LAS VEGAS — Teuvo Teravainen will enter the final year of his three-year contract with the Blackhawks as a healthy scratch on opening night.
Hawks coach Jeff Blashill said he made the final decision late Monday regarding the lineup Tuesday against the Golden Knights, but things appeared to be trending this way throughout training camp.
“It’s a hard decision because of the fact I think we have…more NHL players than we have spots to play [them] in,” Blashill said. “I’m really not sure who’s the best guy to go in tonight to win the hockey game. Tons of confidence in the guys that are in, but I have confidence if we had chosen Teravainen.
“He’ll play on this trip at some point. He’ll be a factor in our success this season, for sure. The hardest part, when you’re in those shoes, is to maintain your own confidence, and that’s not an easy thing. It’s something he’ll have to work through.”
On Monday, Teravainen had a sense this was coming. He had been rotating with Andrew Mangiapane in line rushes.
“It’s a little new for me, but I’ll try to be positive,” Teravainen said. “[The] coaches make the lineup.”
The 32-year-old Finnish winger and member of the Hawks’ 2015 Stanley Cup-winning roster had a strong return to Chicago in 2023-24, ranking third on the Hawks in scoring with 58 points.
It’s partly a reflection of how much the Hawks’ lineup has improved that Teravainen is now considered their 13th-best forward.
But it’s partly a reaction to his struggles last season, too, as his production fell to 35 points and his play away from the puck suffered.
Situation to monitor
Confidence can sometimes be a roadblock for Teravainen. Blashill recently mentioned that when his confidence dips, “he tends to stand still with the puck more than anything else.” Teravainen agreed with that criticism.
“If you feel good, you trust your legs a little bit more,” Teravainen said. “And if you move your legs, you get a little more time to make some plays.
“It’s a mix of everything. First of all, you need your head in the game to make quick decisions, be ready when you get the puck, [know] what you’re going to do. And a lot of times, the first [thing to do] is move your legs. Everybody is pressuring so hard, so otherwise you don’t have time.”
His pending free agency next summer adds more intrigue to this situation. It will be something to monitor as the season gets underway.
Smith’s quick return
Most Hawks players just endured an awfully long offseason. Fourth-line winger and penalty-killing specialist Cole Smith’s offseason was a bit different.
Barely three months ago, Smith was competing for a Stanley Cup with the Knights, who he promptly faced as an opponent Tuesday.
“[Oliver Moore] goes, ‘God, it’s been a long time since we played,'” Smith said Monday. “I was like, ‘It doesn’t feel like it’s been that long!'”
After the Cup Final, he had to take about three weeks off to let some small injuries incurred throughout the playoffs heal. Then, suddenly, August was right around the corner.
“You feel the pressure in the back of your mind like, ‘We’ve got to get going here again,'” he said. “There’s a weird balance to…find the motivation in the summer to get back training a little sooner than you probably wanted to.”
Note: Connor Bedard is traveling with the Hawks for the first two games of this road trip, although he’s not cleared to skate with the team yet.
