How Blackhawks defenseman Wyatt Kaiser's game has taken off lately

New York Times

22-03-2025

There were two Chicago Blackhawks players who were above and beyond the rest of their teammates two years ago at the Tom Kurvers Prospect Showcase.
There was Connor Bedard, who was at another level than his peers, unsurprisingly. The other was Wyatt Kaiser. Kaiser had made his NHL debut the season before and the Blackhawks were hopeful about him, but how he played in the showcase even opened eyes in the organization. He was impactful whenever he stepped on the ice with how he skated, moved the puck, created offense and defended.
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Kaiser seemed primed to be a breakout player if he could figure out how to translate what he did in the showcase to the NHL. But then, his game didn't fully translate. He wasn't that same player from the showcase. He had some good NHL games, some bad ones, some in between. He was up and down in the NHL and AHL last season. It had been more of the same this season with multiple stints in the NHL and AHL.
But then something clicked for Kaiser during his last stretch with the Rockford IceHogs. He was there for more than a month. When he returned to the Blackhawks in late February, he started showing signs of being that player he was at the prospect showcase. Most notably, he was using his elite skating ability to make more plays.
Kaiser scored this goal:
Then, there was this goal:
And then, there was this goal:
The goals have made Kaiser's recent play more noticeable, but it has been more than that. There has been an assertiveness in Kaiser lately that hadn't consistently been there over the last few years. In his 10 games since returning to the NHL, the Blackhawks have outscored opponents 9-7 with him on the ice in five-on-five play. His 56.25 goal percentage is tied with Ilya Mikheyev for the highest on the team in that span (min. five games). The Blackhawks are having the puck more with Kaiser on the ice compared to most of the team. Kaiser's 46.76 Corsi percentage in the last 10 games is 4.9 percent higher relative to the team.
'He's been really good,' Blackhawks interim coach Anders Sörensen said earlier this week. ' I think constant communication about his super strength, which is his skating. He's doing that really well in terms of closing in on gaps with his skating, breaking pressure with his skating, just advancing pucks with his skating, with his feet and just keep doing that.
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'Second year, as a young D-man coming in and ups and downs of the first year, start of this year, similar things. So now he's starting to grasp, 'What am I here? What am I going to be here?' He's a smart kid and when you talk to him I think he's starting to understand that now. He's done a good job, too, of understanding, 'When do I have to just advance the puck, bunt the puck and live to fight another day?' He's learning that and he's done a much better job.'
One of the challenges for the 22-year-old Kaiser over his first two pro seasons has just been figuring out who he should be listening to. Kaiser's vision for himself hasn't always matched up with what others have thought about his potential. Lately, Kaiser has prioritized his own beliefs.
'I'd say I'm just skating again like I can instead of me trying to do things … just a lot of different voices,' Kaiser said. 'Kind of getting back to my game where it's skating, making plays, controlling the puck. Yeah, I think a little bit back on that, where it's starting to click a little bit where it's I have to skate to play. It's not sometimes simple. Sometimes it's beating a guy. Sometimes it's the easy play. But it's always skating, moving and playing fast.
'It's kind of been two years of discovery, failure … take a few steps back and kind of always find where I can play. I think I can impose my will on a game with my skating and kind of getting to that confidence of you're just like, in terms of better, just f— it, skate like if it happened. It's kind of like in the rookie tournament where it's like I impose my will, beat guys, make plays. Like when I have the puck, I control it. So I've been going over the last two years to find that where it's not too much, but it's enough. It's find when to play simple, when not to. Just trying to roll on that train and now that it's clicking a little bit, continue to try to get better and better.'
Kaiser has tried to be patient in his development, but he admitted it's been challenging at times.
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'Yeah, it's been frustrating at times because I know the way I can play,' he said. 'I know I can do that, but then going out there and not doing it. At certain points, it's like, can I do that? Is that my game? You have people telling you, your ceiling's here or you have to play this way or you have to play this way. You're just kind of going through that and staying patient and kind of staying the course.'
As Kaiser has surged in the past few weeks, Sörensen has been rewarding him with more and more ice time. He's played at least 18 minutes in his last five games and played more than 21 minutes in two of those games.
In the biggest picture, if Kaiser can maintain what he's doing, he can carve out a place in the Blackhawks' future defense. He's sort of a mixture of offensive and defensive ability where most of the others tend to lean more one way or another. Sörensen projects him to be a future second- or third-pairing defenseman.
'I think he's going to be more of a solid defensive player who can move (the) puck up the ice,' Sörensen said. 'I think he's got some offense in him. I don't think that's going to be his super strength. I think killing plays defensively, moving pucks up and be real reliable that way. I don't know if I have a player projection for him, but he can play in your three, four, five spot, for sure.'
Kaiser gets why he might be thought of in those terms, but that doesn't stop him from wanting to surprise everyone with what he's capable of.
'As a player, I don't like (projections) very much, but I understand they're trying to put together a team,' Kaiser said. 'You have to look at that. It's being realistic. Like you have to look at it what type of player they can be because they have to have a plan going forward. They have to have a plan trying to build. It makes sense. But as a player, I don't like it. It's like, you don't know who I am deep down what kind of player I can be. Like you can think that, but you see all the time guys come out of nowhere.'
Will that be Kaiser, too? Time will tell, but he's heading in a good direction.