MILWAUKEE, Wis. — It required a strange combination of Connor Bedard playing with an otherwise largely minor-league roster, but the Blackhawks managed to avoid finishing their preseason winless.
Bedard terrorized Blues goalie prospect Vadim Zherenko shift after shift Saturday at Fiserv Forum, home of the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks, as the Hawks cruised to a 6-2 win.
“We were pretty frustrated with how preseason has gone so far,” Bedard said. “No matter what it is, losing isn’t fun. We wanted to end it off on a good note and try to do the right things as much as we could. We could see the success when we did that.”
The Hawks finished the preseason with a 1-4-1 record, and although that looks better than their 0-4-1 mark after Friday did, it was still a concerning tune-up period considering how poorly many of their NHL veterans played.
Aside from Bedard, after all, most of the standouts Saturday were young guys who will start the reason in Rockford — including forward Frank Nazar, who finally produced the dominant performance he needed to push for an NHL roster spot but did so too late.
The Hawks have framed their preseason struggles as preferable to regular-season struggles, since they can at least learn from these mistakes before accumulating any real losses in the standings. Come Tuesday in Utah, however, they’ll have to prove they won’t struggle just as much in the regular season.
Wooing Wisconsin
The Hawks’ preseason game in Milwaukee two years ago — the first NHL game in Wisconsin since 1993 — was a momentous occasion for the local hockey community.
This year’s visit didn’t possess the same novelty factor, but the Hawks’ investment in the state has nonetheless made an impact. The team said there has been a 66% increase in the number of Hawks fans in Milwaukee since 2022, according to YouGov data.
For this year’s game, 60% of tickets were purchased by Wisconsin residents — a sizable number, albeit less than in 2022 when that percentage was 81%.
Load management
All summer long, Hawks forward Taylor Hall felt confident his repaired ACL wouldn’t cause him any problems this season. So far, he has been completely correct.
He will still be on a slight load management plan, however, to make sure it doesn’t start causing problems. He won’t be on the ice for more than four consecutive days, which could lead to some missed practices for maintenance purposes. Coach Luke Richardson is on board with that.
“I look around at other sports and anyone coming back from an ACL injury has a little bit of load management, whether it’s a pitch count or whatever,” Hall said.
“Luke, I’m really thankful he puts a lot of trust in me. He basically said, ‘If there’s any time you feel like you need a rest day, [take it].’ I have a rule that if I’m on the ice any more than four days in a row, it’s time to cool it off. … Knowing that, at my age, injury rates go up when guys are tired and overworked, it’s important to keep that in mind.”
No popcorn
Joey Anderson’s roster spot was likely secured by Nazar’s assignment to Rockford to start the season. Considering he allowed the fewest opponent scoring chances per minute of any Hawk last season (despite regularly facing opponents’ top lines), it would’ve been both unjust and unwise to cut him this fall.
The 26-year-old forward cleaned up his diet this summer at home in Minnesota.
“I just don’t eat as much as I used to,” Anderson said. “I eat a lot of eggs, which has been my staple lately. If I need a snack, I’ll make an egg sandwich or cook up something like that, instead of having chocolate chips or popcorn or whatever. [I wanted to] transition my snacks.”