All the hype surrounding this Chicago Blackhawks season centered on the young players coming up and putting their stamp on the organization, taking over as the new faces of the franchise.
Former second-overall pick Artyom Levshunov is a key piece in that. But ahead of the season’s home opener on Saturday night, Levshunov was waving to the Blackhawks crowd from the bench during team introductions and not from the ice.
At the morning skate on Saturday, Levshunov took lines rushes with his regular defensive partner, Wyatt Kaiser and took part in the power-play practice segment on the second power-play unit, his usual spot. Everything seemed normal until the skate ended and Levshunov stayed on the ice.
He continued working on the ice with Blackhawks skill coaches, a tendency of the players who would be scratched for that night’s game. But with no prior indication of Levshunov being out of the lineup, it wasn’t an expected sight. On his way out of the locker room, The Athletic’s Mark Lazerus asked Levshunov if he was not playing in the game, and he responded with a half-joking “probably not.”
Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill didn’t confirm the potential lineup change after the morning skate either, as he has indicated to the local beat that he is not going to give out details of the lineup before games, something previous coaches have done regularly.
Levshunov didn’t participate in the pregame “Red Carpet” event and was indeed out of the lineup when the team took warmups and he wasn’t on the ice.
The Blackhawks went on to lose 3-2 to the Montreal Canadiens in their home opener.
“It’s okay to sit to miss games. It’s okay to not get a lot of ice time in certain games. That’s part of development, too.” Blashill said postgame on Saturday night. “I don’t think development is ‘you just play and magically get better.’ Play is part of it, but learning how to do things certain ways is part of it too.”
There is a process of maturation when it comes to young players getting into the NHL. Levshunov has moved from playing overseas in Belarus, through the USHL, then the NCAA, then the AHL and NHL in the span of about four years.
He has had a lot thrown at him, and he’s been able to handle a lot in that timeframe, but things are different when you’re expected to be a professional in the highest level of your profession day in and day out. That’ll be something Levshunov will undoubtedly learn, and the speculation one would make is that this scratch is not on-ice performance-based.
“The best place for him to be is with us right now, and he’s going to play plenty of games, and there will be games he doesn’t play, and that’s just the reality of it,” Blashill continued in his postgame. “But, to me, it’s not a big deal. It’s part of the growth process for a lot of players.”
In the first two games of the season, Levshunov skated 16:36 minutes against the Florida Panthers and 17:01 minutes against the Boston Bruins. He had two penalties against him in each game, with both against the Bruins coming in the third period. There have also been a number of turnovers, fumbled passes, and perhaps lackadaisical plays from Levshunov in his first two games of the season.
He did tally his first assist of the season in the game against the Bruins, though.
If you’re keeping score at home, Levshunov was the fourth-ranked player for the Blackhawks based on GameScore in the game against the Bruins and the fifth-ranked player in the game against the Panthers.
There will continue to be ups and downs with young players like Levshunov. He’ll turn 20 later this month. He has a ton of untapped potential, but there is going to be a lot of growth needed in his game and his maturity if he is going to tap into that potential and become the player the Blackhawks see him being after being taken No. 2 in the 2024 NHL Draft.
Jeff Blashill is setting a culture with the Blackhawks where there is accountability across the board and if things aren’t good enough, from Connor Bedard to Louis Crevier and everyone in-between on the roster, then there are consequences to it.
There’s been accountability in practices with drills and tempo not being up to standard and we will see it come into play when in-game performance is not up to standard, and we are seeing it when professionalism standards are not met.
With no practice on Sunday, we will get to see if Levshunov is back in the lineup on Monday when the Blackhawks take on the Utah Mammoth.
