Blackhawks’ Alex Vlasic playing his way into 4-Nations consideration, Connor Bedard Q&A: Notebook

Alex Vlasic may be a long shot to make the U.S. roster for the 4 Nations Face-Off, but he's at least entered the conversation. He broke out last season as a shutdown defenseman for the Chicago Blackhawks and is coming along with his offense this season.

The decision is on Vlasic's mind in some capacity. He was asked to play for the U.S. at the World Championship in the spring, and that was a more loaded roster.

"I'm not worried about it," Vlasic said. "I think they've got so many guys to choose from. If it comes down to me, I'd be honored to go and I'd be so thankful for that opportunity. But, yeah, I think I'm just focusing on what we're having here and playing for the Hawks."

Regardless, Vlasic keeps it all in perspective. He's come a long way in a short time.

"It's kind of crazy to think," Vlasic said. "If you had told me a couple years ago that I'd be going to worlds, especially with the roster that they put together last year, I feel like I'd be pretty shocked. Honestly, I was a little bit last year. It was really cool for me and eye-opening that people were seeing my play, and they thought they could use my help there."

Vlasic has been pleased with his improved offense, but he still feels like there is more to come.

"I think I'm trying to do it slowly, you know, step by step," Vlasic said. "I don't want to all of a sudden try to be dangling guys or anything like that. Just trying to implement some things, going over some video with the coach, with (Blackhawks director of skill development) Brian Keane, the skills guys. Just different areas where I can hold onto the puck, where I can create a little bit more, use my skating and then wait for something to open up."

One of the advantages of the Blackhawks having Kevin Korchinski and Artyom Levshunov in AHL Rockford is they can be given boatloads of ice time. Korchinski and Levshunov each played nearly 23 minutes on Friday and around 24 minutes on Saturday.

With that ice time, Korchinski and Levhsunov are given the luxury of reps. They can work through failures and build confidence. They're also learning to play that much as a pro, which is not as easy as people think.

Seth Jones shared some of his experiences learning to play No. 1 defenseman minutes. It can be mentally and physically taxing to play that much against the world's best players.

"Short-term memory is key, for sure," Jones said recently. "But I'm not going to lie, I've felt the effects of having a bad period and leaking into the rest of your game. That's just human nature. You lose some confidence in your game, and it's hard to get back in that same game."

The Blackhawks' Oct. 22 game against the Vancouver Canucks was an example of that. He was on the ice for five of the Cancuks' six goals.

"That was a stinker for me, personally," Jones said. "That was a bad game."

The next game, Jones was on the ice for just one of three Predators goals. Two games later, Jones played well against the Dallas Stars and was on the ice for just one goal, an empty-netter.

"You hope that if you play eight or nine of the 10 games that way, like the way I did in Dallas, it's a pretty good percentage," Jones said. "You're not going to play perfect every game. There's going to be things that go wrong. ... Just continue to do the simple play and move the puck, and the game will come to you. I've struggled to this day sometimes — it hasn't been the greatest situation here — but trying to do too much, trying to beat two guys instead of beat the one guy and pass it."

Corey Sznajder's tracking data indicates Jones is doing a better job defending the rush this season. It was interesting to hear Jones' perspective on that.

"I talked to (assistant coach Kevin Dean) about it the other day, that number's been a little bit better this year, me at the blue line defensively, and I've felt it," Jones said.

The difference? The Blackhawks' neutral-zone system.

"There's a lot of different things with that," Jones said. "The last couple years, we would be seeing bodies flying at us in the neutral zone and we weren't able to stop them. This year, we're playing the 1-2-2 (formation). We're clogging things up a little bit more, so you don't have the speed flying at you. You're able to close things down at the blue line."

Connor Bedard recently sat down with The Athletic to talk about a wide variety of topics. Here's part of that conversation between Bedard and Mark Lazerus, focusing on the off-ice life of Bedard, one of Chicago's biggest and youngest stars.

You chose to live alone last year, which is unusual for a rookie, especially a young one. Kirby Dach lived with Brent Seabrook, Patrick Kane lived with Stan Bowman, Sidney Crosby lived with Mario Lemieux, and every Shark ever has lived with Joe Thornton. Why did you choose to do that at 18?

I don't know, really. That was what I felt most comfortable with, I guess. My parents came down here and there — it was more 50-50, I'd say, that I was alone. That was part of it, too, just to have them be able to come down and stay at my place. It was good for me to grow up a little bit and just be a little independent by myself, and I think it teaches you a bit.

Does that make it easier to decompress, too, when you're not around a teammate all the time? You can do your own thing?

Yeah, I do really enjoy alone time, as well. I think that's nice. I obviously love being with my teammates, but you're with them all the time. It's just nice when you go home to be home and everyone's got their families or they're living alone. I enjoy just going home and just chilling out by myself.

Do you have some garbage reality show that you watch to really unplug?

No, I feel like I can only really focus on a show if I'm on the plane. That's not a good trait, but if I'm at home watching a show, I'll just be on my phone or whatever. Just watch sports or whatever.

That's the Gen Z in you right there. I hate to even acknowledge this fact, but you're only seven years older than my oldest daughter, and she's the same way, second-screening all the time.

Yeah, you focus for 10 seconds and then you're looking for something else.

(Before the season), you did that Gen Z commercial for the NHL . Was that fun to do?

It was fine. It was in Vegas (during the player media tour), we were just going station to station. But it turned out really well, I think. People enjoyed it. I think the NHL is doing a lot of stuff like that, trying to promote us off the ice, as well, a little bit. I think they did a good job.

Do you enjoy any of that? I mean, you're in the spotlight no matter what; you have been since you were 14. But do you enjoy a little bit of that? Do you want to be out there more, do more commercials? Do you welcome stuff like that, is it fun?

It's not fun, really. But it's part of it. It's not what I love to do. If I did, I'd be an actor. But I'm a hockey player. It's not my No. 1 thing, but it's fine.

Do you talk to some of those older guys, like Sidney Crosby or Connor McDavid , about that part of the life? About how to handle that and balance that and what's the right amount to do?

Not really. I talked to McDavid briefly about it. He just said keep the hours to a minimum because it can get dragged out. But not too much, really. I haven't spent a crazy amount of time with those guys, maybe McDavid a little bit more than any of them.

It's been interesting to watch McDavid's progression. When he first came into the league, he was a lot like you've understandably been, just trying not to say the wrong thing, keeping things simple. And then he slowly started opening up more and more. Now we see him on the Amazon show and you get a real glimpse of him. Does that just come with time and comfort with fame?

I think so. It's a little overwhelming coming into a national spotlight. Not when we're playing. When we're playing hockey, we're just playing the game. Just the attention and stuff. I don't know if his personality, if he's super outgoing on camera or whatever. I know I'm not.

But when you talk to him, he's a really bright guy, very forthcoming. He's got a personality. It's there.

Yeah, everyone does.

I feel like when you guys first get in the league, you're really wary of showing it. And I get it. You don't want to let yourself out there too much too quickly.

I don't think it's about showing personality. It's hard to show personality when you're getting the same questions all the time.

Oh, god, yeah. We're awful.

Obviously he's been in the league nine or 10 years now, so he's pretty comfortable with everything and with the success he's had. So it is cool to see that he's doing that stuff.

What is fame like in Chicago? I was here when Kane and Toews were at their peak and they always said it was there, but people in Chicago wouldn't hound you or anything like that.

I'd say that, for sure. Someone sees you and they say hi or they say good luck or whatever. But it's really not crazy. I can go out and maybe I'll have a couple people recognize me, but it's pretty rare for them to even ask for a picture. In Canada or something, where hockey's the biggest thing, it's a little different. But people are really respectful, and I don't get recognized a crazy amount. It's nice.

You're probably a bigger star in Vancouver than in Chicago. It's a different animal up there.

It's just Canada. It's the No. 1 sport. Obviously in Chicago, they've got the Bears, the Bulls and baseball and everything. We're huge, as well. But I think it's a perfect balance. We get great fans, but also you can walk around and it's pretty chill.

(Top photo of Connor Bedard and Alex Vlasic: Chase Agnello-Dean / NHLI via )