3 things we learned from Chicago Blackhawks practice, including another young goaltender getting a shot and Filip Roos’ ‘Swedish swag’

Luke Richardson has 10 games in the book as coach of the Chicago Blackhawks, and there’s still a lot to learn about his team’s identity.

The Hawks (4-4-2) have been equal parts scrappy overachievers and a collection of parts thrown together in a rebuild. So what has stood out?

• The Hawks have no obvious replacement for Alex DeBrincat, who was traded before the draft, but it’s somewhat of a surprise that Jonathan Toews leads the team with six goals.
• Patrick Kane has only two goals compared with five through 10 games last season, but he’s still a facilitator — he has eight assists, as he did at this point in 2021-22.
• Max Domi has filled a number of roles to varying degrees of success. He still is working on building rapport as Kane’s top-line center, but he has four goals and mans the top power play unit and his faceoff percentage of 66.4% is up from last year’s 44.4% after working with Yanic Perreault. Overall, the Hawks rank first (59.2%) in the category.
• The Hawks have speed in Andreas Athanasiou, Sam Lafferty and Domi, but they’re not consistently able to utilize it, sometimes trying to stickhandle through defenses instead of passing or going wide. “You’re not going to win the game with one shift,” Richardson said. “You might think you are because you get a highlight goal every once in a while, but you’ve got to really realize that there are 60 minutes out there, and if you fuel them with four turnovers compared to our one breakthrough, I don’t know that those are great odds for us.”

• They showed some grit with the first three wins — part of a four-game streak — in which they rallied from two-goal deficits to start each game.
• Their four short-handed goals, which leads the league, suggests that Richardson’s makeover into a more aggressive penalty kill works. But they’re taking too many penalties — they’re tied for second with the Minnesota Wild with 13.4 minutes per game.
• The sky isn’t falling with scoring like it looked like it would be in preseason, but they’re still upside down in five-on-five goals ratio at 0.76 (27th in the league).
• The Hawks sometimes look like they’re doing it with smoke and mirrors, however. Their 3.2 goals per game ranks 13th, but their 25.7 shots per game is 31st.
• Richardson has had to deal with a rash of injuries to frontline contributors and key backups. Seth Jones, Tyler Johnson, Petr Mrázek and Alex Stalock are out of commission, and Jake McCabe and Caleb Jones missed the start of the season.

Richardson’s job has been as much about juggling the day business of the roster as implementing his long-term vision for the team.

“You have to be willing to be open to change and be able to change on the fly, with injuries, schedule changing, media requests, what have you,” he said. “There are important things that come along with the job and the game. You have to make sure that you divvy up your time properly.”

Here are three things we learned from practice Wednesday at Fifth Third Arena.

Wells, 24, grinned like a kid at Christmas after signing a one-year, two-way contract ($750,000 NHL/$80,000 AHL) with the Hawks. But the real gift was making it to Chicago.

“It’s really cool,” he said. ““That’s been my goal — to get back to an NHL deal after my entry-level with Edmonton. I got a little taste of it the taxi-squad year, spending the year up with the Oilers and I got to back up a game in Montreal, so I’ve had a little taste of it, which helps settle in here a little more just being around the same kind of atmosphere. …

“I’m just super excited and I know my family is all excited for me too. It’s a good opportunity.”

Mrázek has been inching toward a return from a groin strain but isn’t there yet, and Stalock went into the concussion protocol after Casey Cizikas plowed into him during Tuesday night’s 3-1 loss to the New York Islanders, resulting in a $5,000 fine for Cizikas.

“I got a phone call pretty quickly,” said Wells, whom the Oilers drafted in the fifth round in 2016. “I was watching with a few of the guys back in Rockford yesterday and Stalock went down and then things just quickly started unfolding. It’s been a whirlwind of not even 24 hours.”

Wells recalled his days playing with Stalock on the Oilers’ taxi squad: “I know it’s a good opportunity for me, but it sucks to see Al go down.”

The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Wells had a .862 save percentage and a 4.27 goals-against average in three games for the IceHogs.

“I try to keep my game pretty simple,” he said. “II’m a really good skater. I try to use my size — I’m not the biggest guy ever but I try to play a little bigger than I am and try to rely on my mobility and quickness and speed and compete and have fun.”

Richardson said Stalock was feeling “much better, so that’s encouraging. He got really jarred.”

With Mrázek not ready, Arvid Söderblom will start Thursday against the Los Angeles Kings at the United Center.

“It’s maybe a little bit ahead of the schedule that I think the organization wanted, but I’m sure Arvid’s real happy with the schedule,” Richardson said.

Wells will back him up.

“People get second chances, and it’s hard to come around in sports, so I’m sure he’ll want to take full advantage,” Richardson said. “He was happy to be here this morning and excited to be on the ice. It’s always nice to see a young player get an opportunity.”

To Richardson, the comebacks from being down two goals — against the San Jose Sharks, Detroit Red Wings and Seattle Kraken — are telling.

“We’re really leaning towards our identity as a team (that) we’re going to work right to the end,” he said. “And we’re going to get better at protecting leads and holding leads and pushing at the end of the game like (Tuesday) night.”

He likes how the Hawks have shown resolve without turning on each other.

“They weren’t slamming doors and breaking sticks,” Richardson said. “There (were) a couple times whether it was Tazer or Kaner or Caber (McCabe) standing up and saying something meaningful — with authority but not beating down other players.

“It was bringing them along with them and showing leadership. And I thought that’s how we came back in those games.”

The players’ composure and camaraderie in those situations “were very impressive,” he said.

“I really want to them build themselves into a close, tight-knit team, because that’s what’s going to help us,” Richardson said.

The Hawks have been very interested in cultivating Roos’ potential as a defenseman with offensive punch, but he brings something extra.

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Leave it to Connor Murphy to break it down.

“Roos has been really confident with the puck, and he’s got that ‘Swedish swag,’ which is fun to see,” Murphy said. “He’s got skill to his game. He’s used his body too. Sometimes you don’t see as many skilled players playing with the physicality that he brings.”

Wait, run that back — Swedish swag?

“Swedes are always good-looking guys,” Murphy said with a mostly straight face. “(Adam) Boqvist was all tatted up the sleeve. Not to get on any other Europeans, but Swedes are always the best looking, cool dressed. They’ve got swag.”

When told about Murphy’s comments, Roos laughed.

“I don’t know about that,” Roos, 23, said. “I mean, of course I’m Swedish, but swag? … I’ll talk about that with him. I don’t know what it means, really.

“If that’s cool, I’m good with that.”