Blackhawks' Desjardins: 'I knew I wasn't playing my strongest hockey'

By John Dietz

jdietz@dailyherald.com

During the Blackhawks' Stanley Cup run last season, Andrew Desjardins played a big part in helping keep the most talented players from Nashville, Minnesota, Anaheim and Tampa Bay off the scoresheet.

He often received rave reviews from coaches and teammates alike for his gritty, hard-nosed play. The 29-year-old veteran enjoyed the team and city so much that he signed a two-year, $1.6 million contract to remain a Hawk even though he could have made more elsewhere.

"It was a great experience," Desjardins said that day in July. "That kind of made it an easy decision for us."

Playing for coach Joel Quenneville, however, isn't always easy, and a slumping Desjardins has found himself a healthy scratch each of the last two games. He also wasn't on any of the top four lines at practice Tuesday, meaning he likely won't play in Edmonton on Wednesday.

A candid Desjardins said the demotion didn't come as a complete shock.

"I knew I wasn't playing my strongest hockey," he said. "Maybe trying to do too much stuff with the puck sometimes; making poor decisions. … I don't know if I was surprised. It was disappointing.

"I'm the hardest critic on myself. Obviously I was disappointed in myself to put myself in that situation."

One of those "poor decisions" came late in the second period of a 3-2 loss to New Jersey last week when Desjardins tried to pass the puck to Brandon Mashinter while the Hawks were in the middle of the offensive zone. Mashinter couldn't get a good stick on it, and that led to a goal by Kyle Palmieri.

Desjardins, who never saw the ice in the third period and finished with just 7:21 of ice time, doesn't believe that one play led to the benching.

"I think it's probably would be (because) of a few events, a few games," said Desjardins, who has no points and has a team-worst minus-8 rating, including a minus-5 in his last five games.

Coach Joel Quenneville said he's looking for "energy and consistency" out of Desjardins, whom the Hawks acquired at the trade deadline last season for Ben Smith.

Quenneville has often used the healthy scratch to try and motivate struggling players, and that included sitting Desjardins in Games 1 and 2 vs. Nashville. With the series tied at 1-1, though, Desjardins was active for Game 3 and scored a key goal during the Hawks' 4-2 victory at the United Center.

He never missed a game after that.

With that in mind, watch for a hungrier, more intense hockey player when No. 11 has his number called again.

Said Desjardins: "You can expect me to come back and play as hard as I can - be the hardest-working guy out there."