Inside Kevin Dean’s approach to coaching the Blackhawks’ three rookie defensemen

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TAMPA, Fla. — Kevin Dean doesn’t mince words.

The Blackhawks’ assistant coach and de facto defensive coordinator will tell you bluntly that the Hawks “cracked” in that hideous 8-1 loss to the Coyotes last week, that Kevin Korchinski’s gap control has been poor and that Wyatt Kaiser struggled with his puck plays the first few games this season.

But he’ll also tell you bluntly that Kaiser started finding his rhythm in that win over the Golden Knights, that Korchinski has adjusted seamlessly to the Hawks’ zone-based defensive system (after playing man-on-man in juniors) and that Alex Vlasic has been the most impressive defenseman of all so far.

He’s just as honest when talking to the defensemen themselves. When trying to simultaneously teach three rookies — comprising half the Hawks’ entire defensive corps — how to acclimate to and succeed in the NHL, there’s no time to sugarcoat feedback or dance around the point.

He gives affirmation and constructive criticism in equally frank fashion, and Vlasic, Korchinski and Kaiser have come to appreciate that.

“He also has a quick wit to him, and he makes players feel comfortable. But he also has their attention,” head coach Luke Richardson said.

Plus, Dean knows his messages only matter so much, and thus there’s little reason to waste them. Hockey is played on ice, not in conversation, and lessons learned through experience get engrained so much faster than lessons learned through instruction.

“They can be coached all you want, but kids just need to play,” Dean said. “They’ll figure out more from that than they do [from] watching video with me.

“Fifty games from now, they’re going to be figuring stuff out that I’m talking about now. They’re like, ‘I see it,’ but you’ve got to live it. By playing every game and playing 15-20 minutes a night, they’re living it.”

That rational mindset — and the fruits it yielded over the course of Dean’s 11 years in the Bruins organization — exemplifies why Richardson hand-picked Dean to join his staff in 2022.

Last season, his first in Chicago, Dean was busy implementing the Hawks’ aforementioned zone-based defense — the box-plus-one system — and doing his best to help a designed-to-lose roster at least stay afloat in the goals-against column. But outside of Isaak Phillips’ scattered call-ups, there wasn’t much prospect development for him to do, and he found himself looking forward to taking on more of that in the years ahead.

This season, prospect development has suddenly become Dean’s No. 1 job. And in tune with his personality, he isn’t in the business of downplaying its importance. No pressure, rookies, but actually there’s lots of pressure.

“If this organization is going to move the way we want to move, they can’t just be NHL defensemen,” he said. “At least two of them are going to have to be good NHL defensemen. The rebuild goes as well as your top guys go. You had [Brent] Seabrook and [Duncan] Keith. You’re going to need a couple guys like that in the pond.”

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Individual feedback

Take Kaiser as a case study of Dean’s approach toward working with each of the three rookie defensemen.

In October, Dean felt like Kaiser’s decision-making and execution with the puck on his stick wasn’t as sharp as it had been during his nine-game stint last spring right out of college. And so Dean addressed that.

“Last year when he came in, I said, ‘Wyatt, I want you to find the line between not enough and too much,’” Dean said. “At the beginning of this year, he was trying to make too much out of plays [where] there was just nothing there. He was turning pucks over and getting in trouble near the blue line. [He was] hanging onto pucks a little long, turning back instead of playing north, stuff like that.

“Starting in Vegas, he recognized, ‘It’s good enough to get the puck out [of my hands] and into our forwards’ hands.’ That’ll be the process with him. Hopefully he rounds out, because I do think there’s going to be some offense in his game. But that’s going to come after playing good defense.”

Juggling the pairings is a substantial part of Dean’s responsibilities, and he has mostly held Kaiser on the third pairing (alongside Jarred Tinordi or Nikita Zaitsev) while Korchinski and Vlasic have gotten more freedom alongside Seth Jones and Connor Murphy.

That same hierarchy is reflected in the ice-time averages, too. Kaiser is at 17:10 while Korchinski is at 19:40 and Vlasic is at 18:02. But there’s reasoning behind it.

“You have Connor and Seth, [two] pretty mature players, so…Kevin needs to be with one of those guys,” Dean said. “Wyatt and Alex, their games are a little bit more mature, so they could handle a guy on the third pair.

“It is a little bit of a challenge that way to get everyone their ice time in the right spots. [I] try to give Kevin offensive-zone starts and try to give Vlasic and Kaiser defensive-zone starts, because that’s probably where they’re going to be wired going forward. But these kids are so young, it’s just a matter of minutes.”

System talk

Speaking of the box-plus-one defense, the Hawks’ switch to it last year put them ahead of the curve on what has become a broader trend league-wide.

The Knights’ success playing their own version of the box-plus-one system last year — en route to the Stanley Cup — caught the eyes of many NHL coaches. The Blues, Flames and Oilers are among the teams that switched to it this season, although the Oilers’ early-season woes have made it a hot-button issue in Edmonton. The Athletic recently reported as little as one-third of NHL teams are still playing man-on-man defense.

It’s notable that Knights coach Bruce Cassidy brought the box-plus-one to Vegas after years of using it in Boston, where Dean was on his staff. Five years ago, Dean estimates the Bruins were one of only about five teams using it. That has changed.

“It’s a copycat league,” Dean said. “The teams that do well, you look at what they do and try to emulate that. … I think [the box-plus-one is] more efficient with less energy. You’re not following guys all over. You’re staying in your area. You do your thing, then get the puck back and go play offense.”

The Hawks did make one tweak to their adaptation of it halfway through last season, Dean said. When the opponent moves the puck up the boards low-to-high, the Hawks now hold the strong-side winger up higher in his zone, rather than having him crash down to try to break up the play. But they didn’t make any further tweaks over the summer.

“That consistency has been good,” Dean said.