{"id":897542,"date":"2026-09-19T08:40:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T08:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/897542\/"},"modified":"2026-09-19T08:40:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T08:40:13","slug":"kantserov-settling-into-new-surroundings-bonding-with-blackhawks-teammates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/897542\/","title":{"rendered":"Kantserov settling into new surroundings, bonding with Blackhawks teammates"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill, Kantserov checks all the boxes, including his play without the puck.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe plays a 100-percent complete game today,\u201d the coach said. \u201cThat\u2019s a huge advantage for him because when guys come in and they\u2019re super high-skilled, but they don\u2019t play a 200-foot game, the coach\u2019s job is to train him to play a 200-foot game and in that process, they usually struggle. He doesn\u2019t need to be trained to play a 200-foot game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say the one question you have when you watch on tape is pace, not necessarily just skating but just pace and his pace seems really good. He has a lot of really good qualities that can help you win hockey games. I think he\u2019s got offensive ability but without cheating for offense, and those are the kind of guys you need to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

The other question is how quickly Kantserov can adapt to North American-sized ice. He spent some time this summer in Stamford, Connecticut, where he worked out at Prentiss, a private training facility, with other NHL players including some New York Rangers and Blackhawks goaltender Spencer Knight<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe made a lot of gains in the gym, just in terms of strength, mobility. Great person, too. Very charismatic, works hard and a guy that you want to be around,\u201d said Knight.<\/p>\n

Knight said that he also may have introduced the player to a piece of Americana.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got a donut once; I don’t know if he’s tried that,\u201d Knight said. \u201cAt the ice cream store, he’s like, ‘Can I get it?’ I’m like, ‘Sure.\u2019 He’s fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, expectations are high for Kantserov, who will likely make his NHL debut when the Blackhawks open the regular season against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Sept. 29. But he\u2019s ready to meet those expectations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think everyone who\u2019s a new guy is a little bit nervous because it\u2019s a new League. It\u2019s the best League in the world, but I\u2019m good,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel that everybody\u2019s supporting me. It\u2019s all fun and comfortable here for me because we\u2019ve talked with boys, we go to dinners, go to movies. It\u2019s fun. I\u2019m here and it\u2019s fine.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill, Kantserov checks all the boxes, including his play without the puck. \u201cHe plays…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":897543,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-897542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=897542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/897543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=897542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=897542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=897542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}