After getting a taste of life in the National Hockey League last season, Tyler Arnason realized if he is going to be a permanent member of the Blackhawks this season, he needed to whip himself into better shape.
“All the guys up here are in unbelievable shape, and the game is pretty quick,” he said.
Arnason, as well as Hawks coach Brian Sutter, thought he didn’t match the fitness level required of an NHL player during his 21-game stint late last season.
So Arnason did something about it this summer, hiring a personal trainer and working out two hours a day, five days a week in Winnipeg. He arrived in Chicago for the team’s voluntary workouts trimmer and with a more defined physique.
Arnason, 23, is among the 51 players who will report Thursday to the United Center for physicals and the beginning of training camp. The Hawks will take the ice Friday in organized practices and scrimmages.
The first of eight exhibition games is Sept. 19 at the United Center against Nashville.
Sutter has divided the players into three teams for camp. The teams will rotate daily, with two playing in a scrimmage while the other has a two-hour practice session.
The way Sutter arranged the teams may give an early glimpse into his thoughts of line combinations. Alex Zhamnov, newly acquired Sergei Berezin and Steve Sullivan are on one team, while Michael Nylander, Theo Fleury and Eric Daze are on another.
Arnason will be competing for a center position that Hawks general manager Mike Smith said he’d like to fill internally if possible. Arnason may have the edge in earning a roster spot based on his steady play toward the end of last season and in the playoffs. But he certainly isn’t taking anything for granted.
“Everybody has to battle every day,” Arnason said. “There’s always someone ready to come up and take your spot. There’s a little tension, but we’ll see how it goes. It should be fun.”
Although the Hawks can carry 23 players on their roster once the season starts, Smith said he would prefer to have a 22-man roster. That means that barring injuries, there may be just four or five spots that can be considered wide open as camp begins.
“It should be a real competitive camp,” Smith said. “We have a half-dozen young kids that will be competing.”
Two of the Hawks’ highly touted draft picks in the last couple of seasons will be in camp. Center Mikhail Yakubov and winger Igor Radulov will attempt to make the jump from juniors to the NHL, although both likely need standout camps and preseason games to stay.
The most pitched battle in camp should be on defense. After the top five of Jon Klemm, Phil Housley, Boris Mironov, Alexander Karpovtsev and Lyle Odelein, two spots will be contested among Steve Poapst, Steve McCarthy, Jason Strudwick and Nathan Dempsey. Kent Huskins and Dmitri Tolkunov are also dark-horse candidates.
Poapst was one of the Hawks’ best defensemen late in the season and in the playoffs, but, like Arnason, knows he’ll have to prove himself all over again.
“I’m always on the bubble for a job,” Poapst said. “I just want to come in and play the same way I finished off the year.”
The Hawks enter training camp this season with much greater expectations. Last season, Sutter’s first, the Hawks were trying to restore respectability to the franchise. After finishing with 96 points, the bar has been raised.
“People weren’t expecting much last year,” said Daze. “Everyone is going to be ready for us.”
