WINNIPEG, Manitoba — The Blackhawks responded to rookie defenseman Wyatt Kaiser’s recent struggles with decisive action Saturday, sending Kaiser to the AHL for the first time.
The surprising — if probably justified — move was part of a big shakeup in the defensive roster that had felt imminent for the past few days.
Isaak Phillips, whose season so far has been split between nine NHL and eight AHL appearances, was also reassigned to Rockford. Jarred Tinordi was activated off injured reserve, and Louis Crevier was called up to the Hawks for the first time in his young career.
Tinordi, who hadn’t played since Nov. 9 due to an oblique injury, and Nikita Zaitsev, who had previously been a healthy scratch in seven of the last eight games, formed the third pairing in the Hawks’ 3-1 loss to the Jets. Zaitsev did have a solid game, blocking four shots and clearing a puck off the goal line in the third period.
Crevier, whom Hawks coaches watched play for Rockford on Friday against the Manitoba Moose in a convenient scheduling overlap, might make his NHL debut in the next few days. The 22-year-old former seventh-round pick is a towering 6-8.
“[He has] taken a really big step here in his second year [as a] pro,” Rockford coach Anders Sorensen said. “He’s really developed in terms of his positioning, his stick habits and his ability to break up plays because he’s so rangy.”
The most interesting news Saturday, however, regarded Kaiser and Phillips’ simultaneous demotions. They had been paired together for several weeks in the NHL, during which they endured some ups and downs.
“We didn’t have the luxury of giving each of them a veteran guy to lean on out there,” Hawks coach Luke Richardson said. “They had to work through things on the fly themselves. They’ve had some really good things at times, but right now, we think it’s best for them to go work on their game a little bit in the American League.”
Kaiser was extremely impressive during training camp, entering it as a roster-bubble guy and leaving it safely locked into a spot. But his play had gradually declined over the past two months, culminating in a really rough performance Thursday against the Red Wings.
Richardson had recently given him feedback about being more aggressive and sagging less on his gaps when defending opponents’ zone entries. But when he stepped up along the blue line Thursday, Robby Fabbri undressed him for a highlight-reel goal.
Kaiser’s 42.3% scoring-chance ratio ranks fifth out of seven Hawks defensemen, ahead of only Tinordi (41.9%) and Zaitsev (40.9%) and behind Kevin Korchinski (47.6%), Phillips (45.5%), Connor Murphy (43.8%), Alex Vlasic (43.4%) and Seth Jones (43.2%).
He’s only 21 years old and possesses only 30 games of professional experience — entirely accumulated in the NHL after coming out of Minnesota-Duluth last spring — so the idea is some time in the AHL could help him rebuild his confidence. The Hawks have proven many times how patient they’re willing to be with prospects.
“He can play here. It’s just, for a young defenseman, can you do it every night and not get your confidence shattered a little bit?” Richardson said. “It’s hard to get it back in this league. [He’s] going down to work on that and handling the puck a little bit more and...making simple plays, not making it too difficult. His skating ability gets him out of a lot of trouble, but it also can get him into trouble.”
Phillips, meanwhile, always seemed likely to go back down when Tinordi returned, but one could argue he earned the right to stay in the NHL with his play during this stint.
He made goal-saving plays Nov. 16 and Nov. 19 against the Lightning and Sabres, respectively, and then helped the Hawks kill the Kraken’s critical five-on-three power play Tuesday.
