Denis Savard can relate to Lyle Odelein.
The Blackhawks’ assistant coach played with the team’s newest defenseman when the Montreal Canadiens won the Stanley Cup in 1993.
But, in Savard’s opinion, what’s more important in helping Odelein make the transition to playing with the Hawks is his own experience of going from the Canadiens to Tampa Bay’s 1-year-old expansion team the following year.
A week ago Odelein was traded from recent expansion team Columbus, which is at the bottom of the Western Conference with 52 points, to a team that has 85 points and is battling for fourth place in the 15-team conference.
“I talked to him about that,” said Savard. “When I came back to the Hawks from Tampa Bay [in April 1995], I felt I was missing a step. It took two or three weeks to really get in top shape to play with the teammates I had here. That’s the adjustment Lyle is making right now.
“You find the level of intensity is a lot higher on a winning team than it is on a losing team. When you go to an expansion team you seem to have a different approach.
“You lose a lot of one-goal games and it’s tough on your mind. It’s not a question of not working hard; it’s just that other teams are a notch up on you in talent. Your approach changes–winning is a habit and losing is a habit.”
Odelein’s experience in Columbus was a replica of Savard’s in Tampa Bay.
“Losing time and again wears on you,” Odelein said. “It has been a tough two years. Last year we had 71 points. This year teams stopped taking us lightly and we started losing a lot more.”
Although Odelein came to the Hawks while they were having their second-worst slump of the season, he immediately became aware of the difference between the Hawks and Columbus in playing style and mind-set.
Blue Jackets coach Dave King relies on a trapping defense to try to de-emphasize attacking teams’ ability to dictate the tempo and compensate for his team’s offensive limitations.
Hawks coach Brian Sutter, in contrast, wants to play an up-tempo game with an accent on speed and striking power.
“Now I see why Chicago is winning this year and not last year,” said Odelein. “At practice it’s work, work, work . . . skate, skate, skate. It’s Brian’s way, and Brian’s way works. Everyone has bought into it. The guys believe in him and he believes in the guys.”
Odelein was on the ice for two goals-against when he made his debut for the Hawks on Wednesday in a 3-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils that was one of their poorest home-ice performances this season.
It left him with a plus/minus rating of minus-30 going into Sunday’s game against St. Louis.
His rating went to minus-31 early in Sunday’s second period when he lost the puck to Dallas Drake along the boards in the Hawks’ zone, and that turnover paved the way for Scott Mellanby to score the Blues’ second goal.
Odelein then not only made amends, he made things happen. He was a catalyst in the comeback that saw the Hawks rally from deficits of 2-0 and 3-1 and win the game 4-3 in overtime.
He made the pass that started the rush leading to the first goal by Steve Thomas. He won a struggle for the puck along the boards and sent it from the perimeter to Michael Nylander, who scored the second goal from the front of the net. Another pass brought him the second assist on the tying goal by Eric Daze. And, in overtime, his tough play in the neighborhood of the Hawks’ net provoked Keith Tkachuk to strike him twice with a stick, creating the Hawks’ power play that produced Daze’s winning goal.
General manager Mike Smith gave up offensive-oriented defenseman Jaroslav Spacek and a second-round draft pick to get the defensive-oriented Odelein, 33, because he believed the Hawks needed his toughness to augment a game plan predicated on skating ability and skill.
“Our team is highly skilled,” said Smith. “If and when we make the playoffs people are going to try to [intimidate] us to take away our skill and speed. We obviously were concerned with our toughness. This trade makes our defense bigger, stronger and tougher.”
The way Sutter sees it, being tough sometimes means taking one for the team and he saw that in Odelein when the defenseman took a stick to the neck from Tkachuk on Sunday in overtime.
“It’s a heck of a lot tougher to skate away than it is to stand there and talk back and swing your stick at somebody,” said Sutter. “That’s a type of discipline too–not retaliating.
“Odie created two goals [with his passes] and, even though he was on the bench, he set up the game-winner.”
