Watching the first Chicago Blackhawks practice under interim head coach Anders Sorensen, the most notable thing that stood out was the immediate pace of the practice.
Sorensen is coming into the role of interim head coach in Chicago following the firing of Luke Richardson and takes over a team that is underperforming expectations and has a generational talent in Connor Bedard who has stagnated in his development in his second year in the NHL.
Getting both Bedard and the team moving forward on and off the ice is going to be a tough task for the rookie head coach.
“We need to find a way to get [Bedard] playing with the puck in motion,” Sorensen said at his first press conference in Chicago on Friday afternoon.
While it wasn’t the sole purpose of Luke Richardson’s firing, a contributing factor was the play of Bedard and the team as a collective in a year where moving the needle forward was the goal and expectation for the Blackhawks. Sorensen comes into the job after working with the Rockford IceHogs for the past ten years in multiple roles, having overseen the development of the Blackhawks prospects in that time. As Bedard goes, so does the team.
Playing up-tempo and “in motion” as Sorensen stressed during his first media availability will be the first step in getting things moving back in the right direction for this Blackhawks group.
“We want to encourage our defense to be up in the rush. We did some stuff like that in practice today,” Sorensen said on Friday. “We need to get skating here. We have some guys that can move. So try to play to their strength. Just encouraging guys to be up the ice more. Defend on the forecheck versus waiting.”
Getting the defensemen activated in the offensive rush will continue to be a challenge with Seth Jones expected to still be out a few more games, but the effort to make that change will be different from what was seen with Richardson as head coach.
Pace and effort were buzzwords for Sorensen today and his philosophy was summed up as he addressed the team during their end-of-practice stretches. “Forwards got to be up. Defense has to be up. Effort is going to fix a lot of things,” Sorensen said at center ice.
Another difference one could expect between Sorensen and Richardson for the rest of the season is lineup consistency. Under Richardson, the Blackhawks lineup was ever-changing this season with nearly a new lineup every game. For Sorensen, his approach will center around chemistry and accountability.
“Chemistry is a big part of it, and we want to be patient with some guys,” Sorensen said. “Obviously there has to be accountability… We’re trying to build some continuity in that area.”
For the most part, the lines and defensive pairs for the first practice were similar to what we have seen before. The top line had Bedard centering Teuvo Teräväinen and Philipp Kurashev, a trio that has played 30:40 minutes at 5v5 this season and has out-chanced opponents 30-25, out-shot opponents 16-14 and is even with opponents in scoring chances created at 12-12.
The emphasis on playing with pace and tempo might also see a structural change under Sorensen from the 1-2-2 setup that Richardson had run, which lends itself to a more defensive-first approach.
There won’t be any easing into it for Sorensen and the Blackhawks as they take on the Winnipeg Jets at home on Saturday afternoon. After taking on the Central Division leaders, Chicago is heading on a three-game road trip to the East Coast to face the New York Rangers on Monday night, the New York Islanders on Thursday and the New Jersey Devils on Saturday afternoon, which is a back-to-back weekend set of games that sees the Blackhawks return home Sunday to play the Islanders again.
