Blackhawks senior vice president and general manager Stan Bowman met with the media following Tuesday's morning skate ahead of the Hawks game against the Calgary Flames. One of the topics he spoke on included the performance of the younger players this season.
After seeing how rookies Kirby Dach and Adam Boqvist have adjusted to the NHL, Bowman believes they will be marquee players for the Hawks down the road. Dach was the No. 3 overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft and Boqvist No. 8 in 2018.
"Those two players are going to be a big part of our future," Bowman said. "I think we've expected to build around them going forward. But they're young players, so you can't put too much on their shoulders.
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"I think in Kirby's case, he missed a lot of training camp with the concussion and we worked him in slowly the first probably 10, 15 games but now I think you're seeing [him just] scratching the surface of what he can become. He certainly looks more comfortable out there.
"I think we're giving him a bigger role. His minutes have gone up over the past month and deservingly so, he's played well, so I expect that to continue.
Dach, a forward who's mostly played center, is 18 and has 11 points (six goals, five assists) in 37 games with the Hawks.
"But it is hard for those young players to be given the task of leading a team," Bowman said. "I think they can grow into that role over the next year, year-and-a-half where they can take bigger parts of the responsibility.
NHL
"But right now we're trying to get them acclimated to the league. In Adam's case, he's a little bit older than Kirby, but he's still pretty young for a defenseman to be in the NHL. He just turned 19 at the end of the summer.
"He's got that ability to create offense. We've seen him score a couple goals and I expect him to be the kind of defenseman that can put the puck in the net. It's a valuable asset in today's game and he's held his own defensively.
"I think I've been very pleased with the way he's played. He has to defend a little bit differently because he's not a big guy but he's got a good stick and his reading of the play has really improved. I think he's understanding how to play against really good players and do well in his own end.
"As far as the goal for those two, it's continue to build. We want them to take a bigger role as we move forward, but right now they're both off to a really good start."
Boqvist has five points (two goals, three assists) in 18 games with Chicago.
Bowman thinks another young player for the Hawks, forward Alex Nylander, needs to step his consistency up. Nylander, 21, was traded to the Blackhawks from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for defensive prospect Henri Jokiharju.
"I think it's a mixed performance," Bowman said of Nylander. "I thought he's had some great games this year and I think with younger players, we've seen it with some of our other young guys, is trying to get it consistently out of them.
"So I think Alex had flashes were he was really effective and I think sometimes he needs to just gain more reliability both ways, but still encouraged by what he's shown and I think if we can get his best game it can really impact us in a positive way. So if we can bring that out on a regular basis that will help the team."
Nylander has 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in 39 games with the Blackhawks and is playing Tuesday after being a healthy scratch the previous three games.
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