Blackhawks defenseman T.J. Brodie finding rhythm after shaky start: 'He’s starting to fit in'

TORONTO — Veteran defenseman T.J. Brodie’s acclimation to the Blackhawks this season has been of some interest in Toronto, where he spent the last four seasons.

Brodie is one of many former Maple Leafs on the Hawks’ roster — Tyler Bertuzzi, Nick Foligno, Ilya Mikheyev, Petr Mrazek and Joey Anderson also previously called Scotiabank Arena home — but he lasted the longest of any of them on the Leafs.

To Leafs reporters on Monday, Hawks coach Luke Richardson portrayed Brodie’s first two months in Chicago as a success.

"[He was] adjusting at the beginning to new surroundings and new systems, but he’s been playing great lately," Richardson said. "He’s moving the puck. He’s subtle and simple. [He] makes good little plays on breakaways. He’s not afraid to get down and block shots. . . . I wasn’t surprised at all that he’s starting to fit in with this group really well right now."

That quote would have come across as absurd a month ago, when Brodie was struggling mightily and Richardson made him a healthy scratch for a few consecutive games.

Now, however, it’s rosy but not entirely inaccurate. Brodie has been much steadier and less noticeable — in a good way — on the Hawks’ third pairing since returning from that benching.

The Hawks have only been outscored 5-4 during Brodie’s five-on-five ice time since Nov. 7, and he ranks second among Hawks defensemen with a 49.3% expected-goal ratio since then.

"[I was] just getting to know the systems," Brodie said. "[Now I] don't have to take that second to look and see where guys are. You have that idea of what guys typically do in certain situations and where they're going to be, so you can make the play quicker."

On cue Monday — after receiving a "welcome back" message during the first commercial break — he delivered his best performance of the season in the Hawks' 4-1 loss to the Leafs. He earned an assist on Lukas Reichel's goal, and the Hawks generated a 13-5 advantage in scoring chances during his five-on-five ice time.

Power play update

The Hawks’ power play entered Monday riding high, having converted an impressive six of 15 opportunities in the first six games Seth Jones missed due to injury.

"[We’re] scoring goals in different ways," Richardson said before the game. "We’re not just sticking to one thing, where teams are nowadays going to watch video and be ready for it. It keeps us fresh, and it keeps other teams on their toes."

They took a step back against the Leafs, however, going 0-for-4 without even producing many grade-A looks.

"We had trouble on our entries," Richardson said after the game. "We were looking for that perfect play instead of having a little more speed and trying to get it either low-to-high on the strong side and bumping it back to the 'D' or getting it to the other side. We were a little off-keel."

They do still rank 10th in the NHL with a 23.5% conversion rate this season. That's not entirely a mirage, either, because they also rank 16th in both expected goals and scoring chances per minute. That's a bizarre — and welcome — outlier compared to the Hawks' performance in almost every other statistical category over the last several years.

No tampering

At the NHL’s annual general managers meeting in November, the league reminded every team of the tampering rules — which technically prohibit contact with pending free agents before July 1, except when given explicit permission by a player’s previous team — and emphasized it will be enforcing those rules more diligently in 2025, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

That tampering crackdown might affect the ways many teams, including the Hawks, conduct their offseason business. Bertuzzi’s disclosure last summer that Foligno called him June 30 to put the Hawks on his radar riled up Toronto fans at the time, although nothing came of it. Hawks GM Kyle Davidson probably won’t be able to use Foligno as an advance recruiter again.