After a hard first six days of training camp, first-year Chicago Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill got a chance to see where things stand in Tuesday night’s preseason opener in Detroit.
In the second period, Connor Bedard — wearing the “A” along with Frank Nazar and Wyatt Kaiser — sat on left ice during a power play. Defenseman Sam Rinzel set up a pass to Bedard, who sent a snipe into the net for the Hawks’ first goal. It was a brief look at two players who could spend a lot of time on the ice together.
It was a diamond in the rough, however, on a subpar night. The power play was one of very few scoring opportunities for the Hawks in a 3-2 loss. The Red Wings had a 43-17 advantage in shots on goal as the Hawks struggled to finish breakaways or create offense in the zone.
Two takeaways from the game: It was the first game in a new system. And the team appeared gassed in the final two periods.
“I would say we were slow to pucks (for) probably two reasons,” Blashill said Thursday as camp resumed after a one-day break. “One, we were thinking a lot, so that makes you slow. And we were a little bit tired, so then the game starts getting away from you a little bit.
“That’s what you want the exhibition games for, so I never put too much weight in (preseason games), especially in the early ones. As you get closer to real hockey, they become more important.”
Colton Dach of the Blackhawks tries to get around the stick of the Red Wings’ Carter Mazur during a preseason game Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025, in Detroit. (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
The Hawks did play the Red Wings right after a series of tough practices, so some fatigue was expected. At the same time, Blashill’s system features a pace that some players aren’t used to.
There will be a fine line between playing at that speed and maintaining energy for all three periods, but Blashill isn’t worried about his team in that aspect.
“I don’t think we’ll have a problem having energy, to be honest with you,” he said. “I don’t think it’ll be an issue.
“I thought the biggest issue (Tuesday) was that we didn’t break the puck out of our zone when we should have the opportunities to break the puck out. And then in our D-zone, we had opportunities to get kills in quadrants and we let the puck out of that quadrant.”
Kaiser scored the second Hawks goal, assisted by Artyom Levshunov and Aidan Thompson. It was one of the better plays of the night and a flash of what the new Hawks could look like.
Blashill reiterated there’s no timetable for when players will get his system down, but he wants them to get to a point where they “just go play and not think.”
“It’s just working on getting the routes and being able to play as a five-man unit without having to think,” he said. “We have two weeks (until the Oct. 7 season opener at Florida), so we’ll be ready in two weeks.”
Blackhawks center Connor Bedard looks to make a play in front of the Red Wings’ Axel Sandin-Pellikka during the second period of a preseason game Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025, in Detroit. (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
Injury and roster news
Landon Slaggert skated before practice but remains day to day and won’t play in exhibitions Saturday at the St. Louis Blues and Sunday at the Minnesota Wild.
Joey Anderson will undergo a procedure for a chronic issue and miss the remainder of the preseason
The Hawks trimmed the camp roster to 49 by sending four players back to their junior teams: Nathan Behm (WHL’s Kamloops Blazers), Jack Pridham (OHL’s Kitchener Rangers) and Parker Holmes and Marek Vanacker (both OHL’s Brantford Bulldogs).