For many Blackhawks, watching NHL games on TV keeps even off-nights entertaining

LOS ANGELES — When MacKenzie Entwistle was growing up in the Toronto suburbs, watching Maple Leafs games on TV was something of a sacred family tradition.

“We made sure that we had dinner beforehand, we put the fireplace on and we watched the Leafs game,” Entwistle said recently, smiling at the memory.

Now, seven years since he was drafted by the Coyotes and three years since he debuted with the Blackhawks, Entwistle’s Leafs fandom has long since faded. His love for sitting back on the couch, turning on the TV, booting up ESPN+ (not Sportsnet or TSN anymore) and enjoying the sport hasn’t, though.

Being an NHL player himself doesn’t prevent him from being an NHL fan, too.

“I just love watching hockey,” he said. “I’m not a big TV show guy; I always just fall asleep. Something live, [like] live sports — that I can watch.”

The same is true for many of his Hawks teammates. Although following the league as a whole can be surprisingly difficult for guys in the league — considering how often they’re playing or traveling and how little spare time that leaves for other life and family responsibilities — there’s no more popular activity on those rare off-nights.

“I probably watch hockey almost every night — every night we don’t play,” Philipp Kurashev said. “I come home and talk to my friends and parents, and at night every time, I just put it on. Any game [works].”

Said Reese Johnson: “Maybe if you play the team in a couple days, you can do a little pre-scout, but [it’s] more for entertainment. Honestly, I feel like you can learn a ton from watching games.”

Said Connor Bedard: “Even if it’s just background noise, I’ll always have a game on.”

Bedard watches closely, hoping to notice “little moves guys do” that he can implement into his own game.

What a normal person might simply see as a pretty play, he sees as an example of, say, Connor McDavid subtly moving his stick to create more space and slightly shifting his weight to explode into that open space.

So much of Bedard’s excellence comes from not only athleticism and talent but also his ability to analyze the game faster and more in-depth than his peers, as well as years spent studying what works and what doesn’t for other superstars. He watches hockey because he loves it and because it benefits him.

“[If] you watch any guy, [particularly] a lot of the top guys in the league, you can learn so much,” Bedard said. “It can be something really small, [but] I try to add little things.”

Johnson also studies what he sees other players doing, although he focuses on different things than Bedard.

He’s particularly interested in the routes guys take — be it to a loose puck, on the forecheck or on the backcheck — and how quickly or slowly they do so.

“Speed adaptability is a big thing,” Johnson said. “[You’re] not always going full speed; sometimes [you’re] slowing things down on the rush. It’s good to use that speed dial entering the zone.”

There’s a social aspect, as well, when it comes to Hawks players watching other NHL games. The franchise’s rebuild has led to an enormous amount of roster turnover in recent years, spreading a diaspora of ex-Hawks around the league.

For a relatively longer-tenured Hawk like Entwistle, that means he’s extra inclined to watch Lightning games to see how Brandon Hagel is doing and Red Wings games to see how Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat are doing. There is a caveat to that, though.

“If it’s a blowout, then I probably won’t keep it on,” Entwistle admitted. “[Or] when it’s intermission or something, I’ll just switch and go to the next game.”

For a journeyman like Jaycob Megna, meanwhile, he’s inclined to watch Kraken and Sharks games to keep up with his most recent former teams, plus Penguins games to check in on Erik Karlsson, a close friend from their overlapping time in San Jose.

Even before or after the Hawks’ own games, the TVs in the locker room, trainers’ room and elsewhere within the bowels of the United Center are always tuned to something interesting.

After the Hawks’ home win last week against the Ducks, Megna walked out of the shower to catch a glimpse of a crazy back-and-forth overtime between the Kraken and Golden Knights.

“It’s mostly entertainment at that point, because I don’t really play overtime,” Megna said, laughing. “It’s so funny how you basically have to give up a chance to get a chance in overtime. If their goalie makes a save or they don’t execute, then you’re probably going to…go down and score. It’s fun. I wish it went longer. I don’t really like the shootout.”

Back at their own houses and apartments, it takes a bit more work to choose what to watch and channel-surf during the prime hours when Eastern and Central Time games are wrapping up. But these guys are pros at that just as much as they are on the ice.

“You check out which one is close, what good battles are going on [and] what teams have the good rivalries,” Johnson said. “And if there’s one going to OT, you’ve got to tune into those.”