that Frank’s had on Connor has given him the confidence uh to kind of be a kid again. I think when when Connor got here at 18, he’s looking around and gosh, they signed all these older players. I I’m looking around this dressing room. I’m 15 years younger than a lot of these guys. uh to get more and more uh younger kids into the locker room, give them a voice, give them kind of a a group to hang with on the road to kind of act like kids, you know, like they are, I think has been extremely beneficial. And I think the older guys when I especially when I say Felino, uh, Murphy, uh, Dickinson, you know, guys that that they’re I I think feeding off of that young energy and really enjoying hanging around the kids in a different way now that they’ve kind of stepped out of their shell. And I think Frank’s been a big part of that. And uh, and again, it’s been fun to watch. It’s early in the year. if they keep playing as hard and as competitive as they are, you know, that’s all we can ask of these guys. Yeah. Really feels like Nazar’s emergence and even even if he was not performing at the level he’s at. Just have somebody else to kind of take some of the spotlight off of Connor has been helpful, too. even just, you know, being in the room after practices, not everyone is just hanging around Connor’s locker waiting to put a camera in his face and ask him a million questions because there’s other guys on a team that are part of this thing going forward where his first year it was basically him and a bunch of stop gap guys. Now it’s him and Frank and Levinov and Renzel’s here and Spencer Knight’s here. So there’s so many more guys that matter to the ultimate conclusion that Kyle Davidson’s trying to reach. It just gives him some room to breathe a little bit and I think that that’s been almost as helpful as anything. I mean, you made a great point. I mean, there were there were pieces of the team in the last couple years that were they were fillers for sure. If you look at I’m looking at the roster right now and and you know, I can say, you know, I could see 14 or 15 of these guys being here for three or four more years where last year and two years ago when I look at the roster, I’d say, well, there’s only going to be two or three that are going to be here and continue on as this group moves forward. So, I think the building blocks and the pieces that have been inserted into the lineup this year, uh, really give you hope because you’re going to watch these guys develop and, you know, they’re going to be here, uh, you know, when the time comes when they’re going to have a, you know, a legitimate chance to have great success in this league. And, and I think that part I think the guys are starting to realize that, too. Like, hey, we’re not just here, you know, to to, you know, pass a little time go until the other guys get here. I think most of these guys are feeling confident that they’re going to be part of the future and I think that mean means a lot to them as well. And let you know we what we haven’t really talked about is Jeff Blashfield’s influence on the group. He’s given them the confidence uh to be themselves. Uh he’s he’s kind of carved out a little bit of role for each of them. Some of them are different than others, but each of them know what Jeff expects that they can add to the team. You don’t want all the same. You want, you know, Colton Doc has been given a certain responsibility. Obviously, McKay’s been given a responsibility. All these guys, I think, have really understood what’s being asked of them. And if you if you grade out on all these guys, I mean I mean the worst grade, I don’t know, would be maybe a B minus out of out of all of the players this year so far. And that’s outstanding after 10 games that you say, “Wow, this guy’s having a terrible start to the year.” I don’t know that you could say that about anybody and the lineup. So, kudos to the coaches and kudos to the guys for absorbing what Jeff’s tried to instill here. All right, Tony, we know you’re short on time. Thank you so much for making the time for us today. Uh can’t wait till our next visit. Thank you so much. Hey, thanks guys. Always fun. All right, that’s Tony Granado, CHSN Blackhawks analyst. He’ll be uh on the calls uh going forward for the next handful of games here. So, look forward to that. We are late for the break zone. We’re going to hit it right now. Hit that like button. In the meantime, we’ll talk to you in two minutes on CHDL Blackhawks. Whatever the moment, it’s never ordinary at Bet 365. New customers like you get $200 in bonus bets when you bet five bucks. Win or lose. 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For just 50 bucks a month or 500 for the whole year, athletes of all ages and all sports can find you directly. And our good friends Chris and Dave are in office today from Eye on the Ball. They were letting us know about a promo going on right now where coaches can try using their services for free for 6 months. Uh that’s a pretty good offer. It’s a great deal. Uh so if you’re looking to uh continue to grow your coaching business and reach more athletes, check it out right now. I ontheball.net. That’s iontheball.net. Uh it’s really easy. I on the ball doesn’t mess with your schedule, your payments, or your business. You’re in full control and they connect you with athletes that are already looking for coaches just like you. Again, eye ontheball.net is where you need to be. Don’t wait. The athletes are already there looking for you to coach them up. All right, we are back on CHDL Blackhawks. Thanks to Tony Gronado for joining us and a lot of people really enjoyed that segment. Uh, get used to it. We’re going to have him on a number of almost like a what, like a dozen or something? Like a dozen times. Yeah. So, it’s going to be great. So, uh, we appreciate the feedback on Tony. Always good. Always insightful. And when he’s here, we’ll have more time. We’ll stretch legs a little bit, have a few more laughs. But, uh, we wanted to get to some of the stuff. One of the things he said that stood out his kind of his last point where he’s like, “I’m going through the sheet here and I’m trying to grade all the players and the lowest grade I can come up with is a B minus.” And I want to ask him, who’s got a B minus? Uh, but he’s kind of right. Yeah. As you go up and down the roster, you’ve pretty much gotten what you’ve wanted from everybody. And I would say I’ll play along. I’ll say like, who’s the B minus, right? Mhm. Um I would say that I think Andre Burikovski has had a tougher time getting going offensively than maybe I expected. Uh especially with the opportunity that he’s had with Baddard. I will say obviously has had some things going on in his life. His wife just had a baby and the whole having a baby thing isn’t just the day the baby’s born. There’s the weeks leading up to it, the weeks following. So it’s a big moment. The years following. Yes. Yeah. Exactly. So to say that, well, that was one day he should be maybe now that the baby’s been born and things are a little more secure, whatever you want to call it, he’ll start finding his way. But overall, I think he’s been effective. And we’ll hear from Jeff Flash later. He talks about why he’s on a top power play unit. Um, so I would say that could potentially be one of the guys who said, uh, maybe we’re expecting a little bit more from him. Yeah, I think a lot of people might say Ardam Lechinov, but I’ll tell you, if you start digging in on some of the analytics around Lechinov lately, he has been at or near the top of the boards for the Hawks. Now, there is still a moment or two, every game where you got to hold on to your butt cheeks. Yeah. And hope for the best. And Adam Ho said that to us today after the show. He’s like, “Is it just me or is every time left has the puck, I have a heart attack?” It feels that way, but I feel like it’s gotten less and less often. He’s looked more confident with the puck. And I think you see a moment like you saw from Lefchov last night where he clears the puck off the ice while laying out Cory Perry. It’s a little thing, but it shows you that that confidence is starting to grow for him. The thinking is starting to diminish a little bit and he’s using his instincts cuz that’s when you watch Lefchov at Michigan State. That’s the kind of player he was. Yeah, I’m going to move the puck with speed. I’m going to put on the tape. Then I’m going to lay you out and then I’m going to score. Like that’s the whole package of Ardam Lef. So hopefully we’re getting closer and closer to seeing that fully realized. You talk about, you know, the dig into the analytics. I’m going to do that right now. All right. From natural statick, amongst all Blackhawks defenseman, uh, eight of them on the list here, Ethan Delmro played one game, so seven defenseman. Uh chances four at five on five while on the ice. The best percentage at 50.98 is Ardam Lechenov. Second best at 50.69 is Matt Grizzlick. Nice Fenwick, which is shots towards the net that don’t get blocked. Different from Corsy. Uh the top defenseman at 53.66% is Matt Grizzlick. The next best defenseman at 48.76% is Ardam Lechinov. And shots four percentage. These are shots that actually go on the net. Top is Matt Grizzlick at 55.46%. Uh but second at 51.25% is Ardum Lechinov. He also has seven goals for uh and three against while on the ice at five on five and is the second highest expected goals four percentage at five on five. Uh that is Ardum Lionov 55.37% behind 56.05% Oh, 5% for Matt Grick, Norris Trophy candidate, Matt Grizzlick. Best defenseman on the team, Matt Grizzlick analytically. But so you look at what Lev is doing, and those are just five on five numbers. You throw in his power play time as well, those numbers get inflated a little bit, but you see what he’s been been able to do while he’s on the ice at five on five. And while there are those moments that kind of make you go, boy, he’s still a net positive. while he’s out there. And I think for a 19-year-old defenseman who will turn 20 soon, I think his birthday is like in the next couple of days. Um, tomorrow is his birthday. He’ll be 20. But still for a 1920 year old defenseman to be net positive in the analytics to be running a power play unit like I think what you’re seeing from him to begin this season and even just from game one which he was scratched to game nine yesterday there’s been an improvement and that’s all you can ask for at this point like you want to see those those steps forward those improvements from you know the beginning of last season to the end of last season he was much different defenseive you’re already seeing growth in the first handful of games. So, I I think it’s it is still trending in the right direction for Lefnov, even though there are still a lot of those moments where you’re like you get a little little antsy. Yeah. Well, one of the things too about him is that even at Michigan State or even in Rockford or where wherever, that is kind of part of his game is there’s going to be those risky plays, but he’s got the speed and he’s got the skill to kind of make up for them. We have seen that this year, but again, they’re throwing a lot at a guy as a 19year-old Tony tomorrow. Um, that I think he’s handling overall well. Those things will get cleaned up. Those are the sort of things that can be coached. Those are the sort of things that he’s going to kind of learn as his game evolves at the pro level where, okay, I got away with this in Rockford. I cannot get away with this in the NHL. Conor Bernard had to go through the same stuff. Yes. and he to some point is still going through it, still learning those lessons. And I think that’s something where I was actually having this conversation with Tracy Myers walking out of Fifth Third today. Yeah, I dropped that name. Take that everybody. Um about just like coaching, right? Like sometimes it’s hard for the greatest NHL coaches to coach the like greatest NHL players to coach the game because it’s like well it’s easy Wayne Gretzky like right and and somebody like Conor Badard somebody like Ardam Levchov playing in Bellarus right and then like he’s never really been challenged he’s always been the best player so he’s never had to really work through that growth whereas somebody like a Matt Grizzlick or a Nick Felino or a Ryan Donado or whatever has had to at every level overcome, rise above, prove themselves, that sort of thing because they’re not gifted with other worldly ability. So, I think sometimes those lessons come a little bit slower for those guys who were so naturally gifted their entire lives that learning to struggle for the first time can be a challenge. So, I think we’re seeing that a little bit with Lev. We’ve definitely seen it with Bedard. But I like the way that Leon his arrow has been steadily going up. Yeah. The mo those holy crap never do that again moments. Instead of being three, four times a game are now maybe once or twice a game and hopefully that’ll go to once a game and then maybe two or three times a week and then a couple times a month and then eventually it’ll just be every now and again, right? Like that’s the idea. Uh and I also like what Tony said too. I want to see he’s got a great shot. Lean. So does Renzel. I want to see both those guys. I know they’re young. I know you want to defer. I know all those things. But the reason that Renzel and Le part of the reason that those guys are on the power play units is because of their shots. Use them. Take them. How many postgame shows have we spent yelling at Connor Bard? It is not selfish to shoot. It is not selfish to put the puck in the net. There was a moment today when practice began where Jeff Blau blew the team blew the drill dead and said bear down and score goals. Like he was just frustrated that throughout the drills no pucks were going in the net. He’s like bear down and finish. Get it done. It’s hard to beat Spencer Knight. The point of hockey is to score goals. It doesn’t matter if you’re 19 or 37 or anywhere in between. No one’s going to be mad at you for scoring it. Leon’s got a great shot. Renzel’s got a great shot. Art Lashov has played eight games this year. He has seven shots on goal. That’s not enough for a power play two quarterback. He’s got to be getting pucks through. Yeah. On net because look, you’ve got guys, power play unit two is uh you got FelinO out there, you got Donado out there. You’ve got net crashers green on that unit. Those are the kind of guy like the first unit spread it around. Move it. You got Nazar, got Bard, you got great shooters, right? Well, and you got Bertusi at the usually when he’s healthy. That’s your netfront guy, which is a great net front guy, right? But especially power play two is basically a bunch of netfront guys. Yeah. So, use that. Get the puck to the front of the net and get it in. Let’s actually hear from Jeff Flash next. Uh he spoke after Hawks practice today. Uh do us a favor, hit that like button. We’re back in two minutes on CHDO Blackhawks presented by Bet 365. Winter is right around the corner and you need to know if your home’s heating is up for the challenge. Get in touch with our friends at Four Seasons. They will get you squared away. Now is the time to schedule your Four Seasons furnace tuneup. You’re thinking about a whole home generator, they’ve got you covered. At Four Seasons, they guarantee same day insulation for all your heating, cooling, plumbing, electrical, and generator needs with no extra charge for nights, weekends, or holidays. because that’s when those things break. Yep. It never fails. 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And as one of the top selling Chevy dealers in the Midwest, they’re able to keep their prices competitive, so you know you’ll get a great deal. And raise price promise means you can shop confidently because the price you see is the price you pay. Don’t miss out on their No Tricks, Just Treats sales event going on all month long for 0% financing, $0 down with no payments until 2026, and no hidden fees on select new Chevy models. Shop Ray Chevrolet in Fox Lake or at rayvrolet.com. They’ve been serving the community since 1963. Together, let’s drive. All right, we are back and at long last, we have some new merch for you, the Blackhawks fan. and it is the CHGO faceoff collection. We’ve got the skull and crosssticks uh Chicago hockey club design which I really I like. Well, I ordered both of these by the way immediately. And we’ve got the hawk with the tomahawk. I think that’s Tyler Bertuzi in the It does look like Tyler Bertusi or Sam Laferty missing that tooth. Yeah, with the missing tooth. Uh very cool. Get them at store.allcityetwork.com at all cityetwork.com or you can become a diehard at allgo.com/join and choose one of those shirts for free. If you’re an existing diehard like so many of you are, you’ll save 20% on these brand new designs. Get those orders in. They are in the pre-order stage. So once they a certain threshold it’s ordered, they will be printed and shipped. So the quicker we sell them, the quicker you get them. So get those orders in today. store.allcityetwork.com and always encourage you to check out everything there. Um, there’s always a never- ending supply of Bear shirts. Um, Cubs, socks, everybody, Bulls, great stuff. And if you got you’re a fan of an out of town team, Dallas, Philly, Phoenix, etc. They’ve got merch there, too. So, check it all out. store.allcityetwork.com. But most importantly, become a diehard at allgo.com and pick one of those shirts or any shirt you’d like for free or you get 35% off a uh 35 bucks off bucks or percent bucks bucks off a hoodie or hat. Mhm. It’s a good deal. Uh do also want to mention we have three takeovers this year. Yep. Uh the first one of the three December 13th, you’re out of luck. Sold out. Uh January 19th, that’s us up in the suits for Jonathan Tasa’s return to the United Center, also sold out. So if you were hoping to get a sweet uh seat, should have jumped on it. That one is sold out. The last one we have is the season finale at home April 15th against the San Jose Sharks. Tickets are still available for that one. Uh so if you missed out on the 13th which is uh against the Red Wings on Chris Chelios bobblehead night on the black jersey night um too late. Uh but if you want to see the final tuneup before the playoffs on April 15th at the United Center uh tickets are still available uh for that game. So check it out at all.com/events and uh you got to scroll down a little bit. All the Bale Bears tailgates are there, but you’ll find us and uh you can get your tickets there. I think there’s like 10. Yeah, there’s six or seven left. Yeah, at least six or seven, maybe 10. Uh but jump on that so you can uh come on out and each tail or each um takeover has some different tied to it, different uh little events tied to it as well. That last one includes coming back to the studio for the final regular season uh postgame show and hanging out with us while we do the show. And help us finish the Portillos’s cake left over for the Cubs playoff run. Yeah, I’m sure there will be some there’s at least seven of those cakes still in the fridge. Uh they they were expecting to go on a longer run, but um yeah, check that out and uh join us. Always a good time. Yes. Uh always a great time. I’m going to raise you. By the way, you’re saying it’s on the black jersey night. I’m going to say it’s a black jersey night. Well, yeah. They’re not going to just do it once. I think there’ll be more than one. Okay. Um, what were we going to talk about? We had something Oh, yeah. Jeff Flashel. That feels like a lifetime ago. Let’s hear from the Blackhawks head coach. Uh, this video today is courtesy of the Chicago Blackhawks cuz I had some audio issues. So, we’re using their video today. Here he is after practice today. How is Mave today? Uh, I’d still say dayto day. I I can’t say for sure that he’ll be in or out tomorrow. Um I you know I would say the same with Tyler Batuzi. Um you know Tyler didn’t practice so you know we’ll see. It probably makes them more doubtful but uh uh they’re both they’re both uh well you know I I’ll probably have more tomorrow. M’s upper body is upper body. Yep. Upper body. Yep. Upper to mid. when you’re down two forwards like that, do you start to consider going back to 12 and six to not put a strain on the forward group or do you not want to disrupt them? It’s a it’s a good question and and um you know, we’ve had multiple games now where we’ve had 11 and then somebody got hurt, you know, and so now you’re down to 10. Um I I think I just have to watch in in kind of our energy level of our forwards and if we think the energy level’s draining because of overexertion, you know, there’s there’s multiple reasons why things like that happen. Sometimes it’s travel, sometimes it’s emotion, sometimes uh it’s all those things. So, I we’ll we’ll continue to monitor it. I will say um it really fits our deco to go seven and I think our decor has excelled at seven and so it’ll be hard for me to go away from that, but it’s something I’ll continue to monitor. It looked like Burkowski wasn’t the top power play unit. What do you like about that? Um first off, you know, we wanted to look at it today in practice and I can’t guarantee that’s what it’ll look like tomorrow. Um, but I don’t, you know, you you’d rather try things out in practice than in game. So, let’s try it and see if we like the look of it. I think, uh, Beeroski’s been very, very good on the power play. Um, this would not be a knock on to all. Um, I think I could point to five guys on that unit and say different guys have had uh, uh, you know, differing reasons for its lack of success. But, I think, you know, maybe we it it it sparks us a little bit if we decide to go with it. Um, you know, they they’d have opportunities to look like today whether you go downhill, you have opportunities, you know, to play the other side and be more onetime sides. Um, you know, I think Burke, he’s been really really good on the power play when he’s, you know, so far from what I’ve seen. Uh, and so maybe it it gives us a spark. You mentioned making a tweak on the breakouts and you’re doing a little bit more practice with that today. What would you like to see them improve? Um, we were just trying, you know, the tweak going into last game was a little bit more with Frankie and just trying to utilize his speed. You know, with with Berky, it’s probably not as needed, but I still think Frankie needs to be a threat as a as a speed somewhere in our breakout um because he is so fast and he can kind of be, you know, game breaking, whether it’s stretching like we did the other night where he almost got in alone there or whether it’s uh uh, you know, using him coming up the ice. So, we’ll we’ll we’ll keep kind of looking at those things. Um, you know, people get in different ways. Some guys are real speed units. I would say, um, you know, Connor probably likes to kind of maneuver his way in. Um, that’s the way Nikita Cuchov is, you know. Uh, some guys like to, you know, Andre attacks a little bit more speed. So, it gives you more a little more speed in that kind of spot. According to the public numbers, the power play metrics aren’t that great. I think it’s like third to last in scoring chances. The internal numbers as concerning as that? I’d have to I’d have to look. um and say that for certain. Two things I would say is the power play hasn’t been good enough. Okay. So that’s I’m not doing. Now the second thing I would say is I I would in you know I think Scott and I talked about this earlier like small sample sizes are small sample sizes statistically. So I don’t overanalyze things especially nine games in the year with statistics. We try to let it build just the reality of it. know you want to grab something and make an argument and I get that but if you really look you know mathematicians would tell you not to even come close to looking at small sample sizes. So the power play has to be better if that’s the quick answer to it you know and and it has to be better in a sense too that it it it uh gives us momentum and um you know so and not cause frustration um that’s how your offensive players get confidence that’s how your team kind of builds off it. So, we’ll keep working out. Keep working at looking at different ways. You mentioned in training camp how it took Tampa about a month to catch on your penalty kill. Are you seeing a similar situation here with the power play? Oh, that’s a good question. Um, not necessarily. Not necessarily. I just think power plays are funny. Like offense is a confidence driven thing and and when you’re not kind of rolling, it just it seems like nothing kind of goes right and you score a little bit and next thing you know, you get confidence. Confidence is an amazing amazing thing that I’ve seen in sports. And so we just got to find a way to get our guys in position to to have some success, hopefully get some success, and then build off that. I know a pretty good chance on on the PK yesterday. Are you are you being aggressive enough? Are you seeing enough I know you want to create some shortand turn off? Yeah, you know, the way I’ve seen shorties happen usually come from your own end. So it’s not you know, I think I think we’re certainly being aggressive enough in our own end. Um, I think we’ve missed a couple opportunities where we could really take off and go. Like even the last game, uh, you know, we got a turnover. It looked like maybe Frank and in, uh, in Turbo could go and then we kind of turn it over. So, we missed that opportunity. You know, we’d certainly like to score short-handed. Uh, be a threat that way. Um, so we’ll see. You know, that that’s probably been a secondary focus to kind of understanding the the principles of our of our kill first. And uh I think as you get kind of again confident with it all a sudden, you know, you learn how to kind of feed off each other. Like Frankie and Turbo could be a group that could definitely be a threat shorthanded. Mai is a guy that can be a threat short-handed. So we’ll keep working on that. Something we want to do. Did you feel real? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You’re good. Did you feel real good about that first period tactically? Yeah, I thought we came out and played a really good first period to be honest with you. I thought we were uh I was I was you know I thought our structure was really good. I thought we created turnovers because of it. I thought we transitioned because of it. Connor had the twoon-one chance. Um you know I thought that was really good. And every game’s going to have and flow. They’re going to go in. They’re going to come out better. Um I thought we slowed our I thought we kind of had some unforced errors with turnovers after that. But I I I liked uh I like the way we came out. It it it made you feel good about you know off of a off of a big win in Tampa. Some travel. We came out and did a good job. So, we just got to keep building off that and and it’s not going to be uh you know, that was something that I thought two weeks ago our structure in those areas wasn’t good enough, especially neutral zone. So, it’s definitely something that’s gotten better. All right, there he is. Uh Jeff Flashel, thanks to the Blackhawks for use of that uh video. We appreciate that as always. Um you know, the more time I spend covering him, I just really appreciate his cander. Um for a guy who said like, “Ah, when the season starts, I’m not going to give you a lot of information.” He gives a lot of information. Oh, he just won’t give you the lineup. That’s the only But he still kind of gives you the lineup. Kind of. You gota He He said He said the first uh was it was it the first preseason game or Yeah, I think it was the first preseason game. We were trying to figure out like, okay, who’s the starter? Who’s you know, all this stuff, just standard questions. And he was just like, you know, I don’t really do the whole lineup thing, so I’ll let you guys do your jobs. So, it was funny the yesterday’s game I asked him about Arvid Solder Bloom starting and he was like, “Who’s that?” And I was like, “Arvid, he’s starting.” And he was like, “Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. Okay.” Just like, “Yes, you’re starting.” I forgot that guy’s name. Um, but yeah, he definitely does. Uh, he’s I mean, not as I’d say, detailed and granular as Luke Richardson was. Yeah, Luke loved that. where he would go like five minutes on a question to to answer it. But um but yeah, you get a you get a a good amount of information out of Jeff Blashel in a in a way that you know even for you know for people who are not quote unquote in the game or whatever um can understand it, digest it and kind of figure out what he’s talking about. All right. Uh we are right up against the breakdown. We’re going to hit it. I do want to get in. I know we talked a lot about the power play with Tony Gronado, but it is kind of the big story of the Hawks right now. And if Verikovski does indeed get that opportunity with the first unit, what would it look like? Let’s talk about that next on CHDL Blackhawks. Hit that like button for us. We’re back in 2 minutes. Chicago Sports Network is the official TV and streaming home of the Blackhawks, Bulls, and White Socks broadcasting over 300 live games per year. And our friend Tony Gado on CHSN. Catch him there. CHSN offers the all access plan. 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Uh let’s talk about Mike Valuchcci’s power play unit here. Uh looks like uh Andre Burikovski is going to get some run on the first unit with uh Baddard and company. And what he has said about what BL has said about Burkovski all along is that he’s really good on zone entries and really good at carrying the puck with command of the puck and and entering the zone and that has been the biggest issue on the power play and I because I agree with Tony once the power play gets set up Tony Granado I mean um once the power play gets set up it’s fine there’s good puck movement I see they’re especially the first unit they’re trying to get Bard that one-time timer um opportunity which he’s had. He had scored that goal against was it Utah where he scored the one-time power play goal I believe it was early. Yeah. Um it was his first goal of the year. So was it was it Montreal? Maybe it was Montreal. Whatever. Either way, it worked. And he had another good look last night. Same sort of a shot. Um so once they’re able to establish and set up and start distributing, it’s fine. The entries have been the problem. And someone in the chat mentioned the big problem is it kills a minute of the power play because they lose the face off, they got to chase it, then they do the slingshot and then that doesn’t work. They got to do it again. So you almost the first unit almost spends their entire time trying to get the puck and set up. Yeah. If you can get a guy like Burkovski to carry the puck in his own, cool. And I also think too, he mentioned it with Bard. Baddard can do that too. So now you’ve got two guys that can carry the puck into the zone so the so the def the penalty kill opponent doesn’t just go 98’s carrying it in right put all attention on him now you’ve got two guys that can do it hopefully it results into more zone entries and then from there who knows because if you can just have 25% more zone time that makes a difference you’re going to get another shot or two every power play and that that adds up over time. Yeah. I mean, I I think you look at how the power play has has kind of panned out through the first nine games of the season and some games you’re coming away with it where you say the second unit created more had had better opportunities and they’re getting a fraction of the time that the first unit has and and I think some of that can be chocked up to the way that Andre Burkovski carries the puck. And so I I I think if you bring that to the top unit, you can give more of those dangerous players, you know, Bedard and Nazar, uh, opportunity to to play with that advantage. And it it it’s a big it’s a big difference in when you have a player who can, you know, Burkovski can do a lot can do a lot of the same things that that Tavo can do. Maybe maybe to Yeah. maybe not distribute the puck as well, but I think I think carrying it in is is is the big difference. And um you can get him to play and as Tony said, like you can get you get a guy like him that can go and get pucks, too. Like that’s a big that’s a big part of it, too, cuz keeping a power play alive in the offensive zone is just as important as being able to get it into the zone and set it up. like you have a guy like Barikovski that can go into a corner and win a battle to keep possession rather than you know puck gets rung around the boards and you got to go back and chase and set up again. So I think there’s I think there’s some some benefit to having him out out there and I and I think once again once you get set up this is a this is a dangerous group. It’s just the getting set up part. Yeah, that is their their biggest challenge for sure. So, a lot of people loathing the slingshot, and if you’ve listened to the show for any amount of time, you know I have, too. But it’s what most teams in the NHL use. And the Kings used it last night. The way the Kings did it differently, though, is they had two guys come from the defensive zone, full speed into the offensive zone, but they timed it perfectly. So, they would, and neither of those guys, the times that I was noticing it, were actually carrying the puck. They just timed out those two guys blitzing down the boards on each side of the center. Oh, I see what you’re saying. And then they would carry in the zone and then two guys would enter with full speed. So as soon as the puck crossed the blue line, you’ve got two guys deep already. I mean, that takes an a perfect a perfect timing, a lot of experience to execute that. The Hawks are far away from that. But I like the way that looked because then you’ve got the penalty kill unit really on their heels cuz you’ve got someone’s carrying the puck in with a good amount of speed. Then you’ve got two guys blitzing at you forward full speed. That gives you a lot to think about rather than just the puck carrier and one other guy because I think and it was pointed out in the chat too like it the way I think it was the majestic American Woodcock just said it is so automatic and predictable the way the Hawks do it is Renzel are going to bring it up slowly. They’re going to stop at center ice and no matter what happens they’re going to pass it. That’s not hard to plan for. Yeah. I I think you’re I think you’re just in a in a situation where your other option is basically a carry-in system or a or a dump and chase system, which the carryin, I mean, you’re already working with it. You try the slingshot, it I understand the the benefit that it’s trying to bring. And your your power play is not built with the guys that are going to go in and chase and win board battles to win possession every time. Might get one or two, but I think you’re still going to run into the same issues. So, it is the it’s the system that’s going to be set up for the talent that they have. It’s just the execution of it. And yeah, like you said, like the the predictability of it, I think, is is is an issue. And with the young defenseman, those are, you know, Renzel and Lechnov, those are the guys that ne that most of the time are starting the power play entry, uh, that are in charge of what is the drop off or the slingshot pass. And I think sometimes you want them to just have that confidence that you would think a, you know, eight-year veteran would have to just be like, “Oh, I can I can take I can just do it myself.” Seth Jones would do that a number of times, right? Um, but guys that are rookies don’t necessarily have that confidence or maybe even feel like they have that green light to say, I I can take this puck. I’m not going to just be robotic and, you know, strictly go with the with with the drop off pass. Like, if they have an opportunity to take it and go. Um, that can come with time, but I I I think it’s set up for what you for the for the personnel you have. And hopefully as these guys grow in their in their game and they get more confident with it, then we’ll start looking at it as, well, this is the system and this is how it’s supposed to look and this is how it’s supposed to work and look, it’s working. Like I I think we want to get to that point because the alternative is I think just not set up for the guys that they want to have on their power play unit. If you had Renzel or Levinov carrying it up with speed and with purpose, even if they know eventually I’m going to dump this puck off to Frank or Connor or whoever is coming up the rear, it’s going to give the defense a reason to sit back a little bit or wait or not just like immediately start shifting over. But both those guys approach center ice with the puck so deliberately. Mhm. that there’s no way they’re carrying it in. There’s not even the threat of it. So, I think that’s part of the problem is even if you are even if you’re going to do it every time, hit at least the center ice area, hit the neutral zone with a good amount of speed to at least create the illusion that you might take it yourself. Yeah. Because that’s just going to make the other team have to prepare for another opport another possibility. And uh the other thing Blash was talking about um you know the other day said they wanted to just kind of change the way the power play looked. What he said was they want to get Nazar carrying the puck a little bit more. So use his speed through the neutral zone. So that’s something to watch as it goes forward. Look the Kings are a really solid defensive team. They’re really strong down the middle. So it’s I think it’s safe to assume that the power play would struggle against a team like that. Um, but as it moves forward here with if Burkovski does indeed play in a top unit because Vashel did kind of say like, h, we don’t know for sure if it’s going to last, we just want to give it a look in practice. But just some things to look for is who is carrying the puck into the zone now. I think it’s going to look different. I think PP1 is going to be Burkovski, two will be Nazar, and let’s see how the results translate on the ice cuz it’s uh it needs to get better. And look, like last night was the first time the Hawks entered the third period in a game trailing. Mhm. If that’s a trend or is even close to a trend and the power play starts to even be average like middle of the pack, they’re going to start winning some games like Yeah, that could have been a big difference in last night’s game. Well, and last night too, we mentioned it on the post game. It was a game where you had drawn more power plays than or uh drawn more penalties than you took. Yep. Like that’s that’s something that we haven’t seen very often this season from this team. So that’s that’s one of those metrics that when you get that, you want to take advantage of it. So the the second unit, the the the puck carrier is going to be interesting. Uh if this is how it’s going to line up for uh the game tomorrow against the Senators with you got Ryan Green, Donado, Doc, and Terrain. Who’s I think Terrain is probably your your puck carrier. I wouldn’t I might let Donado do it. Yeah, I I I mean one of those two because I don’t think I would I don’t think Doc’s not your puck. I mean, maybe the move eventually is though to is you put Nazar on one and Bard on one. Maybe you break them and I know you want to have like your two most skilled guys out there together and playing and I get that. But they I mean they work well together on the power play. They do. There’s no doubt about it. I would rather them be on the same one. Me too. Yeah, but it’s got to if you’re not getting results, so you got to try something new. And the reality is there’s not a ton of offensive firepower in the Blackhawks yet. And your two most powerful offensive weapons on the same unit might not be. It’s a great luxury, but you might not be able to have that for long. Let’s see how it goes. I think the Burkowski idea could work. Um, and I think also just when Bertusi gets healthy, um, that makes a huge difference cuz he’s just so impactful on the power play. Yeah, little note before we go. Tomorrow’s game is at 7:45. It is part of the NHL’s frozen frenzy, which is their version of the red zone. I love the thought. I love the effort, but there’s hockey does not translate to a red zone style broadcast. And the on red zone, you can very much look at the many games happening and say this team is about to score or that team’s about to score and you could jump to that game accordingly. You can’t do that in hockey. It’s it’s rush rush rush rush rush it’s Isn’t it they do it like when a team has a power play isn’t it like power play power play that’s a that would be the one way you tight game with like three minutes to go or something I just don’t think anyone cares I I think the well I I think also you’re doing it you’re you’re squeezing 16 games into a you know 4hour window right yeah like that’s a that’s going going be hard to do like this should be executed on like a Saturday where you can go like noon to 900 p.m. with start times and just call it rivalry weekend or original six showcase either way because staggering it every 15 minutes is that’s that’s all well and good. I think that that’s that’s what you should be doing on on most nights anyways. Even if it’s not 16 games, even if it’s just 10 or eight or whatever, stagger them. You don’t need five games to start at seven o’clock. Um, but I think Yeah, it’s a it’s it’s a lot to kind of fit into a day where you’re not even starting things until 5:00 Central time. Yeah. But I applaud the effort. Yeah, it’s they’re giving it a thought. They’re giving it at least a fighting shot. Give it a try. Hey, we have an idea. Let’s take someone else’s idea and see what we can do with it. Sure. All right. They’re trying. just hasn’t really worked yet. All right, we’re going to wrap things up. We are back tomorrow after tomorrow night’s 7:45 puck drop against the Ottawa Senators. Uh hopefully the Hawks can come away with a win. Senators, bad news for them, they play tonight. Yeah, lost. We’ll see a good first period and then they’ll lose the game. Hey, it’s a good If you’re looking for a coaching point from Jeff Flashel, there it is. These guys played last night. Let’s change the narrative and play a solid 60. You can’t go 0 and three facing your first three tired teams of correct. Exactly. All right. We’ll talk to you after Hawks and sends right here on the CHL Blackhawks podcast presented by Bet 365. [Music] [Applause] [Music]

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Blackhawks analyst Tony Granato breaks down Chicago’s power play struggles and shares insights on how the team can generate more offensive success. He also discusses the Blackhawks’ hot start to the season, highlighting standout performances from Connor Bedard, Spencer Knight, and Frank Nazar. Hosts Jay Zawaski and Mario Tirabassi dive into Granato’s analysis, covering special teams strategy, lineup adjustments, and how Chicago can maintain confidence and momentum. Don’t miss this in-depth Blackhawks breakdown on the CHGO Blackhawks Podcast.

00:00 START
01:30 Tony Granato joins the show
02:30 Power play struggles
12:50 Frank Nazar & confidence
23:30 Artyom Levshunov
36:00 Jeff Blashill press conference
46:50 Andre Burakovsky & power plays
57:00 Game preview & Ottawa Senators

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