The Chicago Blackhawks play their first of six preseason games on Tuesday night when they head up to Detroit and battle the Red Wings. With the team’s preseason opener on the horizon, head coach Jeff Blashill held an intrasquad scrimmage for the first time at training camp on Monday, while also focusing heavily on special teams.
Blashill mentioned after Monday’s session that he didn’t want his team to scrimmage too early into camp without any of his new systems first being implemented. But after laying the groundwork during a series of intense practices last week and over the weekend, he felt the players were now better prepared for the live reps.
“At least now, basically, our major systems are in place,” Blashill said. “I think the advantage of a scrimmage for a player is you get to feel what it’s like again with ten players on the ice… hopefully that prepares us as we get into our exhibition season.”
Let’s break down all the key takeaways from the Blackhawks’ final practice before the (preseason) action begins tomorrow.
POWER PLAY PRACTICE
The Blackhawks were still split into two groups on Monday, and they both worked on special teams play before the scrimmage started. First, Blashill had the groups go through power play drills, providing a first look at a few five-man units.
For Team Red, Connor Bedard, Teuvo Teravainen, Frank Nazar, Tyler Bertuzzi, and Sam Rinzel served as the top power-play unit. Blashill said he split up the groups so that specific units could get time together, so this is likely how he sees PP1 shaping up right now.
Ryan Greene, Lukas Reichel, Oliver Moore, Nick Foligno, and Matt Grzelcyk were Team Red’s second power-play unit. For Team White, Colton Dach, Andre Burakovsky, Ilya Mikheyev, Ryan Donato, and Artyom Levshunov were the top power-play group. A combination of players from both squads will likely make up the true PP2 for the Blackhawks when the regular season begins. There is still a lot riding on whether Greene, Moore, Levshunov, Grzelcyk, and/or Dach make the NHL roster out of camp.
Rink 2 special teams work on the power play
PP1
Dach
Burakovsky-Mikheyev-Donato
Levshunov
PP2
Thompson
Anderson-Toninato-Lardis
Korchinski
— CHGO Blackhawks (@CHGO_Blackhawks) September 22, 2025
During the scrimmage, both Team Red and Team White were given 1:15 of designed power-play time to start the second period. Neither of the two groups found the back of the net, which isn’t all that surprising since it was their first opportunities together. We’ll see if the power play fares better tomorrow in Detroit.
PENALTY KILL PROWESS
During penalty kill drills before the scrimmage, Nazar, Teravainen, Rinzel, and Ethan Del Mastro were Team Red’s top PK unit. For Team White, Mikheyev, Jason Dickinson, Alex Vlasic, and Connor Murphy filled out PK1.
Nazar and Teravainen are clearly a duo that intrigues Blashill, as they’ve skated together on the second line throughout camp, in addition to being paired on the top PP and PK units. Nazar received plenty of time on the penalty kill when up in the NHL last season, and he created numerous shorthanded opportunities for his team. It will be exciting to see if he does a better job of finishing those chances this year.
Mikheyev and Dickinson were two staples on the PK in 2024-25, so it shouldn’t be surprising to see them together again. However, Sam Lafferty and Nick Foligno were the forwards on Team Red’s second PK unit on Monday, and both players are capable penalty killers. They’ll probably be in the mix for shorthanded ice time, too.
Defensively, Vlasic and Murphy will be the anchors for the penalty kill this season. Del Mastro, should he make the NHL club, is another likely candidate. Rinzel, more known for his offensive abilities, appears to have the edge over Levshunov for that final PK spot.
Blashill said after practice that he’s running the same PK system as he did in Tampa Bay last season, but he expects it to take time to settle in with his new group. FWIW, the Lightning’s penalty kill was the best in the NHL last year after November 1st, which is when Blashill noted that his system started to click. They ranked sixth for the entire season.
Part of that PK system is being more aggressive on the puck, which makes sense for the Blackhawks’ roster makeup this year. Nazar, Mikheyev, Lafferty, and even youngsters like Moore and Greene, have the speed to be more aggressive on the penalty kill. Not only does that speed and aggressiveness limit the time and space for the opponent, but it can also lead to shorthanded goals. Tampa Bay was third in the league last season with 11 short-handed goals.
“We definitely want to score shorthanded goals. That’s a huge part of the penalty kill. I don’t know why, when you go on NHLdotcom, the PK percentage doesn’t have the shorthanded [goals] included, and vice versa. I don’t like that. It should be combined.”
LINEUP NOTES
After saying somewhat consistent with the line combinations and defensive pairings early in camp, Blashill elected to hit the blender for the scrimmage on Monday. The only trio that remained the same was the Bertuzzi-Nazar-Teravainen line. But Blashill stated after practice that he was more focused on setting proper power-play and penalty-kill units for the two groups. There shouldn’t be too much taken away from these line combinations.
TEAM RED
Moore-Bedard-Reichel
Bertuzzi-Nazar-Teravainen
Foligno-Greene-Lafferty
Misiak-Ludwinski-Behm/Pridham
Del Mastro-Rinzel
Grzelcyk-Crevier
Kuzmin-Harding
Fitzgerald-Mast
TEAM WHITE
Dach-Donato-Lardis
Mikheyev-Dickinson-Anderson
Thompson-Toninato-Savoie
Vanacker-Cates-Hayes/Holmes
Vlasic-Murphy
Kaiser-Levshunov
Korchinski-Allan
Cumby-Perrott
Moore, Bedard, and Reichel were a fun trio to watch, considering the pace all three players possess. Bedard has looked faster in camp than he did during his first two NHL seasons, which he said was a crucial point of emphasis during his summer training.
Dach and Lardis got a chance to skate with Donato today, which is a great opportunity for two young players. Dach definitely has the better chance of making the NHL roster, but Lardis has shown promise in his first camp as a pro. With Dach’s size and physicality, there’s a chance he plays a solid role for the Blackhawks if he makes the NHL roster.
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