The Blackhawks would be lying if they told you Alex Nylander has been what they hoped he’d be this season.
In acquiring Nylander from the Buffalo Sabres for Henri Jokiharju prior to the season, the Blackhawks were optimistic Nylander would realize his potential and thrive given the proper opportunity, just as Dylan Strome, another top-10 draft pick, had done the season before. As much debate as there was about dealing a young defenseman like Jokiharju, the Blackhawks envisioned Nylander’s production would eventually silence the critics.
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The Blackhawks provided Nylander every opportunity to succeed early, too. What any forward prospect would give to start off a season alongside Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews on a line. And at times, Nylander looked as if he deserved that spot in the lineup. He produced in the preseason. He scored a goal in the season opener in Prague. There were stretches when Nylander performed like a top-six forward and was rewarded with the chances and ice time that matched.
But then there were also stretches when Nylander’s play dropped off and Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton gave him what he deserved. Colliton made Nylander a healthy scratch at times in October, December, January and February. Nylander was demoted to the fourth line and was played less than 10 minutes in nine of his 13 games in February.
Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman was asked about Nylander in late February as Nylander was playing a much smaller role than when he began the season.
“As a 21-year-old, he’s still in the developing phase,” Bowman said. “He’s proven that he’s an NHL player. He went from being someone earning his stripes, which he’s been … and obviously he started the year higher up in the lineup, which maybe didn’t serve him as well because you put a lot of pressure on yourself to score when you’re up playing with productive players and you want to be a productive player. He’s playing some of his best hockey. Tactically, when he’s down the lineup, now it’s like a progression. If you can nail that down to be someone that the coach can trust to use, then you would like him to find his offensive skill set, he’s got the ability to make plays and buy time and space with the puck and he can shoot the puck. We’ve seen flashes of it but it’s not the full picture yet, so hopefully we can see him build on becoming not just an NHL player but an offensive NHL player. That’s what we’d like him to take that next step at some point.”
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Soon after that, Colliton provided Nylander another grand opportunity. Colliton had been trying Nylander with Patrick Kane and Dylan Strome for a few games in late February, but the results hadn’t been coming and Colliton was quick to move on. Against the Florida Panthers on Feb. 29, Nylander began the game alongside Kane and Strome, but Nylander ended up playing just 6:41. Colliton wasn’t seeing enough to justify keeping Nylander on the ice.
A game later, Colliton opted to come back with that trio. Against the Anaheim Ducks on March 3, Nylander again started alongside Kane and Strome. This time, the line produced and Colliton kept it together. The line was on the ice for three goals for against the Ducks. Nylander contributed one of those goals and dished out an assist. He played 13:48, the most ice time he had since Dec. 27.
The line had a plus-1 goal differential and a 58.29 expected goals percentage the next game against the Edmonton Oilers. The line had an uneventful game against the Detroit Red Wings, struggled against the St. Louis Blues and rebounded with a big game against the San Jose Sharks.
The season’s pause followed that. But in those five games together, the line had a 51.28 Corsi percentage, was on the ice for six goals for and two against for an actual goals for percentage of 75.0 and had an expected goals percentage of 53.32. However you wanted to measure the line, it came out a positive.
Colliton had time to think and assess his lines between his team’s last game March 11 and when they returned for training camp recently. He had liked what he had seen from Nylander, Strome and Kane down the stretch. He knew Kane liked playing with Nylander. From a pure skill standpoint, Nylander is probably the closest to Kane than any other player on the Blackhawks’ roster. There are also benefits to Nylander being a right-handed shot across from the left-handed Kane. Strome’s game complements their abilities, too. The question Colliton had to consider was whether the line could play hard enough away from the puck and then win pucks back. In games like the Blues one in March, you could see how that could be an issue.
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When the Blackhawks returned to camp, Colliton went back to that line. He wanted to see what it could become, and so far, that line has probably been more than what he hoped for. It’s only practices and scrimmages against teammates, but the trio has been so much more dominant than any other line combination.
Nylander, who turned 22 in March, has been a major reason why, too. He’s controlled the puck, carried it through the neutral zone and given the line clean offensive zone entries. He often defers to Kane, but he’s learning more and more how to play off Kane and create scoring chances by moving the puck among Kane, Strome and himself.
Nylander attributed his early success to getting back on the ice before camp officially started.
“I feel pretty good right now, been getting those skates in before in Phase 2, which was huge,” Nylander recently said. “I feel really good here in camp, but I want to be prepared because this is obviously going to be my first playoffs. Like Stromer said, I started playing really well at the end of the season, especially with Stromer and Kane, good chemistry and stuff like that and kind of building on that and keep it going for the playoffs, it’s going to be huge. We have huge games there obviously and we just need to be as ready as possible. It was nice to get to know them and play with them in Phase 2, so we got to know each other better off the ice and on the ice, so just keep carrying it on every day in training camp and working hard and we’ll be ready for the playoffs.”
Kane raved about Nylander after a recent practice.
“I think he’s got all the talent in the world,” Kane said. “He’s a great skater. He’s got all the puck skills. He’s got a good shot. I think sometimes you look at a guy like that, he hasn’t really played that much as far as minutes, like being able to play a top-six role consistently, so when he was in the spot at the end of the season, before the break, we were really starting to develop chemistry. Our line was coming on. We had a few good games in a row. But I think he can do a lot of good things with the puck. He can hang on to it. He can create space for him.”
There is a learning curve to playing with Kane. As one league scout said, “Nylander has to figure out how to play with Kane. It’s not him adapting to Kane, but realizing Kane will adapt to him. The issue some players have with Kane is they try to play outside of their strengths and start attempting to do things they normally wouldn’t do because they’re playing with him. Keep it simple. Do what you do best and Kane will figure you out. He can play so many different ways now. The smartest thing to do is give Kane the puck and find space. He’ll find you.”
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Kane mentioned last week too about how he plans to give Nylander more info on how they can be better together in time. Kane has said the same thing in the past with new linemates whether it’s been Artemi Panarin or Alex DeBrincat. He tries to bring them along slowly.
“I think right now you don’t want to give him too much about how we want to play,” Kane said. “But as camp goes on here and we start scrimmaging a little bit more, I think we’ll talk more about certain details that we want to do when we’re on the ice together, how we want to play to be effective, especially in the playoffs. But leaving him alone right now because he looks great. He’s skating well. His puck control is really good and he’s creating a lot in any type of battle drill or scrimmage so far. I think him and Strome have looked really good so far in camp.”
Colliton has liked what he’s seen in the first two weeks. As Bowman mentioned, it’s been a process with Nylander. The Blackhawks have had to bring Nylander along at his own pace. Colliton has been feeling that out over the season, too.
“I think a lot of times with young players you try to give them an opportunity and see how they respond to it,” Colliton said recently. “They get their feedback. Sometimes if it doesn’t work you pull back a little bit, maybe give them less responsibility. It’s a push and pull until they grow into the role you’re hoping they can play. Those three have played together (since) midseason, around Christmastime, and they had a couple really good games and then there was a drop-off and so then we flipped it. This last time I thought Alex responded really well to the opportunity.
“The biggest thing we’ve been preaching to him the whole season is just his work ethic away from the puck to put pressure on and cause turnovers and to give defensive support, just to have an impact on the game when the puck’s not on his blade. Because he’s got a lot of skills, he makes plays, he’s got some weapons offensively. But we want him to have some impact on the game when he doesn’t have the puck, and especially when you’re playing with Kaner, we need them to have the puck. That’s when we’re getting the most out of Patrick. That line has looked good so far. They’ve been really active, they’ve been skating well, they’ve been showing a lot of chemistry and they’ve been scoring. Hopefully that continues.”
The season is coming around full circle for Nylander in a way. It’s clear now Nylander wasn’t ready for the opportunity the Blackhawks presented him with to begin the season, but he may be now. So while Nylander hasn’t exactly been what the Blackhawks hoped for this full season, he has a chance to redeem himself and be precisely what they hoped at the end of the season and when it matters most.
To get a better idea of what Nylander is doing well and how he works alongside Kane and Strome, I watched all of Nylander’s shifts from his last five regular-season games. I cut some of those clips along with some from the Blackhawks’ recent scrimmages.
In this first clip from a scrimmage, the line wins the puck back in the offensive zone. Kane feeds Nylander at the net. Nylander shoots, collects his rebound and passes to Strome. Kane floats into the slot and Strome connects for a high-quality chance.
In this next scrimmage clip, Kane leads the rush, waits for Nylander to enter the picture and gets him the puck as he skates to the net.
In this next clip, Nylander carries the puck through the middle of the neutral zone and into the offensive zone. He skates wide to survey his options and nearly connects with Kane for a goal at the net. Strome recovers the loose puck, knocks it along the boards to Kane and Nylander skates to the slot for another open chance.
In this next one, Nylander carries the puck into the offensive zone, gets it to Kane on the right wing and Strome cuts to the net. Kane finds him and Strome scores.
In this clip against the Sharks on March 11, the puck is moved between Nylander, Kane and Strome a number of times. The line doesn’t score, but it creates a number of chances.
This clip has a little bit of everything. Kane and Nylander work together for one chance. Nylander hustles to get the puck. Finally, Strome sets up Nylander for a goal.
On this play, Nylander finds space and Kane finds him.
Against the Blues on March 8, the line wins a puck back here, Nylander passes to Kane and then skates to the net. Kane finds him again and Nylander nearly scores.
In this clip, Nylander has Kane and Strome as options on an odd-man rush.
The Nylander-Strome-Kane line got a chance to play against the Oilers on March 5. In this clip, it’s another example of Nylander making himself a target for Kane. Nylander doesn’t have the exact same game as Panarin, but Nylander would probably do himself a favor by watching how Panarin played with Kane. Being that right-handed shot, Nylander can put himself in a favorable position for Kane to find him.
In this clip against the Ducks on March 3, you see Nylander set up for a one-timer many times on the same shift.
In this clip, this is the Blackhawks doing everything but scoring with that line on the ice.
The Blackhawks want to see more of this from Nylander. He could win more pucks back if he engaged like this more often.
In this final clip, Nylander sets up Kane for a goal.
(Top photo: Sergei Belski / USA Today)
