Surprisingly old Blackhawks open training camp hoping to build more consistency
The Blackhawks will soon be young, but for now, they are old.
Veteran defenseman Seth Jones, who will turn 30 in a few weeks, looked around Fifth Third Arena during the first on-ice day of training camp Thursday and saw plenty of guys older than him.
Newly named captain Nick Foligno is 36 and turning 37 next month. Newly signed defensemen Alec Martinez and T.J. Brodie are 37 and 34, respectively. Newly signed forwards Pat Maroon and Craig Smith are 36 and 35, respectively. There's also 32-year-olds Taylor Hall and Petr Mrazek, 31-year-olds Connor Murphy and Laurent Brossoit and 30-year-olds Andreas Athanasiou and Teuvo Teravainen.
Of course, plenty of prospects populate the Hawks' 53-man camp roster, and they represent the future of the franchise. The team's prospect pool is one of the deepest and most talented in the league.
Very few of those prospects will crack the NHL roster this season, however, since general manager Kyle Davidson wants them to first ripen in the AHL. Thus, the Hawks' projected 2024-25 NHL roster is actually the sixth-oldest in the league, with an average age of 28.7.
‘‘We're a little bit older, and that's really going to help our road record to be honest,’’ Jones said, referencing the 22-game road losing streak last season. ‘‘Understanding that we might have to win a road game 2-1 or 1-0 is going to be important for us this year.’’
It's not like external expectations for this Hawks team are high, though, even though they should be more competitive. Their season point total betting line on FanDuel sits at 74.5 points, which would mark a 22-point improvement over last season but still ranks fourth-to-last in the league.
‘‘We want to play meaningful games,’’ Jones added. ‘‘But we want to take strides on our consistency, too. We would play a week of decent hockey — three games — and then we would fall off a cliff. We want to get to a level of play at a level of consistency where, even if you lose a game, you still liked things that you did.’’
Day one
Five minutes into the first camp session Thursday, the Hawks were already -scrimmaging.
Coach Luke Richardson had told players to show up in shape, and he was pleased with the pace of play. The scrimmage showcased his initial ideas for the forward lines, although he plans to experiment with different combinations before the first preseason game next Wednesday.
Hall and Tyler Bertuzzi flanked Connor Bedard on the first line. Philipp Kurashev interestingly slotted in as the second-line center — a position he hasn't played much — between Teravainen and Lukas Reichel. Later on, Jason Dickinson centered a checking line alongside Foligno and Ilya Mikheyev.
"It’s hard to say that we want to have the puck the whole time when we’re playing each other, because technically we do," Richardson quipped. "But when we get into an exhibition game, we want that mentality — to have the puck as much as possible."
Notes
- Murphy, who missed 46 games with a groin injury last season, said he's healthy and ready to go.
- Athanasiou also looked healthier than last season, showing off his blazing speed in the scrimmage, although he characteristically failed to convert several breakaways.
- Second overall pick Artyom Levshunov — currently sidelined by a foot injury — has resumed working out in the gym, Richardson said. He could graduate fairly soon to individual on-ice work.