The Chicago Blackhawks will open their preseason schedule Tuesday against the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena. It will be the first in-game look at the Hawks under coach Jeff Blashill.

To prepare, the Hawks partook in a scrimmage Monday to see where they stand systematically. The last day before exhibitions begin also involved power-play and penalty-kill work. The energy was consistent compared with other training camp days, even if the players had to wait a little longer to play each other.

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“I don’t like scrimmaging too early in camp because we don’t have any of our systems in place,” Blashill said. “At least now they had a chance today, after your major systems are in place, to go out and feel what it’s like live. The advantage of a scrimmage for a player is (that) you get to feel what it’s like with 10 players on the ice and hopefully prepare us a little bit as we get into our exhibition season.”

The players were split into red and white teams. The red roster had a first line of Oliver Moore, Connor Bedard and Lukas Reichel with a top defensive pair of Ethan Del Mastro and Sam Rinzel, while the white team had Colton Dach, Ryan Donato and Nick Lardis on the top line and Alex Vlasic and Connor Murphy as the top defensive pair.

Both teams started off rusty. The first few minutes included missed passes, turnovers and a lack of scoring opportunities. Jackson Cates ended the scoreless tie with a solo-opportunity goal. Captain Nick Foligno tied the score shortly after.

Donato scored the winning goal for the white team in a shootout. Bedard and Frank Nazar missed chances to extend it.

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Photos: Chicago Blackhawks report to training camp

For Donato, who had a career-high 62 points last season, it was nice to get into some “game” action.

“The workflow has been heavy and it’s nice to finally play those systems and game situations,” Donato said. “There’s always situations that arise that aren’t always perfect, (so) you talk through them and figure out solutions.

“It’s always an adjustment. (It’s the) first high-paced scrimmage, and with the new systems that we’re doing, it’s definitely a learning curve. Once the guys get more comfortable throughout the game, you can see the passes start to be more crisp.”

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Special teams was the main focus before the scrimmage began. In a 2024-25 season in which little went right for the Hawks, the power play and penalty kill were bright spots despite few opportunities.

The Hawks scored on 24.9% of their power plays, ranking seventh in the NHL, though they were near the middle of the pack with 47 goals due to ranking 30th with just 189 power-play chances. They killed 79.3% of their penalties, which ranked 14th, and scored six short-handed goals.

Bedard was a large part of the Hawks’ power-play success with 29 points (11 goals, 18 assists). Blashill has some ideas about how he wants to position his star center in power-play opportunities.

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“He’s probably got the ability to play either flank, so that gives us some flexibility,” Blashill said. “Some guys just want to play one side, so it gives you flexibility to give different looks.

“I think the best way to utilize Connor is to win faceoffs and spend as much time in (the offensive) end as you can. We’ll work through some stuff with Connor, but ultimately he’s a guy who is a weapon both as a shooter and passer, so he’ll have those opportunities to go out and execute.”

Blashill wants to use the special teams system employed during his time with the Tampa Bay Lightning. They ranked in the top six last season in power-play goals (60), penalty kill (81.6%) and short-handed goals (11).

“Some guys are really good players and aren’t elite power-play guys,” Blashill said. “On the power-play perspective, I thought (Lightning assistant coach) Jeff Halpern did a great job as a coach, but you also have some of the best power-play guys at their particular positions in the league (in Tampa).

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“The one thing (that was) a bright spot last year for this group was they had good PP and PK. It’s a good system, but it takes a while to get the hang of it.”

Camp notes

Left wings Landon Slaggert and Brett Seney are “day to day” with injuries.

Blashill said the first roster cuts could come as early as Tuesday.