DALLAS — Defenseman Alex Vlasic has always excelled at breaking up plays in the defensive zone — a skill that has translated effectively in his first full-time NHL season with the Blackhawks.
But where he has exceeded expectations is in what he does after breaking up a play. His ability to make smart decisions and clean, accurate moves to get the puck out of the zone has improved enormously.
“I wouldn’t say he’s an offensive player, but he has certainly shown he can move the puck,” general manager Kyle Davidson said recently. “He has raised the ceiling beyond what some people may have [labeled] him as more of a shutdown, bottom-pair defenseman.”
Despite missing six games during two separate absences for injuries — he returned from the second one Wednesday — Vlasic, 22, has been remarkably consistent.
He has been credited with 23 takeaways and 20 giveaways. It’s hard for defensemen to fare well in those categories, so a plus-three differential is impressive. For comparison, Hawks teammate Seth Jones has a minus-18, Connor Murphy a minus-12 and Kevin Korchinski a minus-21.
It’s a reflection of how good Vlasic is at using his 6-6 frame and stick to intercept passes or poke pucks away from forwards along the boards.
He was particularly strong in those areas in the Hawks’ overtime loss Friday. The Hawks outshot the Stars 10-5 and outscored them 3-0 during Vlasic’s five-on-five ice time, and he eventually logged a career-high 25:32 of total ice time. He added an assist, giving him five points in his last eight appearances, and improved to plus-10 this season — an amazing stat on a team with a minus-43 overall goal differential.
“[He] reads the play well, and he’s got good mobility for a big guy and a long reach, so he separates guys from the puck or he steals pucks on the pass,” coach Luke Richardson said. “And then, he just smoothly takes off. He doesn’t look like he’s skating that fast, but he takes a couple of strides and he’s gone.”
Indeed, Vlasic’s skating might not quite rival Korchinski’s, but he can carry the puck when given space and has actively joined the rush in a few games.
What stands out the most, though, is his defensive-to-neutral-zone passing. Vlasic has directly created two goals this season with beautiful stretch passes — to Corey Perry in Toronto and to Connor Bedard in Edmonton — but multiple times per night, he makes solid plays to exit the zone and relieve pressure.
He has averaged 7.1 zone exits with possession per 60 minutes, according to All Three Zones. He and Korchinski (8.8) are the only two defensemen above the league average (6.0) for a Hawks team that collectively ranks 25th in this area. Vlasic also averages 4.7 clearances per 60 minutes — 20th among defensemen league-wide and well above the average of 3.1.
“If you watch any of the top defensemen in the league, that’s what they’re best at,” Vlasic said.
“[For] guys like [Colorado’s] Cale Makar or [Vancouver’s] Quinn Hughes, it’s going to be a little bit different for them. They’re pretty agile on their feet. A lot of the time, they can just skate the puck out of the zone. But [Tampa’s] Victor Hedman or someone like that, he’s not going to necessarily burn forwards on the forecheck one-on-one, but he’ll be able to make one or two moves and then open up someone else to put them in a better spot.”
Vlasic has tried to emulate Hedman, paying attention during pregame scouting sessions to anticipate whether the forecheckers he’ll face that night will prioritize cutting off the middle of the ice or the walls.
Then, upon gaining possession of the puck in the defensive zone, he’ll quickly glance over both shoulders to assess where the pressure is coming from. That determines whether his best move is a “rimmed” clearance off the glass, a flicked overhead clearance to center ice, a stretch pass to a streaking Hawks forward, a conservative cross-ice pass to his defensive partner or an extra second holding onto the puck himself.
That’s a lot of options, but Vlasic has shown an uncanny ability to choose correctly — and he should only get better as he gains experience.
Zone entries a bigger challenge
The other crucial way the blue line comes into play for defensemen — guarding it against opposing teams’ offensive-zone entry attempts — has proven a bit more challenging for Vlasic and his teammates.
The Hawks’ collective entry defense is poor. They have allowed 55.2 zone entries and 13.0 scoring chances off zone entries per 60 minutes this season, per All Three Zones — the most in the NHL in both categories.
As Connor Murphy recently noted, that falls on the whole team. The defensemen must keep solid gaps at the blue line, but the backchecking forwards have to cover their men, too.
“Sometimes we get a little unsorted with which guys are getting picked up, either from us ‘D’ or from the forwards,” Murphy said. “Whether it’s [about] communication or just reading a certain scenario on who to pick up, [such as] whether they have late guys [trailing the play]. If they don’t, we can be more aggressive. Every situation is different, but I do think we can be better at being clear with each other when those things are happening.”
Richardson mentioned a play during the third period last week against the Avalanche — where defenseman Nikita Zaitsev pointed for forward Tyler Johnson to cut off an Avs player along the boards, allowing Zaitsev to maintain his position on the inside — as an example of ideal entry defense. But the Hawks haven’t executed that very often.
As for Vlasic, his entry denial rate of 13.5% is second-best on the Hawks (behind Korchinski) and above the 9.0% league average. Conversely, he has been targeted the most of any Hawks defensemen in terms of zone entry attempts (at 30.7 per 60 minutes) and allowed an above-average percentage of those entry attempts to be carry-ins (rather than dump-ins) and to lead to scoring chances.
“At the start of the year, I put a big emphasis on that in my game,” Vlasic said. “Honestly, I’ve gotten away from it a little bit. The better teams and players will find ways to get your gap out of sorts and push you back.”
He mentioned another Lightning star — this one being forward Nikita Kucherov — as someone who knows how to draw defensemen out of position along the blue line. He can “suck you in” toward him, then pass to a teammate cutting into the space you previously occupied.
“It’s hard,” he said. “Every night is different. That’s what’s cool. ... You’re bound to make mistakes and have some problems with other players on the teams, but it’s cool to learn from that and see your progression. I feel like I’ve already learned so much from this year so far.”
