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The moment Blackhawks<\/a> forward Colton Dach felt the familiar sheets of his bed at his family home during the Olympic break, he crashed.<\/p>\n \u201cI was sleeping by 10, and I woke up at 10 [a.m.],\u201d Dach said. \u201cI was just like, \u2018Ahh.\u2019 You don\u2019t have a schedule the next day. You don\u2019t have to go \u2018boom, boom, boom.\u2019 You wake up and just sit there and find something to do.\u201d<\/p>\n By the time Dach returned to Chicago a week ago for a long stretch of practices, he felt rejuvenated.<\/p>\n \u201cI texted [Landon Slaggert] and was like, \u2018I\u2019m so excited to come to the rink now,\u2019\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s good to get that feeling back. It kind of feels like training camp \u2014 even the weather was a little bit nicer. You\u2019re driving in with your windows down. You get that energy. Hopefully we can take that into the last [25] games here and really showcase ourselves and make a push.\u201d<\/p>\n Dach could personally use a strong final push, because his job security has dwindled since a promising start<\/a> and even more forward competition is currently en route to the NHL.<\/p>\n Much focus will be on the Hawks\u2019 pending unrestricted free agents leading up to the March 6 trade deadline<\/a>, but after that, focus will shift toward the pending restricted free agents who will need new contracts after the season. <\/p>\n That\u2019s a small group headlined by Connor Bedard that also includes Dach, Kevin Korchinski, Ethan Del Mastro and Drew Commesso.<\/p>\n Dach is the only one of those four prospects who has yet broken into the NHL full-time, but it\u2019s up to him to maintain firm grip of his current role. That will heavily influence his contract negotiations.<\/p>\n He has recorded nine points (three goals and six assists) and 184 hits in 52 games this season. That\u2019s more than twice as many hits as any other Hawk, and coach Jeff Blashill praised him Friday for his consistent physicality.<\/p>\n Other parts of his game haven\u2019t been as consistent, however, which has caused his ice time to slip from 14 minutes per game in October to 11:09 since. He was a healthy scratch several times in January.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter Christmas, my game dipped a little bit, and that\u2019s where I need to showcase that consistency factor,\u201d Dach said. \u201cThat\u2019s something I\u2019ve been working on the last three years, trying to be consistent, and every year it\u2019s gotten a lot better.<\/p>\n “[I\u2019m trying to be] more responsible in their eyes, trying to be trustworthy, trying to get a little more ice time.\u201d<\/p>\n So far during this mini February camp, Dach has skated on the fourth line with Slaggert and Nick Foligno, but that\u2019s with Teuvo Teravainen absent at the Olympics. Teravainen\u2019s return (with a bronze medal in hand) will force somebody out. It\u2019s worth noting Dach remains waivers-exempt until next season while Slaggert will require waivers after making one more NHL appearance.<\/p>\n Alex Vlasic was wearing his Team USA helmet around before Blackhawks practice to gloat.<\/p>\n Then one of the equipment guys decided to make Colton Dach wear it.<\/p>\n There wasn\u2019t a bet, though. Vlasic: \u201cBecause I didn\u2019t want to have to do something if we lost.\u201d\n
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