One year after just missing him draft, Blackhawks' Bowman is happy to get Entwistle

One tap on the home button on his phone was all it took for MacKenzie Entwistle to realize his life was about to drastically change.

Still standing fully dressed in his gear after a training session in Toronto last week, Entwistle saw there were missed calls from Arizona's general manager, Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman and his agent.

“I didn't know what was happening,” said the 19-year-old Entwistle on Monday at the first day of Hawks development camp at MB Ice Arena. “So I called the Arizona GM (John Chayka) back and he told me the news that I had been traded to Chicago.

“And you know what? I couldn't be happier.”

Bowman acquired Entwistle, Marcus Kruger and two others from Arizona for Marian Hossa, Vinnie Hinostroza and Jordan Oesterle.

The 6-foot-3, 181-pound Entwistle is a Georgetown, Ontario, native selected by Arizona in the third round of the 2017 draft. He scored a modest 13 goals in 49 games in the regular season for the Hamilton Bulldogs, but he really showed up during the team's championship run by scoring 10 times in 21 playoff games.

His biggest goal came less than two minutes into overtime of Game 1 of the final series to give Hamilton a 4-3 victory.

“It really brought my game to another level,” Entwistle said. “The longer you play, obviously, is more hockey and it's way more fun. No one wants to lose and it brings the winning (fire) out of you. It's something I really fed off of, and I'm going to try and take to the next level.”

Bowman said he would have selected Entwistle with the 70th overall pick last year if Arizona hadn't nabbed him one spot earlier. The Hawks' GM loves the fact that Entwistle is a versatile, two-way centerman who could bring some size and strength to the Hawks.

He also loves how unselfish he is on the ice.

“He had a pretty good year offensively,” Bowman said, “but you talk to coaches and they appreciate the way that he cares about being on the penalty kill, taking important faceoffs, blocking shots — really supporting team and not always trying to get the breakaway and score the goal. Sometimes it's hard to convince young players to take pride in that aspect of the game, and he seems to have that naturally.

“So I think he's going to be a player that coaches really enjoy having on their team.”