9 Chicago Blackhawks storylines to watch this season, including who plays with Patrick Kane and how to fix the power play

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DENVER — Chicago Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson hasn’t had much time to ruminate on his NHL head coaching debut in Wednesday’s season opener against the Colorado Avalanche.

“Not too much, really,” he said after practice at the University of Denver’s Joy Burns Arena. “I’m here to support the players and give them as much information or as little as I think necessary to keep them at an ability to feel comfortable to play their best.”

Richardson has had to shuffle units and download some of that information he referenced to new defenseman Jarred Tinordi, claimed off waivers Monday from the New York Rangers.

“It’s pretty crazy,” Tinordi said. “You don’t have much time, really. Once I found out I was picked up, put the kids to bed back home, packed and got ready to fly out in the morning. There hasn’t really been a whole lot of time for (game planning).”

As for the team overall, Richardson said he’s not concerned about the lack of consistent reps leading to a lack of continuity.

“We’ve tried to get a couple (combinations) in the last few days — and that’s training camp everywhere because you’re not playing a full lineup every night,” he said.

He acknowledged a team like the defending Stanley Cup champion Avs has “the luxury” of familiarity from past seasons playing together.

For the Hawks, Richardson said, “I think it’ll grow, and I think us growing as a team at five-on-five will be the same as our units on the (penalty kill) and the power play and four-on-four when we go into a little bit of a different man-on-man system. We’ll start figuring out maybe who plays with who.”

Here are nine storylines to watch this season.

The hockey analytics community has been harsh on the Hawks, with pundits vacillating between them and the Arizona Coyotes as contenders for last place in the Western Conference.

Evolving-hockey.com projects the Hawks to be be 24.1 points worse than last season’s projected finish.

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“It’s almost a thing of beauty how bad Chicago has gotten seemingly overnight,” the site said. “They’re set up to be truly terrible this season.”

Defenseman Seth Jones said the team has to block out the outsiders.

“I’m not worried about it,” he told the Tribune. “I’m worried about the guys that are in this room this year, doing the best job we can to lead them and put our best foot forward every night. Regardless of outcome, we want to be competitive, a team that’s known for working hard, making other teams earn everything they get.”

One of the best slogans I’ve seen is “Tank hard for Bedard.”

That would be presumptive 2023 NHL draft darling Connor Bedard, universally looked at as a generational, franchise-changing talent.

But he’s not the only one. Experts also herald Adam Fantilli and Matvei Michkov.

Yours truly has said if the Hawks win enough games to place themselves out of the top three, then in the big picture the season has been a failure.

Not so fast, director of amateur scouting Mike Doneghey said.

“You want to pick in the top three, but I’d be OK with the top four,” he said.

There’s a fourth prospect, whom Doneghey would rather not name and alert other teams, that he places in the elite class with Bedard, Fantilli and Michkov.

Kane was last season’s points leader (66), and that doesn’t figure to change.

But the question is: How much of a hit will his production take with former triggerman Alex DeBrincat now an Ottawa Senator? Kane assisted on 24 of DeBrincat’s 41 goals last season.

During the preseason, the Hawks put Kane on a line with Andreas Athanasiou and Max Domi, then switched it to Tyler Johnson and Jonathan Toews, then switched back to Athanasiou and Domi in the most recent practices.

[ [Don’t miss] How the top 11 Blackhawks prospects fared at training camp, from Nolan Allan to Samuel Savoie ]

Here’s how the lines shook out Tuesday:

• Athanasiou-Domi-Kane
• Johnson-Toews-Taylor Raddysh
• Philipp Kurashev-Sam Lafferty-MacKenzie Entwistle
• Colin Blackwell-Jujhar Khaira-Buddy Robinson

The Hawks also have Reese Johnson for depth.

Boris Katchouk (left ankle sprain) starts the season on injured reserve and Jason Dickinson has to clear immigration, so the mix likely will change at some point. Also keep in mind Lukas Reichel is waiting in the wings in Rockford.

“Kurashev has played really well in training camp and he’s a versatile guy, really dependable defensively,” Richardson said last week. “But he also has skill and shoots the puck. He deserves to be up in those top two lines as well.”

Richardson has tried to fashion his defense into a much more aggressive unit, and that applies to the offense too.

Toews recently said coaches and players pored over video clips to key in on situations where they could shoot but aren’t taking advantage.

“We can simplify our game and (focus on) moving the puck and playing better in our D-zone (and) neutral zone and find ways to keep possession in their zone and go from there,” Toews said.

One of Richardson’s concepts is he wants shots from up high in the zone and more bodies at the net for redirects and tip-ins, something the Hawks didn’t demonstrate a proficiency for last season.

“It runs off the speed of the neutral zone and our forecheck,” Richardson said. “That’s where we’ve gotten most of our opportunities this year, and more extended O-zone time is from that. … Simple plays, turning pucks over, our F3 (forward) looks for a lane coming downhill and you find him.”

“Those are probably our best chances all training camp, turning pucks over on the forecheck and hitting the F3 down the middle and rimming pucks high and shooting the pucks for people at the net.”

The Hawks led off practice Tuesday with a lot of work on the power play. They went 1-for-26 during the preseason, and last season they ranked 21st at 19.2%.

Here was the alignment Tuesday:

• PP1: Kane and Tyler Johnson on the flanks, Raddysh and Domi in the middle, Jones at the point.
• PP2: Toews and Athanasiou on the flanks, Kurashev and Entwistle in the middle, Alec Regula at the point.

Take a picture because it probably will change as the Hawks search for some configuration that clicks.

Another wrinkle: Don’t get too used to seeing Kane camped out on the right flank looking to dangle his way to a goal or fire cross-ice for a one-timer. Richardson said Kane might end up on the left circle or criss-cross with his flank coming into the zone — they’re not locked into spots.

“I’ve talked to Kaner about it, and he said he feels comfortable, just prescouting him in the past on both sides,” Richardson said. “A guy like that can play anywhere, so it’s just making sure everybody else is in sync.”

Jones will be featured more in the offense by design, particularly on the power play.

“That’s the goal,” Jones told the Tribune on Tuesday. “Try to get that first power-play goal out of the way earlier this year and be aggressive.”

Jones had five goals last season, but none came on the power play.

“I’m not as good as Kaner is over there, and a lot of teams are focused on him a lot of the time and playing to him,” Jones said. “So take some pressure off him, be aggressive and shoot the puck down the middle more.”

Toews greeted a recent question about his health with a cheeky “Feel good. How about you?”

Injuries are part of hockey, but it seems like the Hawks have been snakebitten this fall.

Defenseman Alex Vlasic took a puck while blocking a shot Tuesday and is iffy for the opener.

Defenseman Connor Murphy took a puck to the face in practice.

“I’m sure he’s not smiling right now,” Richardson said. “He had to get a few stitches. That always sucks, just taking a puck off the stick and in the face.”

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The Hawks were hopeful Ian Mitchell and Katchouk could take steps forward, but they’ll start the season with injury designations.

Richardson also doesn’t have timelines for Caleb Jones and Jake McCabe, and the Hawks don’t want to overload veteran Jack Johnson.

Goalies Petr Mrazek (groin) and Alex Stalock (heart condition) come with recent health concerns.

Kane said at the outset of camp that the undisclosed nagging injury he has dealt with for years felt better.

“I did everything I could this summer to get into a good position, and now it’s just going to be about building it back up (and) endurance,” he said.

On the eve of the opener, Seth Jones wasn’t 100% sure who his defensive partner in the top pairing would be.

“I would assume Jack (Johnson). Who knows?” he said. “(Paired together) the last two practices right before the season starts, I assume that they’re putting us together, but I’m sure I’m going to get mixed and matched throughout the game.”

Injuries to Caleb Jones, McCabe and Vlasic and the Riley Stillman trade have jumbled the long-term picture, but here’s how the pairings played out at practice Tuesday:

• Jack Johnson-Seth Jones
• Tinordi-Murphy
• Filip Roos-Regula

Tuesday’s practice was Tinordi’s first with the Hawks

“We played pretty similar systems in New York that we play over here,” he said. “I’ve been around a lot of different teams now. I’ve played most of the systems that are out there. Just a matter of watching some video with the coaches and getting dialed in with what the coaches are doing here.”

The blue liners will be interesting to watch. The Hawks have said they prefer to give prospects playing time in Rockford or juniors rather than riding the pine in Chicago, but they were high on Isaak Phillips, Jakub Galvas, Nolan Allan and Ethan del Mastro during camp.

Mrazek tops the depth chart and is backed up by fellow veteran Stalock.

“Petr, I don’t know if he’s had more reps or veteranship or whatever you want to call it, but the idea when they signed Petr was he’s going to be our No. 1,” Richardson said last week.

Mrazek appeared in 20 games last season for the Toronto Maple Leafs while dealing with three groin injuries.

During camp he said he has been feeling great, “so I have to keep doing what I’m doing to feel that way. And hopefully the injuries are not going to come.”

Mrazek worked with physical therapists this summer to change some habits.

“I’d never done that before,” he said. “We talked about what was wrong with the groin. And I felt like I wasn’t as ‘stretchy’ as I was before, so we work on that a lot.”

Mrazek thinks he can handle a full workload, but “it’s a lot of back-to-backs (on the schedule), so we’ll go game by game and then we’ll see what happens.”

Expect to see a healthy dose of Stalock.

“He’s a hard worker and he’s played really well,” Richardson said. “If there’s an opportunity where he’s lights out or he gets a shutout or (we) win 5-1 or something like that, well, the plan might change and maybe you roll with the hot guy if it’s not back-to-back, if it’s two days later and he’s rested. You have a plan, but you can alter from that plan.”