TEMPE, Ariz. — At one point during training camp, forward Taylor Raddysh made a joke about how the Blackhawks never used him on the penalty kill last season.
Coach Luke Richardson overheard it, thought about it and approached Raddysh about changing it. Now, three weeks into the season, Raddysh has established himself as one of the team’s more dependable penalty-killers.
‘‘He does have a really strong stick, and that’s what we look for in the penalty kill,’’ Richardson said. ‘‘He’s been playing on the power play for a while, too, so you know where the problems are on penalty kill. You [can] kind of reverse-psychology that [knowledge] into your play, and he’s done a great job of that. It keeps him in the game more.’’
As a rookie on the Lightning in 2021-22, Raddysh was used lightly on the penalty kill, logging 34 minutes, 24 seconds of short-handed ice time in 53 games. That built on his experience in that regard the previous two seasons with Syracuse, the Lightning’s AHL affiliate. Last season on the Hawks, however, he logged just 12 seconds of short-handed ice time.
That has changed this season. He entered the Hawks’ game Monday against the Coyotes averaging 2:04 of short-handed ice time per game, ranking fourth among Hawks forwards and putting him in a group of six (Jason Dickinson, Nick Foligno, Reese Johnson, Boris Katchouk and Philipp Kurashev) with semi-regular penalty-killing duties.
‘‘It has [required] a little learning at the start of the year — [about] killing a different way — but I feel like I’ve done a pretty good job,’’ Raddysh said. ‘‘[I’ve] just got to continue asking questions and working hard when I’m out there to keep earning that ice time.’’
He said the biggest difference between the Hawks’ penalty-killing system and the Lightning’s old system involves the aggressiveness of the forechecking, which is something Richardson has dialed up this season.
Because Raddysh wasn’t included in most penalty-kill meetings or video-review sessions last season, his learning curve to pick up those short-handed forechecking techniques — as well as in-zone coverage assignments in the Hawks’ diamond formation — has been steeper than that of most of his counterparts.
‘‘You might have [to defend] a two-on-one here and there that you’ve got to adapt to, which is different from five-on-five [play],’’ he said. ‘‘At the same time, that still will happen five-on-five. Guys will get beat. It’s hockey; things happen.’’
Raddysh seems to have it all mostly down now. Last week against the Bruins, he made a savvy play during a second-period penalty kill to intercept an attempted seam pass by Brad Marchand, clear the puck and allow the Hawks to change units.
And against the Golden Knights, he put enough forechecking pressure on Shea Theodore — seconds after a successful penalty kill — to force a turnover, off which he scored a goal.
‘‘Things like that are going to go a long way for our team, but [it] also gives him another role to challenge himself on,’’ Richardson said.
On the whole, the Hawks’ penalty kill has been a big bright spot early this season, having killed 26 of 30 opposing power plays — equaling an 86.7% kill rate, good for seventh in the NHL. Even in an ugly 8-1 loss to the Coyotes on Monday, the penalty kill managed to go 3-for-4.
Their analytics are impressive, too. The penalty kill has allowed the eight-fewest shot attempts and seventh-fewest scoring chances per minute. And Raddysh has contributed to that.
‘‘When you’re playing hockey, you want to play as much as you can,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s always nice when you get out there and can be trusted. It feels good.’’
