Wyatt Kaiser’s improvement with Blackhawks exemplified by play against Connor McDavid

CALGARY, Alberta — Blackhawks defenseman Wyatt Kaiser cut off the opposing forward by the wall, led with his stick and finished through the body to dislodge the puck.

It was a textbook defensive play by Kaiser on Saturday — something Hawks coach Luke Richardson would appreciate anytime, anywhere.

But what made it special was the opponent being Oilers star Connor McDavid.

“[Wyatt] doesn’t care if it’s one of the best players in the world or not,” Richardson said. “He just did the proper thing. I think it frustrated McDavid, but for a young defenseman to build respect in this league, he’s got to play like that. It was excellent to see.”

To add another dimension to the example, McDavid grabbed Kaiser around the neck and pulled him down to the ice with him, drawing a roughing penalty (albeit a rather soft one). The Hawks scored a crucial goal on the ensuing power play to extend their lead.

“I’m just playing hockey as soon as I step on the ice,” Kaiser said. “It doesn’t really matter [who it is].”

Richardson has been pleased in general by Kaiser’s play through his first two games this season. The 22-year-old Minnesotan hasn’t looked rusty at all, despite missing most of training camp plus the season opener while recovering from some invasive testing.

He looked solid late last season, too, after a nearly fourth-month stint in the AHL helped settle his game down, build up his confidence and refine his defensive positioning.

“Sometimes when a young defenseman gets a little scrambled, it’s hard to rectify that in the NHL,” Richardson said. “He doesn’t have the experience to settle himself down, and we didn’t have the team to surround him with [experience] last year, as well. He was on his own a little bit. That was the right call. He came back and played great at the end of last season, and he’s picked up right where he left off.”

What’s different now is that he’s playing this way right from the start of a season. He earned his first assist of 2024-25 on Philipp Kurashev’s opening goal Saturday and has already been credited with eight blocked shots and four hits.

Richardson praised him for not only the McDavid play but also a subtler yet smart play against the Oilers’ other star, Leon Draisaitl, in which he forced Draisaitl wide and then passed him off to Murphy once Draisaitl circled behind the net.

“Sometimes he’s not always stopping them but he’s putting them in a bad spot…behind the net, which is where we want the puck with those guys,” Richardson added. “He’s doing all kinds of great things out there right now.”

The Hawks believe Kaiser can be a long-term NHL piece for them, not just a depth guy bouncing back and forth between levels, and he’s already well on track to cementing a spot on the third pairing.

That would give the Hawks two recently homegrown pillars on their back end, Kaiser and Alex Vlasic, with several more — including Artyom Levshunov, Ethan Del Mastro and Sam Rinzel — working their way up the pipeline.

Nolan Allan should also be mentioned among that group, but he’s currently stuck as a healthy scratch on the NHL roster due to Kaiser’s faster-than-expected return to health. Both Allan and Lukas Reichel, who has yet to make a single appearance this season, will be outside of the lineup again Tuesday against the Flames.

“We’re playing really well as a team right now, so there’s not a lot of changes going on,” Richardson said. “So you’ve got to bide your time and wait. At some point, we might have to have a discussion about a plan for [Allan and Reichel] to get into games, whether it be here or down below, but we haven’t come to that point yet.”