How do NHL players stay engaged on the bench between shifts?

Blackhawks depth defenseman Isaak Phillips is no stranger to the bench. In 56 NHL appearances the last four years, Phillips, 23, has averaged exactly 16 minutes of ice time, meaning he has spent roughly three-quarters of each game sitting down.

But Phillips has developed a unique strategy to stay engaged even when he has to wait awhile between shifts: He plays the game in his head.

“I like to envision myself [doing] what our other defensemen are doing out there,” Phillips said. “[I’m] watching the [D-men] as they’re moving up and back [on] the ice, and then you hop over the boards, and you’re doing it. It’s not like you’re playing the whole game, but you’re visualizing yourself the whole game.”

Phillips’ interesting revelation raised another question: How do other Hawks stay engaged on the bench between shifts?

Does everyone on the team — does everyone in the NHL, really — put so much thought into it? After all, hockey players play by far the smallest percentage of the game compared to other professional athletes.

It turns out the answer varies by person.

“You’ve got to watch and be engaged in the game,” forward Joey Anderson said. “Honestly, I like to talk a lot, so it’s a lot of hooting and hollering at the guys on the ice. But my mindset always comes back to, ‘What’s my assignment and role? How can we improve that? What are we doing well?’ I try not to overanalyze, but [I analyze] little things here and there.”

Said defenseman Alex Vlasic: “It’s good to stay in tune of what’s going on in the game and the ebbs and flows and also not dwell on anything you did in the past.”

Said forward Philipp Kurashev: “I definitely look and see what’s open when the other guys are on the ice, but I mostly talk with my linemates and see what we can do. Maybe we’ll try on the next shift something we saw the shift before. [Mostly] I’m catching my breath and being ready for the next shift.”

Phillips can relate to that last comment. There are instances in which his visualization strategy is trumped by fatigue if he’s coming off an extended shift swamped in the defensive zone.

“If you’re super-tired as you get back to the bench, sometimes you’re just trying to get water,” Phillips said. “It’s like, ‘[Expletive], I’m going back out.’ ’’

Depth forward Craig Smith, who has years of experience in bottom-six roles, mentioned that commercial breaks can come in handy between infrequent shifts.

“Use the TV timeouts to get your heart rate going again,” Smith said. “As soon as your heart rate dips, it might take a shift or two to get it back, which is costly. You’ve got to try to stay engaged and keep the blood flowing on the bench. It’s tough sometimes, but it’s what you get paid to do.”

Anderson, meanwhile, is not only one of the loudest guys on the bench — along with Nick Foligno and Pat Maroon, unsurprisingly — but also one of the most frequent iPad users. The tablets, which the NHL first introduced on benches in 2016-17, provide on-demand replays of just about anything.

Back in winter 2023, Tyler Johnson was considered the Hawks’ most frequent iPad user, followed by Patrick Kane, Andreas Athanasiou and MacKenzie Entwistle. Today, those players aren’t even on the team — another reminder of just how much turnover this roster has undergone.

Anderson and fellow forwards Jason Dickinson, Connor Bedard and Ryan Donato — “Donato is No. 1,” Kurashev quipped — have since taken over that iPad mantle.

“Me and [Dickinson] are always talking to each other about what we’re seeing and what plays might be there,” Anderson said. “Sometimes it’s goofy, like, ‘What the heck was that?’ Sometimes we’ll watch on the iPad just to get a look at it from a different angle.”

Other Hawks, such as defenseman Connor Murphy, prefer an introspective approach. They simply review their last shift in their head.

“It’s usually a feeling,” Murphy said. “You can tell, when you get back to the bench, [that] you feel frustrated, but you forget what happened in your shift and why you’re [frustrated]. Then, as you’re sitting on the bench, you replay the shift in your mind quickly and think over what it is.

“If it’s something you think was an issue with you and your partner or your teammates, you can make a quick comment to them and ask them what they saw or what they think you could’ve done differently. The guys that are the best at it have a short-term memory and move on, [taking] each shift at a time.”

The reverse scenario — returning to the bench feeling happy but not remembering why — is much less common.

“Usually things you did well are easy to remember,” Murphy said, smiling. “Because a lot of times when you come back with a good feeling, usually a play you made earlier in the shift could lead to the whole shift going well. It all snowballs on itself.”