Joey Anderson’s inclusion in the package the Blackhawks received in the Jake McCabe trade was relatively overlooked, but he was more than just a throw-in.
The Hawks had actually been keeping an eye on Anderson for a while. Several months ago, associate general manager Norm Maciver asked assistant coach Derek Plante what he knew about the 24-year-old winger who, at the time, was bouncing between the NHL and AHL in the Maple Leafs’ organization.
It turned out Plante knew quite a lot, having met Anderson when he was just 9 years old. He later, in 2015, recruited Anderson to Minnesota-Duluth — before he left the school to become, at the time, a Hawks development coach.
And since the Hawks swung the multifaceted deal on Feb. 27 that brought Anderson to the Hawks, Plante has been helpful getting him acclimated.
“He’s always around [to answer] any questions I have,” Anderson said. “He grabs me and helps me out with little things he sees here or there, so it has been great. The whole staff really has been nice, but obviously it’s nice to have a guy I’m more familiar with.
“It’s not so much big things, [but] just things in a game where he sees something and he’ll be like, ‘Hey, if you do this route, maybe come in at a different angle.’ It’s very minor things that are going on. Hopefully there haven’t been any big structural things.”
Despite the Hawks’ genuine and lengthy interest, Anderson remains a pending restricted free agent, so this stretch run will be important for him to prove he’s worth re-signing as an affordable, useful bottom-six forward. He’s far from the only Hawks player in that boat.
So far, he has produced a solid if unspectacular start. He entered Tuesday with one goal and one assist in his first eight Hawks games, averaging 11:19 of ice time primarily on the fourth line with Jujhar Khaira and Boris Katchouk.
More impressive is Anderson’s 50.8% scoring-chance ratio at five-on-five, which ranks among the team’s best during this span. He has finished at or above 50% in six of those eight games, which is notable considering the Hawks (as a team) have finished above 50% in only two of the eight.
And that fits with his description of his playing style.
“It’s nothing flashy,” he said. “[If I] see a play in front of me, I’m going to make it. I try to get to the net, be good defensively. Some call it low-event hockey, but I think it’s efficient. For the most part, coaches know what they’re going to get.”
Plante and head coach Luke Richardson have found that to be true.
“He has been great, both ways,” Richardson said. “Defensively and on the penalty kill, he has really fit in very well. He’s a feisty guy, he gets in and wins his 1-on-1 battles and he has good-enough vision and hands to make a play when he does steal the puck.”
With his wife and a three-month-old daughter, Anderson said he appreciates the move to Chicago and its proximity to his hometown in the Minneapolis suburbs. Now his focus is on trying to make his stay here last longer than a few months in itself.
“[I’m] just to assert myself more, find a way to impact games — no matter what my minutes are — and help have a positive impact,” he said.
Added Richardson: “[He, Khaira and Katchouk] have been really good for us, just inching along and getting better and better. That’s why I’ve tried to keep them together, because they’re really giving us a boost right now.”
