NASHVILLE — Joe Veleno was almost there, almost out of that hole, almost off the hellish hamster wheel of meaningless games on an endlessly rebuilding team. The Detroit Red Wings were there — right there. They were in a playoff spot as recently as last week. In his fourth full season in the NHL, Veleno’s team was fighting for its playoff life every game. It was tense and fun and harrowing and everything you dream of as a hockey player.
Then, some 45 minutes before the trade deadline, Veleno was yanked back into that hole, back onto that hamster wheel, back into an endless rebuild. Welcome to Chicago, Joe.
“Obviously, playing meaningful hockey gets a little bit more intense,” said Veleno, the newest Blackhawks forward. “When you’re not playing for anything — well, I wouldn’t say ‘for anything,’ but when you’re not playing for a playoff spot, it’s not as intense. The games aren’t as intense. You probably don’t have the same feeling in the locker room and all that.”
To go from a battle for a playoff spot to a battle for 30th place against the Nashville Predators, it’s a lot to process.
At least Veleno had plenty of time to do just that Friday evening as he waited out a nearly four-hour delay at Dulles International before popping home in Detroit after midnight, packing up for a nine-day trip, sleeping three hours, then hopping another flight to Nashville on Saturday morning for the Blackhawks’ game against the Predators on Saturday night.
A lack of sleep can, oddly, bring clarity sometimes. And while the trade stings, Veleno also realizes he now has an opportunity to rejuvenate his career. After a modest breakthrough season last year, in which he posted 12 goals and 16 assists in 80 games, Veleno’s ice time had dipped to a career-low 11:57 per game in Detroit as he stumbled through a five-goal, five-assist campaign. He was in and out of the lineup entirely, too.
Your first look at Joe Veleno with the @NHLBlackhawks 📸 pic.twitter.com/lRRIZwO5Pb
— NHL (@NHL) March 9, 2025
In his first game with the Blackhawks after being acquired for Petr Mrázek and Craig Smith, Veleno fared well, playing 13:07 (more than captain Nick Foligno got), delivering three hits, helping to kill three penalties, and going 4-of-8 on faceoffs. He wound up on the ice for Steven Stamkos’ game-winner in overtime — completing the hat trick for Stamkos — but only because Ryan Donato made an ill-advised late change, leaving Veleno frantically and futilely trying to get back into the play through no fault of his own.
“I liked him,” interim head coach Anders Sörensen said. “He had some pop in his step, I thought he was in good spots defensively. I thought he read the game well. I thought he had some good offensive zone touches, as well.”
It was a promising start to the second chapter of Veleno’s career.
“The beginning of the season didn’t go as well as I’d like, in terms of production and ice time and the way that I wanted to play,” he said. “I thought I’d have a good opportunity there, but things weren’t working out. I couldn’t really tell you why. But everything involved with the coaching change (Todd McLellan replacing Derek Lalonde right after Christmas) and all that stuff — just couldn’t find a real groove to the year, didn’t feel too good about my game, getting out of the lineup a little bit and having to deal with that. Just a lot going on. I thought another opportunity somewhere else (could be good) and see what that brings.”
Life in general, and hockey in particular, is a series of contradictions, and Veleno embodies that as well as anyone. Veleno went from a playoff hunt to the top of the draft lottery, but it might be the best thing for him. At 25, he’s too old to be considered a prospect but too young to be considered a comfortably entrenched veteran. Even the start of his Blackhawks career is a bit confounding — he gets nine days on the road to get to know his new team, but doesn’t get a chance to even get his bearings in his new home of Chicago, where he’s now signed through the end of next season.
Again, it’s a lot to process.
“I don’t like to think of myself as an old guy … but it does happen fast,” he said. “Just that age where you’re not really a young guy but not necessarily an old guy. Just trying to bring whatever I’ve learned with the Wings and that experience, and try to mold that into the younger group that’s over here as best as I can. Especially being a really, really young team. I’m just really excited.”
Veleno’s assets are his skating and his sturdiness (6-1, 201 pounds). He called himself a 200-foot center who can thrive on the penalty kill and is solid at the faceoff dot (49 percent last year, 47.2 percent this year). He slotted in as the fourth-line center in place of Philipp Kurashev (Lukas Reichel moved to the wing) on Saturday, and that could be his long-term role with the Blackhawks. He was a first-round pick (30th overall) in the 2018 draft, and has played the 15th-most games of any player taken that year. He can play. It’s just a question of how much, and how effectively.
Sörensen was careful not to overload him with new information on Saturday, just giving him a quick sketch of the team’s systems.
“He’s a pro, he knows,” Sörensen said. “I’m sure he’s played similar structure as we (play) before in the past. I’m not too concerned about it. It’s his first game, he’ll be excited, and we’ll take it and build it from there.”
Veleno wasn’t expecting a move, but started to get suspicious when he was scratched for Thursday night’s home game in Detroit. Typically, the coach will talk to a player at the morning skate and explain why he’s going to be scratched. But Veleno said McLellan didn’t talk to him until they arrived in Washington, not wanting to make a show of it in front of the rest of the team. By then, Veleno already had called his agent and had an inkling something was in the works.
It’s a tough pill to swallow and a jolt of excitement, a drop in intensity but a surge in hope. It’s, well, it’s a lot to process.
But at least Veleno knows the deal. He might be new to Chicago, but he’s been here before.
“I’m excited to get this thing going,” he said. “Being in this situation in Detroit a little bit, being a younger player over there and now coming here and being around younger players, (I’m) just leading the way and trying to set an example from what I learned over there from those guys, and trying to build this thing up as quick as possible.”
Quick game observations
— The Blackhawks are now 3-0-2 since the Seth Jones, their longest point streak of the season. The one common thread? Goaltending. Arvid Söderblom made 38 saves against the Predators, following up Spencer Knight’s second strong performance in a row.
“We feel good,” Söderblom said of the new top tandem. “Since Spencer came in, he’s been playing well. And for me, I felt good today, as well. We push each other and if we can keep doing that the rest of the year, we’ll be good.”
— Tyler Bertuzzi is mired in a 17-game goal drought. He whiffed on a bouncing puck on his best chance Saturday night, during a second-period power play. Bertuzzi — who signed a four-year, $22 million contract last summer — had 12 goals in his previous 20 games.
— On the flip side, Ilya Mikheyev stayed hot. He scored the equalizer at 12:22 of the third period off a feed from Donato behind the net, capping a terrific shift of hard cycling and successful puck battles for that line. Mikheyev has goals in four of the last six games, and Donato has an eight-game point streak.
— Each team had a goal overturned. Stamkos could have had a fourth goal, but he batted it down with a high stick. And Louis Crevier scored off a Connor Bedard feed to tie it up early in the third, but it was overturned after a quick review because the play was clearly offside. Sörensen didn’t complain; he would prefer to have linesmen err on the side of the offense in those situations than blow the play dead.
“It should be like that,” he said. “The rule itself, I agree, they should (use) a tie-goes-to-the-runner type of thing. And if they want to review it, they can review it.”
— Sörensen didn’t harp on two poor plays that led directly to Predators’ goals. Foligno had an awful turnover that led to Stamkos’ second goal; the captain wheeled around and broke his stick across the post afterward. And rookie Frank Nazar offered just a weak little stick check on Fedor Svechkov on the game-winner. Nazar was gassed at the end of a long shift, and as for Foligno’s misplay, Sörensen said “It’s part of the game, right?”
(Photo: Rick Osentoski / Imagn Images)
