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Isaak Phillips Makes Instant Impact With Blackhawks

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1 month ago

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Isaak Philipps #41 of the Chicago Blackhawks fires a shot to give the Blackhawks the lead.

The Chicago Blackhawks’ rebuild is centered around developing young players, and the one defenseman who has always been one of the more intriguing prospects is defenseman Isaak Phillips. Since being drafted in 2020, he has found a role as the Blackhawks’ go-to seventh defenseman, jumping from the Rockford IceHogs to the NHL as needed. This season has been interesting because he made the Blackhawks out of training camp due to Wyatt Kaiser dealing with an illness, but has since been sent to Rockford and then recalled back to Chicago twice through 13 games.

Head coach Luke Richardson repeatedly made a point that he wanted the Blackhawks’ players to continue to earn their spots in the lineup every night. Phillips’ playing time rested in the hands of veteran defenseman T.J. Brodie, and Richardson finally put Phillips in the lineup against the LA Kings on Nov. 2 while making Brodie a healthy scratch. Richardson explained that Phillips had a good training camp, and because he has been up and down a few times already this season, they wanted to get him some ice time.

Phillips brings a lot of tools to the lineup. He can move the puck, skate, and bring physicality (which Richardson mentioned as a strength of his during training camp), and he is capable of bringing an offensive punch. Phillips has said since 2023 that he believes he is NHL-ready, but he knew he had to be patient and take advantage of it whenever the time came. He told Tab Bamford of Bleacher Nation in September, “Everybody wants to be in the NHL. You want to be there, but if it’s not the right time or it’s not right for you, it’s really… it’s hard to do, but you have to take that step back and understand that nobody’s trying to mess with your career. They’re not trying to screw over number 41. Everybody wants the best for you, and you have to do your best every day and just let things work out the way they will. I think that’s kind of how I approach it.”

For Phillips’ season debut against LA, he was even through 11 minutes of ice time, and Richardson was happy with what he saw, saying afterward that he was “solid” and liked that he didn’t play passive and stuck to his game. He entered his second straight game against the Anaheim Ducks while being paired with Nolan Allan on the third pairing, and he had a huge goal skating in from the blue line that put his team up 1-0 early. Through two games, he has 3 hits, 3 blocked shots, and is a plus-1. He is doing his best to stay in the lineup, and watching him play, he looks comfortable, is skating well, and is doing what is supposed to do.

During practice on Nov. 5, Phillips and Brodie were rotating with Kaiser, and it’s unknown whether he will get another game against the Detroit Red Wings tomorrow (Nov. 6), but it seems like a strong possibility he will play.

Phillips has done everything asked of him through two games. After the Blackhawks’ 4-2 win against the Ducks, Richardson said it was another great game for him and that his timing on his goal was “excellent.”

He will likely be rotated in and out of the defense throughout the season, but right now, he has shown no reason to take him out of the lineup, and that’s a very good problem for the team to have.

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