GLENDALE, Ariz. — Alex Nylander is always one of the last Blackhawks to enter the locker room after morning skates.
Age certainly plays a role in that decision: at 21 years old, Nylander has a lot more gas in the tank for nonessential exercise than, say, Brent Seabrook (always one of the first off).
But Nylander also personally finds that long morning skates boost his skating ability. And as he seeks to rejuvenate his season after a recent downturn, that is more important than ever.
“I just want to try to move my feet out there and do a couple little drills to get the heart rate up,” he said Thursday. “It’s so my skating is good and I feel more comfortable, and that’s going to help me for the game time.”
Nylander hasn’t needed to save as much energy for the evenings lately, either.
After a long run on the first line with Jonathan Toews and Brandon Saad — a run that seemed to last a lot longer than Nylander’s (lack of) production justified — the Swedish winger has been demoted the past three games. He played with David Kampf and Dylan Sikura on Sunday, Ryan Carpenter and Kirby Dach on Tuesday, and Dach and Matthew Highmore on Thursday.
Asked if that demotion was meant to be a wake-up call, coach Jeremy Colliton said no, but not because he didn’t intend to deliver that call.
“The message is sent by our conversations more than anything,” Colliton said. “Sometimes it’s not a bad thing to play a little bit less and really focus on your shifts. ... It’s easier to focus on the quality, and that’s what he needs to continue to do.”
Just a month ago, Nylander’s tenure in Chicago and career as a full-time NHL player was off to a solid if unspectacular start, quieting some of the criticism of the Henri Jokiharju trade.
In his first 12 appearances, he tallied seven points. In his next nine, he tallied only two points — meaningless goals late in a blowout in Nashville — but his underlying numbers remained about the same.
But in his most recent 10 games, Nylander has really slipped.
He’s stayed cold in the box scores: he has zero goals and two assists, one of which being the secondary assist on Dominik Kubalik’s as-irrelevant-as-it-gets goal in Tuesday’s 5-1 loss.
He’s also done less with more, shots-wise. With Nylander on the ice, opponents have turned 53.7 percent of shot attempts into scoring chances, up from 52.2 percent before. Meanwhile, Nylander’s Hawks have converted only 41.2 percent of their shot attempts into scoring chances during that time period, down from 51.2 percent before.
“I just need to skate more, like I did before,” Nylander said. “Because when I’m skating, the other good stuff will happen. ... You’re more involved in the play, you’re skating more in all areas of the ice, you get more involved in the game.”
Colliton agreed with that assessment. He was nonetheless careful to note he doesn’t expect Nylander’s switch to flip back overnight — the Hawks knew from the day they acquired him that extracting his star potential would be a lengthy project.
But he obviously needs Nylander trending in the right direction again soon.
“It starts with his skating, his work ethic away from the puck,” Colliton said. “When he’s got his motor going and he’s pressuring and he’s winning races to loose pucks, then it makes it easier for the other parts of his game to show through.”
“He’s working on that, and we’ll help him.”
