As the Blackhawks — well, future Blackhawks, most of them hope — stuffed their pads and gear into their hockey bags in the main dressing room at Fifth Third Arena following Friday’s morning skate, a couple of signs offered some instructions.
One was printed out, and taped to the wall, reminding players to pack their hats, hoodies and slides (“flops,” in team parlance) if they wanted to have them in Detroit later in the evening. Another was scrawled on the whiteboard at the front of the room in the harried handwriting of someone who couldn’t believe they had even to point this out.
Make sure you go to O’Hare.
Hey, for some of these guys, it’s their first road trip with the Blackhawks. You don’t want to end up at Midway wondering where everybody else is.
Cole Guttman didn’t need these reminders. Heck, among the 20 guys scheduled to play in Detroit, Guttman could be considered a crafty veteran. This is his third Blackhawks training camp, and he has 41 NHL games under his belt, with a respectable eight goals and 14 points in those games. Two years ago, he was one of those guys who was just happy to be here, a prospect in every sense of the word. Last year, he was penciled in for a spot in the opening-night lineup, a young guy who was not only part of the Blackhawks’ future, but part of the present.
This year, Guttman is … well, no one’s really sure. Least of all Guttman.
“It’s been different each year at camp,” Guttman said. “I’ve learned a lot about not overthinking it, not worrying about the numbers and what everything means.”
Is he a prospect? Not really. He’s only starting his third year as a pro, but he’s 25 years old. Hockey middle age comes quickly for four-year college graduates.
Is he contending for a roster spot? Technically, sure, everybody here is. But his chances are slim after the Blackhawks acquired five veteran forwards over the summer, and with Taylor Hall and Andreas Athanasiou healthy and back in the mix.
Is he a depth piece? Maybe, but with every year that passes, more and more highly touted prospects turn pro and bump him down the organizational depth chart another couple of slots. First came Lukas Reichel and, of course, Connor Bedard. Late last season, it was Frank Nazar and Landon Slaggert. This year, it could be Paul Ludwinski and Gavin Hayes. Oliver Moore and Nick Lardis could turn pro by season’s end. The better the Blackhawks get, the harder it’ll be to crack the lineup.
Put it this way: Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson lumped Guttman in with Joey Anderson on Friday. And Anderson has played in the NHL every year since 2018-19. Richardson meant it as a compliment, noting that while you age out of being a “prospect,” you never age out of potentially being useful. But at a certain point, it’s easy to get taken for granted or to get lost in the shuffle.
“Unfortunately, sometimes when you want to give some new prospects some room, it takes time away from (the older fringe players),” Richardson said. “Whether (they play) here or in Rockford, we always know they’re going to be great pros. And that’s a good thing and bad thing for them. They’re 100 percent pro all the time, and we can kind of fall back and rely on that. But we usually have those conversations with the players, and they know where they stand, and they’re still giving their best effort because they know there’s an opportunity (and) that any moment, they’ve got to be showing us their best. If they don’t, the opportunity might go to someone else.”
The truth is, Guttman doesn’t know where he stands. Guys like him don’t get a ton of one-on-one time with management or the coaching staff. But with age comes wisdom, so this summer was the first one during which Guttman wasn’t stressing about his place on the depth chart. The past two summers, he’d mentally scour the roster and try to figure out which players he was ahead of, and which ones he was chasing. But this summer, back home in California, he spent plenty of time on the beach, the tennis court and the golf course. He even stayed with his parents for a while, and had some epic pickleball battles with them.
Learning to block out not only the outside noise, but the internal noise, as well, is easier said than done. But Guttman seems to have reached that level of maturity at the ripe old age of 25.
“It’s just impossible to know exactly what they’re thinking,” he said. “I feel like doing the math and looking at the depth chart is kind of unhealthy, and can take a toll. Because if you think you’re in a certain spot, then it turns out you’re not, you’re like, ‘Why is this? Why is that?’ I definitely did a lot of that before, so it’s been a goal of mine to try to not stress about that type of stuff.”
it’s goal guttman! 🚨 pic.twitter.com/uDWmtlCQ9Z
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) October 11, 2023
The same mentality applies on the ice. Guttman has had a handful of NHL stints over the last two years. He scored in his third and fourth NHL games and closed the 2022-23 season with a three-game point streak before scoring on opening night last season. He then had just one assist in the next 11 games. At times, he looks like a real NHL player, a potential third-line center. And at times, he looks like a replacement-level guy, an occasional call-up, an injury stopgap at best.
The difference? Again, when he’s most effective, he’s turning off his brain and just playing.
“I get the most success when I’m not overthinking what to do in the defensive zone, and when I’m playing with my instincts,” Guttman said. “I feel like I think the game well, so it’s just going off of what I think in the moment.”
In between the downtime this summer, he skated with Los Angeles Kings standout Trevor Moore. Moore had a career year last season with 31 goals, so Guttman studied him and other undersized forwards — Brayden Point being the gold standard — and tried to apply what he learned to his own game.
“It’s getting the puck in a little more and not trying to beat guys one-on-one as much, especially in the neutral zone, at the blue lines,” he said. “I’m learning how to grind them down, down low, and win battles. Then it’s just making the most of your playing time, whether you’re playing eight minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, whatever it is. You have to find a way to impact the game with however many minutes you’re playing.”
Once again, easier said than done. When your age is rising and your place in the depth chart is falling, it’s difficult not to feel the weight of every shift you do get — whether it’s a camp drill, a preseason game, or as a midseason call-up. Guttman simply won’t get the leash that a younger, more touted prospect will. He’s a known commodity — a hard worker with some skill who’s undersized at 5-foot-9 — who’s easy to stash in Rockford and forget about for a while. He might end up as one of those players who crushes it at the AHL level but never manages to entrench himself in the NHL.
There’s only so much Guttman can do to force the issue. But experience has taught him this much — constantly worrying about it won’t help.
“Obviously, I want to be in the NHL,” Guttman said. “That’s the goal. I feel I know what it takes to be successful in the NHL. So I’m just focusing on myself, on my game. I mean, it’s human nature to compare yourself with the other players and see where you’re at. But it’s not even worth the energy to stress about. Worry about you. That’s all you can do.”
(Photo: David Berding / Getty Images)
