Blackhawks begin potentially meaningful preseason with messy loss to Red Wings

Conventional wisdom suggests NHL preseason results don't mean much, but for the Blackhawks, they actually have been indicative in recent years — in a bad way.

Last season, the Hawks went 1-4-1 in the preseason, then struggled just as much in the regular season. They went 2-2-2 in the 2023 preseason and 1-5-0 in the 2022 preseason before struggling in those regular seasons, too. All of that was under former coach Luke Richardson.

With that pattern in mind, the Hawks' performances during this preseason might offer an early hint at how competitive — or non-competitive — they'll be right away under new coach Jeff Blashill.

A 3-2 road loss to the Red Wings in their first exhibition game Tuesday wasn't an ideal start. Although one singular preseason result probably isn't indicative, especially when icing a young lineup composed of a mixture of NHL players and prospects, it was obvious the Hawks haven't figured out Blashill's new defensive systems yet.

They were out-shot 43-17 by an equally mixed Wings lineup, looked lost and confused for long stretches of the second and third periods and could've gotten blown out if not for goalie Arvid Soderblom's efforts.

Connor Bedard scored a pretty power-play goal, while Artyom Levshunov injected one fantastic shift that led to a Wyatt Kaiser goal into an otherwise mistake-laden performance.

"Everything is new, systems are new, and we played like we were thinking," Blashill said. "When you think a lot, you play slow. They beat us to pretty much every loose puck.

"It didn't surprise me. I knew we were going to be tired and our systems aren't natural yet. I'm OK with that. That's why we're putting the work in."

The Hawks have five preseason games left — the next two being a back-to-back this weekend at the Blues and Wild — to put themselves on firmer footing before the games that definitely do matter begin.

EDM music

During exit interviews after last season, the Hawks suggested to hulking young defenseman Ethan Del Mastro that he should work this summer on speeding up his decision-making and puck-moving processes.

"They wanted me to focus on, whenever I'm getting pucks, automatically moving my feet and thinking, 'Make plays quick,'" Del Mastro said Tuesday. "[I worked on] not holding onto things too long. I was incorporating that into all the skates. Whether it was walking the line, getting shots through, [I tried to] just have that quick mindset."

Del Mastro, 22, has been paired with Sam Rinzel during the first week of training camp. Considering Rinzel is virtually locked into a big role on this roster, that's a sign Del Mastro is being considered for a sizable role, too.

But Del Mastro struggled in the preseason opener, which won't help his cause. He flubbed a few passes to no one near the defensive blue line in the first period, then lost coverage on a high-danger Wings scoring chance and committed a cross-checking penalty in the second period.

Lawsuit settled

The Hawks settled a lawsuit last week with an anonymous second player from the 2010 Stanley Cup team who alleged former video coach Brad Aldrich sexually assaulted him.

This lawsuit was filed in November 2023, after the Hawks settled the Kyle Beach lawsuit that originally brought the scandal to light in 2021. The player who filed it was a key witness in the Jenner & Block investigation into Beach's allegations.

The lawsuit accused the Hawks of showing "utter indifference and/or conscious disregard for the safety of its employees." The Hawks, who have overhauled their front-office personnel and cultural practices in recent years, fought the lawsuit with a series of legal filings before ultimately negotiating this undisclosed settlement.

"We acknowledge the case has been settled and will have no further comment on the matter," the team said in a statement.