Blackhawks' Andre Burakovsky thankful for Jeff Blashill's trust as he searches for confidence

SALT LAKE CITY — Andre Burakovsky has become a lightning rod for criticism from Blackhawks fans, who cannot understand why he's cemented in a first-line spot despite a lengthy slump.

Just because Hawks coach Jeff Blashill believes in Burakovsky, though, doesn't mean Burakovsky wholeheartedly believes in himself right now.

This rough stretch — zero goals and one assist in his last 16 games — has weighed on the veteran forward's conscience.

"Things have not been coming easy," Burakovsky said Sunday. "I've experienced this before in my career, where maybe you start doubting yourself a little bit and confidence is going down and it becomes harder to play. I just worked on myself during the break and tried to build my confidence and get back to just [being] me."

He was fine in the Hawks' 4-0 blowout win over the Mammoth and has been slightly better overall in three games since the Olympic break, at least reducing his frequency of turnovers and mistakes. But the scoresheet remains elusive.

It's a tricky situation for Blashill to manage. On one hand, Burakovsky undoubtedly hasn't produced the way a top-line forward should recently.

On the other hand, Blashill has seen many great players encounter confidence crises in the past, and he has found that keeping them in their usual role gives them the best chance to break out of it.

"'Burky' and I had a good meeting right before the break," Blashill said last week. "You can tell he was in a little bit of a struggle. It was interesting for me because...in 10-game segments, the segment that we ended with, his scoring-chance plus-minus wasn’t great. But the prior segments were all really good.

"So [he] was only 10 games away from playing really good hockey. That was a reminder, and I told him, 'This is a reminder for me as much as it is for you.' Because when he’s struggling, generally the coach is struggling with him."

Another factor is the fact the Hawks don't have an abundance of forwards — yet, that is — that they believe possess the necessary skills to play with top-line center Connor Bedard.

"When [Bedard] gives the puck to you, you've got to have enough give-and-go in your game to make sure you get it back to him at the right spots, [and] you've got to be able to transport it at times," Blashill said Sunday, adding that he plans to give Burakovsky "another little bit of runway" before potentially making any changes.

Burakovsky does sincerely appreciate Blashill's continued investment in him.

"You feel like you have the coach's trust, and that helps you with confidence, too," he said. "But I also want to play better for him because he shows a lot of faith in me."

During the Olympic break, Burakovsky opted for a full mental refresh — a family vacation to Mexico — instead of working on random skills at a random rink somewhere.

"[I was] trying to get away from hockey over the break, not think about things," he said. "The more you think about it, the worse it's going to get."

With 30 points in 54 games, he's still averaging more points per game this season (0.56) than he did in his last two seasons with the Kraken. And with another year left on his contract, that's not a cause of stress.

He has reflected examples of adversity from his first 11 NHL seasons to remind himself this is only temporary.

"I always overcame it," he said. "I always do, eventually. But you want it to be maybe one or two games and then jump back. Now, it's been a little longer for me. I'm still working on it.

"I've been feeling a little better...[although there are] still some puck touches that surprise me. I don't know why, but it does sometimes. I'm just going to clean that up and play with confidence."