Dietz: The player traits needed to rebuild the Blackhawks
How do you know the soul of a man?
While perhaps a bit melodramatic, that's the question I posed to Blackhawks captain Nick Foligno and alternate captain Connor Murphy after a recent practice.
We dove into the subject because the Hawks are at an important stage of the rebuild that GM Kyle Davidson began 3.5 years ago. It feels like Davidson can venture down the path Bears GM Ryan Poles recently took by hiring a respected, in-demand head coach, trading for two or three players to upgrade areas of need, and inking a franchise-altering free agent or two.
After outlining how the first two rebuild phases might look in my previous two articles, we'll now look at how Phase III can be addressed.
• • •
The key, of course, is to bring in high-character players who know how to win.
• Skill guys who can pump in 30 goals.
• Defensemen who can shut down high-powered foes and also mentor the up-and-comers in the Hawks' system.
• Role players who love doing the little things and rarely look for accolades.
• Leaders who can not only stomach rough periods, bad games and prolonged losing streaks — but also understand how their roles might change in Years 2, 3 or 4 as some younger Hawks mature into stars.
“You can't think every veteran is going to accept the role they're given on every team,” Foligno said. “So it takes a special blend of characters to come in and do the job and accept the role that maybe they're not used to.”
It all leads us back to our original question: How do you know the soul of a man?
“It's a little easier (with) a veteran because you've seen him play for years,” Murphy said. “Talk to teammates, coaches. Look at his lows, his highs, his role. Look at his character when things are going well or bad. Or when games get intense when they're in playoffs, all of that shows.”
• • •
Most of the last rebuild that led to three Stanley Cup titles from 2010-15 was constructed via the draft. But remember: It also included the best free-agent signing in Chicago sports history in Marian Hossa in 2009 and one helluva trade that brought Patrick Sharp into the fold in 2005.
“(This) grows from you bringing a bunch of veterans that are willing to do whatever it takes to help the team win,” Foligno said. “Then your young guys watch every day and they follow and they want to be a part of this now. Then they get really tight as a group and create their own little core. …
“Now they essentially run with that for the next however many years.”
It takes a lot of hard work to get there, though. Work that Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Brent Seabrook, Duncan Keith, Hossa, Sharp and others put in more than a decade ago.
Is this group up to the task? It's a good question, but you have to admire what Foligno, Murphy and other leaders did after an abysmal 5-0 loss at Pittsburgh last week. They closed the door and essentially said: Want to build a winner? Well, playing like this won't cut it.
Somewhat ironically — and as Connor Bedard was sitting down next to him, by the way — here's what Foligno told me after that practice: “As a young player your whole life you're like: 'I'm gonna get 100 points.' There's so many 'I wants' for myself that you don't realize it takes away from what the team needs of you. And when the team does well you end up doing well. It's such a cliche, but it is so true.
“When the team does well nobody's worried about how many goals you scored that year. They just look at, 'Hey, the team went to the Western Conference finals.' … Then you're highlighting the individual players. That's more fun to be a part of.”
• • •
It will be interesting to see which path Davidson takes. Will he go all in on Toronto's Mitch Marner, the consensus top free agent come July? Does he set his sights a bit lower and ink Vancouver's Brock Boeser, Winnipeg's Nikolaj Ehlers or Florida's Sam Bennett? Does he trade for players already under contract?
Or will he bide his time for the 2026 free-agent class, which could include Edmonton's Connor McDavid, the Rangers' Artemi Panarin, Vegas' Jack Eichel, Minnesota's Kirill Kaprizov, Winnipeg's Kyle Connor and Colorado defenseman Cale Makar?
With the right mix, a new era of dominance might be on the horizon.
The most intriguing part of my talks with Murphy and Foligno is they BOTH spontaneously mentioned Pat Maroon — who won the Stanley Cup with St. Louis in 2019 and Tampa Bay in 2020 and 2021 — when discussing what it means to be a good teammate. Maroon, who ended his playing career during a 5-4 loss to Winnipeg on Saturday at the UC, was swarmed by all of the Hawks in a truly emotional scene.
That love is something the 36-year-old felt everywhere he went thanks to a selfless attitude and willingness to do whatever it took to win. Those are the traits Davidson should look for in every player he brings on board down the road.
“There are players where you're like: 'How the hell did he win?' Well, he just made the commitment: 'This what I'm gonna do for this team,’” Foligno said. “A great example is Pat Maroon. Guy won three Cups. You can honestly say, maybe not the best player on the team, but how useful and important he was to that team.
“Every guy (would say): Pat Maroon was such an important part of our group. So he understood, this is my role. It's maybe not the most glorious one.
“But three Cups later it's pretty glorious and he'll be remembered forever.”
John Dietz worked at the Daily Herald from 1998-2024, covering the Blackhawks from 2014-24. You can reach him at jdietz6917@hotmail.com.