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So far, I think the Hawks have made a fine choice with their head coach in Jeff Blashill. Some questioned his desire to keep Burakovski on the top line, and rightfully so, and leave an offensively talented Nick Lardis on the 4th line with Slaggert and Lafferty, who are not so offensively gifted.
With Burakovski, I think he was just a player that had speed, size and skill that could blend with Bedard to keep offensive zone possession. Both he and Greene seemed to be Blashill’s best options, though neither have been shown to have great finishing capabilities. Enter Frondell. Here he comes off the plane from Sweden and he’s put on the top line with Bedard, replacing Burakovsky. Blashill sees the above listed skills in Frondell, and can immediately try him on the first line. Here’s a quote from Blashill regarding Frondell:
“Sometimes when guys come from junior or college, they never have to defend because they have the puck the whole night. . . . For him, he’s had to defend. He’s had to be a fourth-liner. He’s had to do those kind of things. That helps him grow.”
Blashill recognizes that Frondell has developed some of the aspecs of the pro game in Sweden, and has no qualms about putting him with Bedard, which leads us to the Lardis discussion.
A few days ago Blashill was quote regarding Lardis as needing to play “10 minutes a game” style or something like that. I didn’t quite understand the meaning of it, but now that Lardis has been promoted to the second line, and reading into that above quote, it makes more sense to me.
Lardis, like prospects, Marek Vanacker and Jack Pridham seem to have had their way in junior. So the skill is there, but in the NHL they won’t have their way quite so easily, and therefore they need to defend and play the right way to further their developement towards being good NHL players. By putting Lardis with Lafferty and Slaggert, defensive structure was going to be in the forefront. Lardis’ efforts did not go unnoticed, and he’s looked good with Nazar and Bertuzzi.
The head coaching job has evolved from the hardnosed play my vets kinda bench boss, to the I have to get to know my players individually and manage from there kinda coach. So far, I’m happy with Blahill. He’s doing things right for his young players, and he’ll have even more next year, so hopefully the developemnt of youth continue.
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