Entwistle regained 10 pounds lost to COVID-19 while also becoming a better skater during his impressive season. Kirby Dach also learned from his brief 18-game season.
After a season of working on improving his speed, young Blackhawks forward MacKenzie Entwistle enjoyed a validating moment Thursday.
Midway through the first period against the Hurricanes, Entwistle saw a counter-attacking opportunity, took a pass from Vinnie Hinostroza and blew past Carolina defensemen Dougie Hamilton and Brady Skjei, creating a breakaway from the red line in.
“It’s a little easier to try to get that breakaway speed when you know there’s just you and the goalie,” Entwistle said Saturday with a smile. “But that was definitely a moment where I could see my skating’s not the issue.”
Entwistle has long embraced his future as a third- or fourth-line grinder at the NHL level — “Not everyone can be the Kanes and the Kubaliks,” he said in March — but modern hockey requires athleticism, quickness and offensive input even from those types.
Making three straight Hawks appearances this week after playing just six minutes previously in the NHL, the 21-year-old, 6-3 forward demonstrated those elements to his game.
“I’m very, very pleased with his progression,” coach Jeremy Colliton said. “He got in the one game earlier in the season, but even since then, he’s taken another step. His physical attributes, his conditioning, look more to the level he needs to be at. He’s got more work to do, but his skating has really improved.”
“Especially being a bigger guy, my first three steps have gotten better and improved since my first year of pro [hockey],” Entwistle added.
Making Entwistle’s season even more impressive is the fact he has improved while also regaining 10 pounds he lost during a severe COVID-19 case in January. His body is “back to being 100%” now thanks to extra meals, protein shakes and targeted workouts.
Dach learned from 18 games
Kirby Dach’s 2021 season was limited to just 18 games, missing the team’s first 34 recovering from his wrist surgery and final four after experiencing “post-operative discomfort” with scar tissue.
But Colliton believes the 18 games were still valuable for the second-year center, as he insisted they would be all along.
“It was good for him to play, even if it wasn’t easy,” Colliton said. “Getting in these games and being challenged — and they were important games and we were right in the mix — he’ll take that with him. Hopefully [he’ll] have an excellent summer of training and be better than ever come fall.”
Dach finished with two goals and eight assists for 10 points while averaging 18:34 of ice time per game, increasing his even-strength scoring rate versus last season even if he wasn’t as dominant as hoped.
His comfort level seemed to increase over time, though. The Hawks can point to Dach’s performance Apr. 29 as a prime example: Colliton matched him against Alexsander Barkov and he largely shut him down. The Panthers had only one shot on goal and the Hawks scored the lone goal during Dach and Barkov’s shared ice time.
Dach’s integration into the penalty kill was a major positive, too. He played 23:21 on the penalty kill this season and recorded the third-best penalty-kill scoring-chance ratio on the team.
He and Alex DeBrincat added a dynamic new look to jumpstart the PK’s second-half turnaround.
“It makes [the power play] uncomfortable,” Colliton said Apr. 27. “Maybe don’t make that tight play at the blue line because you know [you’re facing] a long stick with great instincts in a guy like Kirby. [With] Brinksy’s quickness, he can jump on it and create a 2-on-1.”
