Beauvillier excited to join Blackhawks
Being traded from a playoff team to one of the worst teams in the league might be demoralizing for some players.
But not for Anthony Beauvillier.
"I think it's exciting," said the 26-year-old Quebec native, who has gone from a fourth-line role with the Canucks to the top line on the Blackhawks. "I mean, I wasn't there for long in Vancouver, but definitely learned a lot from the coaching staff and the players.
"They're off to a really good start to the season," he said. "It's exciting, though, to play a lot more minutes and have a bigger role."
Beauvillier was acquired last week for a conditional fifth-round draft pick. He played nearly 17 minutes during the Hawks' loss at Winnipeg on Saturday, but had visa issues and could not get to Minnesota to face the Wild on Sunday.
Beauvillier returned to the lineup Tuesday and skated with Connor Bedard and Philipp Kurashev against Nashville at United Center.
The 5-foot-11, 180-pound forward was selected 28th overall by the Islanders in 2015 and scored 102 goals for them in 457 games from 2016-23. He was traded to Vancouver as part of the Bo Hovart deal in January.
Beauvillier scored 9 goals in 33 games in a top-six role with the Canucks last season, but spent most of this campaign on the fourth line.
While he had just 2 goals and 6 assists in 22 games, Vancouver did outscore opponents 11-3 at even strength while he was on the ice.
Hawks coach Luke Richardson was an assistant coach with the Islanders in 2017-18 when a 20-year-old Beauvillier scored a career-high 21 goals in 71 games.
"He just seems more mature as a person - older and comfortable coming up and talking to me," Richardson said. "He's been around the league longer, he's had some ups and downs, and he knows how to work through them, and that's going to be great.
"He's kind of a spitfire kind of player - lots of fire and he can really burst through with skating and shoot pucks."
Predators 4, Blackhawks 3 (SO):
The Hawks saw their losing streak extend to four games as Gustav Nyquist, Ryan O'Reilly and Filip Forsberg all scored in the shootout. Connor Bedard scored a shootout goal for the Hawks, but Tyler Johnson's attempt failed.
Nick Foligno scored a pair of goals to double his season total and added an assist for a 3-point night.
After the Hawks took a 1-0 lead into the second period, the teams combined for 4 goals in just over three minutes. Jason Dickinson (8 goals) and Foligno scored at 3:09 and 5:21, respectively, to put the Hawks ahead 3-2.
Nashville tied it on Ryan O'Reilly's 12th goal of the season. It was a power-play tally at 12:59. Jarred Tinordi was in the penalty box for tripping.