CHICAGO — Landon Slaggert was still huffing and puffing as he plopped down at his locker stall Tuesday morning. The rookie out of Notre Dame isn’t expected to make his NHL debut until Friday, so he was put through his paces following the morning skate, as the scratches always are. As the press vultures descended, he didn’t ask for a moment to catch his breath, or to take off his skates, or to delicately put his jersey on the laundry pile, as is standard protocol.

He was happy to take questions. Happy to get skated. Just happy to be in an NHL dressing room.

“This is a day that you dream of as a little kid,” Slaggert said through heavy breaths. “So it’s awesome to have it come true in a place like Chicago, with an organization as historic as the Blackhawks. Definitely a dream come true. Playing mini-stick in the basement (growing up), I was wearing Hawks jerseys, and it’s awesome to be wearing one today.”

Slaggert was raised a Red Wings fan but hopped on the bandwagon in 2010 and never looked back. The surreality of being a professional hockey player helped blunt the crushing disappointment of the end of his college career three days earlier. It’s a lot to process in not a lot of time.

“It’s an emotional roller-coaster, for sure,” he said. “A lot of sadness, a lot of joy.”

On the other side of the dressing room, a few minutes earlier, Andreas Athanasiou sat at his own stall after carefully peeling off all his gear, right down to the little tan padded socks that players wear to cushion their ankles and the tops of their feet from getting pinched by their skates. Athanasiou, generally a quieter, laid-back sort, lamented the four months he lost to a groin injury, and admitted to nerves as he prepared to play in his first game since Nov. 9.

It basically felt like a debut of his own.

“Of course,” he said. “There’s so many things to think about, so it’s kind of hard to focus on one thing. … To sit out for as long as I did, it obviously sucks. (But) there are people that have it worse. I get a chance to play tonight, and I’m grateful for that and I’m definitely excited.”

It was an interesting contrast — the unbridled excitement of a 21-year-old whose whole career is in front of him against the cautious optimism of a 29-year-old veteran who’s been hurt before and knows how hard it can be to have to prove yourself all over again.

Athanasiou can help right now. He’s one of the fastest skaters in the league, and he shined in his first Blackhawks season with 20 goals and 20 points last season. He started Tuesday’s 7-2 rout of the Anaheim Ducks on the third line, but it’s only a matter of time before we get to see what his wheels can do for Connor Bedard on the top line. It might not be the highest bar to clear, but Athanasiou is one of the most dynamic potential linemates Bedard has on this team. If he can skate, he can score. Against Anaheim, he looked like his usual self, darting down the ice and creating offense. He had six shot attempts, picked up a secondary assist on Ryan Donato’s first-period power-play goal and a primary assist on MacKenzie Entwistle’s third-period tally, and drew a penalty with a speed burst in the second period.

It was an auspicious return, a promising return, and it came just as the Blackhawks are finally getting into a rhythm, with just their second two-game win streak of the season. Bedard had a career-high five points, Philipp Kurashev had four points, Nick Foligno had four assists, and the Blackhawks scored four more power-play goals, giving them 10 in their last four games (after scoring nine in their previous 28 games). The goals are suddenly coming fast and furious — seven in each of the last two games — and the United Center was hopping for what was an essentially meaningless matchup of two of the worst teams in the NHL. There was even a goalie fight midway through the third period, as Petr Mrázek jumped into a MacKenzie Entwistle-Radko Gudas scrap, bringing Ducks goalie John Gibson all the way across the ice to get in the mix.

Nick Foligno on the line brawl with Mrázek and Gibson in the mix: “I love that. I wish I was out there. Those are my favorite things. Every guy for themselves, but every guy for each other, too.”

— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) March 13, 2024

“I’m thrilled for the fans,” Foligno said. “It’s been a hard year. To get seven at home here is a nice feeling.”

It was a heck of a night for the Blackhawks. And Athanasiou helped, he played a role. He’s a guy who can make a difference right now.

But can Athanasiou help in the long run? He’s signed for another season, and if healthy, could put up some very healthy numbers, perhaps alongside Bedard. But he’ll be 30 years old when next season starts. It seems more likely he’s in the Foligno/Jason Dickinson/Mrázek category, quality veterans holding down the fort and getting Chicago the salary floor until the Blackhawks’ next wave of young talent is ready for the NHL. Is Athanasiou on the roster the next time the Blackhawks make the playoffs? It’s possible, but it’s not probable.

That’s a cold reality to every veteran on this roster other than Seth Jones (who suddenly has three goals and four assists in his last four games). They’re building the foundation of a future they almost surely won’t be here to enjoy, planting a tree whose fruit they’ll never get to taste. That’s simply life in the NHL for a veteran on a rebuilding team. It’s a cruel business that way.

Now Slaggert? Slaggert can help in the long run. He might not be able to make a huge difference over the last 16 games of the season, and he’s not in the same rarefied air as Bedard or whomever the Blackhawks pick at the top of the draft in June. But there could be a real role for him for the foreseeable future. His skill set screams useful depth forward, a guy who can bring energy and speed and intangibles (he was a captain at Notre Dame) but also a nose for the net. He chalked up his senior season offensive outburst — 20 goals in 36 games, smashing his previous career high of 12 — to a little puck luck after a frustrating junior campaign that saw him post just seven goals and six assists, but goals are goals, and he scored a bunch of them.

“I found my love for the game again, and it showed up on the score sheet a little bit,” he said. “But that wasn’t what it was about. It was about having fun and playing well with my brothers.”

Slaggert’s just getting to know his new brothers, fellow long-term pieces like Bedard, Kurashev, Alex Vlasic and Kevin Korchinski. He’s played against the likes of Frank Nazar, Oliver Moore and Sam Rinzel and could be their brothers soon, too. That’s the future in Chicago. That’s what matters above all else. Slaggert will try to help the Blackhawks win now, but it’ll be in the service of that future, of ensuring he’s a part of it.

Watching Bedard — in person, for the first time — post a goal and four assists on Tuesday night could only have served to whet that appetite further.

“You only get one first impression,” he said. “So I’m excited to be doing it here and hopefully I can make a name for myself and keep going. It’s definitely awesome having this group of guys in here and knowing that the management believes in me. I’m excited to get to work.”

It’s all gravy for Slaggert right now, a sort of sneak preview of what’s to come. For Athanasiou, it’s certainly not a last gasp, or a last grasp at NHL glory. If he can stay healthy, he’ll be a productive player for several more years. It just might be somewhere else, on what would be the itinerant winger’s fifth team in seven seasons. It’s just another reminder that while everyone in the dressing room is pulling the rope in the same direction — brothers, really — there are two types of Blackhawks right now: the future, and the placeholders.

Yes, the future can be bright in Chicago. It’s exciting. It’s just not for everybody.

(Photo: Patrick McDermott / Getty Images)