Blackhawks could do right by Connor Murphy at deadline: 10 post-break thoughts

The sprint to the finish of the NHL season begins for the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday. After five full practices, the Blackhawks seem eager to get going.

Here’s a little bit of this and that before the action picks up again:

1. Connor Murphy is the most likely player traded at the deadline. Considering how long Murphy has been with the Blackhawks, it wouldn’t be surprising if the organization tried to put him with a team that is a lock for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Murphy has never experienced a real playoffs in his career. (He did participate in the bubble playoffs.)

2. Blackhawks prospect Samuel Savoie was very lucky to be suspended just three games recently by the AHL. After the final horn of the Rockford IceHogs’ game on Feb. 1, Savoie hit a puck at one end of the ice and it nearly struck an official at the other end. The official moved out of the way. If that connects, who knows what the consequence could have been.

3. There’s still a chance the Blackhawks re-sign Ilya Mikheyev, but that likelihood is becoming slimmer by the day. We’ll see what the next week brings. If an extension isn’t agreed upon and there are teams calling for him, the Blackhawks could move him. They could probably use that roster spot down the stretch for a young player.

Mikheyev’s value to the Blackhawks or any team is largely on the penalty kill. He’s played the fifth-most short-handed ice time among the league’s forwards and has the 10th-lowest on-ice goals-against average per 60 minutes among the 55 forwards who have played a minimum of 100 penalty-kill minutes.

4. Artyom Levshunov has noticed a difference in his shot since he started really focusing on it with Blackhawks skills coach Brian Keane.

“It feels better,” he said this week. “It feels like a better shot, harder shot. Everything I planned to work on, I think I did that. It has more of a chance to score.”

Head coach Jeff Blashill has been encouraged by Levshunov’s overall practice play since returning from the break.

“I would start by saying, he came back, and I think he’s been good in practices on a pretty consistent basis, so that’s a positive,” Blashill said Monday. “I know where his mindset’s going to be. At the beginning of the year, he was defending really, really well. We worked on pushing him to bring more of that offense and attack the game, and he did a really good job.

“At some point, he probably got over the line, right, that line of the balance between — the best players, again, are able to produce offense and give up very little. He kind of walked over that line, and we got him back to start with that basis of playing good D and building from there. I expect he’ll play good hockey.”

5. Blashill hasn’t announced a lineup for Thursday’s game, but it appears as if Kevin Korchinski could be the defenseman on the outside. Alex Vlasic and Louis Crevier have continued to practice as a pair. Matt Grzelcyk has been on the left side of Levshunov. On the other pairing, Murphy, a right-handed shot, has been playing on the left side of Sam Rinzel.

6. André Burakovsky has been playing in the NHL for some time, but he gets affected by a lack of confidence just like any player. As his production dried up lately, that’s what he noticed was missing.

“Maybe hasn’t felt as good when I’ve been playing mentally and on the ice recognizing plays, skating and stuff like that,” Burakovsky said. “I feel like when you have confidence, all those things, they come automatically to you, and when you’re struggling a little bit with confidence and belief in yourself, that’s when it’s not coming as easy. So I think that’s kind of what I’ve going through a little there. I’m just trying to get back to playing with confidence because I know how good I can be for the team, and I think I proved it when I was playing good earlier.”

Blashill didn’t think Burakovsky is far from being that player again.

“Burky and I had a good meeting right before the break,” Blashill said. “You can tell he was in a little bit of a struggle. It was interesting for me because I have an analytic mind, so I’ll go back and look at certain things. In 10-game segments, the segment that we ended with, his scoring chance plus/minus wasn’t great for us, but the prior segments were all really good. So it was only 10 games away from playing really good hockey. That was a reminder, and I told him, this is a reminder for me as much as it is for you. Because when he’s struggling, generally the coach is struggling with him. So it was a reminder that it wasn’t that long ago that he played really good hockey, let’s get back to playing really good hockey. Hopefully he comes out of the break and he can get feeling good about himself.”

7. Landon Slaggert is one game away from no longer being waiver-exempt. It doesn’t sound like there’s any plan to delay him from getting there. Over the last 20 games, the Blackhawks have outscored opponents 6-5 with Slaggert on the ice at five-on-five. If Mikheyev were to be traded, Slaggert could see his role increased.

8. Slaggert, Korchinski, Colton Dach and Ethan Del Mastro will no longer be waiver-exempt come next season. The Blackhawks are obviously hoping all four players don’t force them into difficult decisions next training camp. It’s unlikely the Blackhawks would put any of them on waivers.

Considering Korchinski and Del Mastro are likely projected to be on the team next season, the Blackhawks might already have their defensive group. It could be Korchinski, Del Mastro, Vlasic, Crevier, Wyatt Kaiser, Levshunov and Rinzel.

9. Blackhawks 2025 first-round pick Mason West appears to be finding his groove in the USHL. After a slow start following his high school football season, his production has picked up lately. Over his last six games, he has two goals, three assists and 17 shots on net.

10. I’m curious if the Blackhawks might try to sign forward prospect John Mustard after this season. Mustard, a 2024 third-round pick, is a sophomore at Providence who has 14 goals and 10 assists in 31 games this season. He’s scored in four of his last five games. It’s likely a conversation for the end of his season, but I think it could be a possibility.

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