How Blackhawks veterans are helping build culture of team unity during rebuild
How Blackhawks veterans are helping build culture of team unity during rebuild originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
TORONTO — The Chicago Blackhawks brought in some quality veterans over the offseason to help teach their younger players how to become better pros, both on and off the ice. It's a crucial element of the rebuild.
One of the ways you can already see that reflecting is by the way the veterans — both new and old — are sticking up for their teammates, particularly the younger players.
On Wednesday in Boston, Jason Dickinson immediately came to the defense of Cole Guttman, who was dangerously hit along the boards by Bruins forward John Beecher, who was playing his first NHL game. It was a clear boarding penalty, and Dickinson didn't think twice to drop his gloves with Beecher, who knew what was coming and accepted the consequence.
"I didn't know who it was and then I obviously found out after that it was his first NHL game, so kudos to him for stepping in and accepting it," Dickinson told NBC Sports Chicago. "He recognized right away, he knew it was a bad hit so he's like, alright, you have to do it. It was an instinct, I just immediately knew I was not going to stand for that."
The response was commendable by Dickinson, although the downside was that he got hit with a two-minute instigator penalty that negated what would've been a power play. The Blackhawks were trailing at the time, and it could have allowed them to get back into the game.
On the flip side, Dickinson defending his teammate the way he did should pay dividends in the long run. The Blackhawks don't want to show teams that they're going to be easy to play against.
"It depends on the scenario, you don't know that you're going to get an extra penalty sometimes because the rules are always kind of gray on some of those things," Connor Murphy said. "You'd rather the other team know they can't push you around. If they see that nothing happens after they throw a hit at one of our guys or hit a guy from behind, they're going to take liberties for the rest of the game.
"Or even later in the season, you play that team again, they know that they can rough you around. They go into the game knowing that they're going to have their way with you, so I think there's those little games within the game, it's hard to quantify but it makes a difference."
Blackhawks head coach Luke Richardson echoed those sentiments, as someone who took pride in that role as a player.
"It’s great," he said. "Sticking up for your teammate is great. We definitely want to show the other team that we’re not going to stand for that, and push back. I like it. Good team camaraderie and young guys see it and learn from it. It’s a good culture to build and we’ll take that any time."
Earlier in the preseason, there was a moment where Blackhawks second-round pick Martin Misiak got leveled by St. Louis Blues defenseman Hunter Skinner, and Nick Foligno and Corey Perry beelined straight for Skinner after the hit. It was the very first preseason game of the season, and the Blackhawks wanted to set that precedent from the start.
"It's really important, even more-so than stuff like individual battles that you have for yourself," Murphy said. "When you do it for other guys or teammates, it really resonates through the whole group and it becomes a standard, especially when it's set early on. I think that was what's admirable is guys doing that from the first game on or in preseason is setting that in sand right away and making it concrete and having that standard of a culture that guys stick up for each other.
"Even knowing guys' roles and knowing if it's a younger player or even a guy that if you're new, you show how much you care for your teammates and you're here to commit and play for each other even though we're all just new together."
You better believe the younger players took note of that in their minds. They already feel the team growing closer together.
"We’re a tight group," Connor Bedard said. "I think that’s going to be key for us this year. I don’t think people realize how much, of course you get on the ice, but then you get in the room it makes your team so much better. Having the veterans and leaders that we have mixed in with us younger guys, it’s a good mix. We really have fun around here."
In a recent podcast interview, the greatest NFL quarterback of all-time Tom Brady said the most dangerous he faced in his career were the ones that were the closest off the field and cared more about team success over individual success. There's a lot of truth to that, even in hockey.
"Absolutely, 100 percent," Dickinson said. "There's so much talk about chemistry and who gels well together. You can look at all kinds of guys that play certain ways, but you'll get two guys that are polar opposite players that just don't make sense but they get along so well that they can talk things out and somehow their games click. I'm sure it's true in every sport, but I see it in hockey, you click with people and it's just natural that things are going to be easier."
Murphy mostly agreed. The Blackhawks are trying to make sure that's the case during Chicago's rebuild and on the other side of it, and I think it already is, in large part because the veterans are help set that culture.
"It definitely does," Murphy said. "It's gone both ways. I've been part of teams, not here, in Arizona, where we were really close and we had a lot of fun off the ice but it didn't really translate. We weren't really letting it translate on the ice as much, we were kind of just separating the two, so I think we need to adjoin both.
"You need to have the camaraderie and guys need to care for each other first, and that rolls over into your work day to day on the ice, and you have to have intent to have it roll over. Like, know when you're in a battle and you see a guy going through something, have his back or be with him side by side and make it easier for him and make a good play for him to advance the next zone or next play. There are those little things that it has to translate and you have to have the off ice and on ice mesh into one and have a good unit."
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