The Chicago Blackhawks wrapped up development camp on Thursday, but at least a few of the players are headed toward the holiday weekend still thinking about competition.
As in a four-team volleyball tournament.
“We have volleyball today which should be pretty fun,” said Hawks forward prospect Martin Misiak, whose Team Gray consists of “five Europeans and Ty Henry.”
“We’ve been No. 1 the whole time. We’re the best team so far.”
This week’s off-ice program has featured activities that focus on building communication skills, but Misiak noted his teammates hail from five countries.
“It’s harder. We have two Finns, a Swede, Slovak, Czech and a Canadian,” said Misiak, a native of Banská Bystrica, Slovakia.
“Communication, it’s harder sometimes, but we figure it out.”
Here are five things we’ve learned this week at camp at Fifth Third Arena.
1. Martin Misiak credited coaches and linemates for his breakout postseason.
Misiak had pretty similar regular-season numbers in back-to-back seasons with the OHL Erie Otters: the same 23 goals, with a bump in assists from 24 to 36.
But it was in the playoffs when he exploded: seven goals and six assists in eight games.
“We kind of settled as a team after Christmas, going into (the) playoffs,” he said. “I started playing consistently with one line: Me and Dylan Edwards and Gabriel Frasca picked up some good chemistry going into the playoffs.”
Then in February, former Kelowna Rockets coach Kris Mallette replaced Stan Butler, who was fired in January.
“I started playing really good with the coaching change,” Misiak said. “The new coach really helped me pick up my game, and I think it showed really well in (the) playoffs.”
2. Mark Eaton switches back into player development mode.
Last season, he left his role as assistant general manager of player development to become a first-time coach with the Rockford IceHogs after the Hawks promoted Anders Sörensen to interim coach in December, following Luke Richardson’s firing.
But now he’s back in the front office.
“It’s been easy,” Eaton said. “That speaks to the people around me. Hudson (Chodos) and Andy Delmar, Kendall Coyne, Brian Keane have done a great job with running player development while I was in Rockford.
“Just picking up where I left off and looking forward to getting back into it.”
It’s not often a player development chief gets a coach’s perspective of his works-in-progress.
“Being around them every day, six days a week for an entire season, if anything it reaffirms that a lot of what we’re doing on the amateur side, what we’re doing here this week, we’re focusing on the right things,” Eaton said. “Because that’s what a lot of these guys need as first-year pros is stuff away from the rink, learning how to be pros, taking care of themselves, nutrition, that kind of stuff.”
3. Anton Frondell isn’t just barking about Aleksander Barkov.
Anton Frondell prides himself on being a two-way player like his idol on the Florida Panthers.
“Don’t give up,” Frondell said about his defensive mindset. “I have a good size, I’m strong, I’m good at hitting. Even this year (in Sweden’s senior league) I played with older guys, I played against men and had a lot of good hits.
“I could — not kill somebody — but (make) some hard hits on the ice.”
He continued: “I said it before. I think my game is compared to Barkov, and when you see him play, he’s a really good offensive player. He does everything else so well, like the defensive game, how he helps out in the defensive zone. He’s always available for a pass, good at follow-through, body contact.”
Hawks amateur scouting director Mike Doneghey said he sees Frondell as somewhere between Barkov and fellow Panthers forward Anton Lundell, “like he’s a big, detail-oriented center with a brain. He can shoot a puck.”
Former Panthers scouting director Jason Bukala said of Frondell, “He definitely leans more Lundell than Barkov — I can tell you that because I grabbed both those guys (in the draft).”
Bukala said Frondell is the kind of defender who doesn’t go away.
“And that’s a problem for opponents. They don’t like that,” he said. “He wears them out because he’s always in your grill. It’s not going to be overly physical, he doesn’t have any rat to his game, he just plays responsible.”
4. Is Jack Pridham making a mistake going back to Kitchener?
The Hawks forward prospect had been committed to Boston University, but backed out, opting to return to the team where he put up 27 goals and 27 assists in 48 games last season.
“After a long decision with my family, I decided I’m not going to go to Boston anymore,” Pridham said. “I liked my game in Kitchener this year and I want to put my best foot forward (in training camp) to try to earn a contract with Chicago. And if not, then the plan will be back in Kitchener for one more year.”
Typically, teams want to see prospects test themselves on another level — if they’re ready.
Eaton, the development chief, said, “He’s the type of kid, regardless of where he is, he’ll find ways to develop and get better.
“He’s going to play a ton of minutes, huge role for Kitchener. So, we weren’t going to try to push him one way or the other.”
Bukala, the former scout, doesn’t have a problem with his decision either.
“They’re a really high-end junior franchise in Canada,” he said. “Every night there’s 7,900 people, they’ve got tons of dough, they run it like a pro team. … I don’t think he’s looking to feel comfortable, I think he’s looking to push the envelope as far as he can.
“But he’s certainly going against the grain, isn’t he? Everybody else seems to be going to college.”
5. The Hawks are willing to take their lumps, letting Mason West play quarterback.
West plans to play a final season for his high school in Edina, Minnesota, yet the Hawks brass isn’t worried about him manning a role where it’s his job to sit in a pocket while defensive ends and safeties try to flatten him into turf.
Doneghey said after the draft Saturday, “If (general manager) Kyle (Davidson) thinks it’s OK for him to play football, then it’s OK for him to play football.
“I know it’s not playing in the NFL or the SEC, right? Still, it’s high school football, but we’ll see. … He’s a big guy. But there’s risk in anything. He could go to (the United States Hockey League’s) Fargo (Force) in November, blow his knee out, never play hockey again, or he could do it on the football field.”
Eaton echoed a similar scenario on Thursday.
“High school football versus, say, playing in the USHL, you may be more apt to get hurt playing in the USHL,” he said. “I mean, you can take that approach with everything. You can get hit by a bus crossing the street. You’re still going to cross the street.
“We love that he has a desire to go back and lead his football team to win a championship. That’s a character trait and mentality that we’re certainly not going to try to neuter in him.”