Blackhawks' Colton Dach hoping to earn more ice time after rejuvenating break

The moment Blackhawks forward Colton Dach felt the familiar sheets of his bed at his family home during the Olympic break, he crashed.

"I was sleeping by 10, and I woke up at 10 [a.m.]," Dach said. "I was just like, 'Ahh.' You don't have a schedule the next day. You don't have to go ‘boom, boom, boom.’ You wake up and just sit there and find something to do."

By the time Dach returned to Chicago a week ago for a long stretch of practices, he felt rejuvenated.

"I texted [Landon Slaggert] and was like, 'I'm so excited to come to the rink now,'" he added. "It's good to get that feeling back. It kind of feels like training camp — even the weather was a little bit nicer. You're driving in with your windows down. You get that energy. Hopefully we can take that into the last [25] games here and really showcase ourselves and make a push."

Dach could personally use a strong final push, because his job security has dwindled since a promising start and even more forward competition is currently en route to the NHL.

Much focus will be on the Hawks’ pending unrestricted free agents leading up to the March 6 trade deadline, but after that, focus will shift toward the pending restricted free agents who will need new contracts after the season.

That’s a small group headlined by Connor Bedard that also includes Dach, Kevin Korchinski, Ethan Del Mastro and Drew Commesso.

Dach is the only one of those four prospects who has yet broken into the NHL full-time, but it’s up to him to maintain firm grip of his current role. That will heavily influence his contract negotiations.

He has recorded nine points (three goals and six assists) and 184 hits in 52 games this season. That’s more than twice as many hits as any other Hawk, and coach Jeff Blashill praised him Friday for his consistent physicality.

Other parts of his game haven’t been as consistent, however, which has caused his ice time to slip from 14 minutes per game in October to 11:09 since. He was a healthy scratch several times in January.

"After Christmas, my game dipped a little bit, and that's where I need to showcase that consistency factor," Dach said. "That's something I've been working on the last three years, trying to be consistent, and every year it's gotten a lot better.

"[I’m trying to be] more responsible in their eyes, trying to be trustworthy, trying to get a little more ice time."

So far during this mini February camp, Dach has skated on the fourth line with Slaggert and Nick Foligno, but that’s with Teuvo Teravainen absent at the Olympics. Teravainen's return (with a bronze medal in hand) will force somebody out. It's worth noting Dach remains waivers-exempt until next season while Slaggert will require waivers after making one more NHL appearance.

Blashill has encouraged Dach to move his feet more, and they recently had a meeting in which Blashill showed him specific areas where that would help him.

"When he skates, he’s a lot to handle, and we just have to get him skating on a more consistent basis," Blashill said in January. "If we can get him [in the] habit of moving onto the puck, making sure he’s skating when he gets the puck and skating to disrupt when he doesn’t get the puck, it’ll make him that much better of a player."

The Hawks’ newly altered defensive system, which requires wingers (like Dach) to more aggressively pressure opponents on the boards, might force him to do exactly that.

"If a guy is running up the wall...I can force him to make a play, put them under pressure," Dach said. "Pucks are going to come loose, and hopefully my feet are pointed up the ice and I can get going."