NOTEBOOK: Short Camp, Self-Belief, Line Chemistry and More from Day 1

At long last, training camp is officially underway.
The Blackhawks opened up the on-ice portion of camp on Monday with 35 skaters and five goalies taking part across two groups.
Here's full coverage from day one at Fifth Third Arena:

TRAINING CAMP LINKS
RELEASE: Blackhawks Announce Training Camp Roster
BLOG: Strome Excited to be Back in Time for Day 1
RAW: Colliton on Youth, Camp Outlook
RAW: Kane on Toews' Absence, Schedule
RAW: DeBrincat on Excitement of First Day

SHORT RUNWAY

Monday was day one, but Tuesday already is one week out from the final day of camp and the team's departure for Tampa and the season opener.
"It's going to be pretty intense," Alex DeBrincat said. "We have to get back in shape, but for the most part a lot of guys were here already. We were getting reps in before camp and working hard. I'm sure even guys at home were doing the same thing just because it's a short camp. It's going to be an intense few days here, but I think we're going to have a little bit of time to recover before our first game and be ready to go."
At less than half the time of a normal training camp, and several days shorter than the pre-playoff training camp teams held over the summer, it'll be a sprint to opening night for teams across the league. With 35 skaters on the ice Monday, it the two groups each a mix of NHL guys and hopeful prospects -- a trend head coach Jeremy Colliton and the coaching staff look to keep over at least the first few days.
"What we want to do in the first three days here, four days of skates, is give everyone a chance to show where they fit in. We've kind of evened out the teams. We'll scrimmage a couple times," he said of the larger group that will have to be cut down to, at most, 23 skaters and six taxi squad players by Tuesday's flight. "It's probably not fair, it's not enough time for them to show where they fit in, but we do want to get a better picture (overall)."
Another important factor over the opening week will be working the rust off without any preseason games to get into playing rhythm.
"The stuff that you would get to do in exhibition games, you've got to try to do in practice the best you can -- maybe power play or, for centermen, faceoffs or, for wingers, chipping the puck out," Dylan Strome said. "Things like that where you usually get the reps in preseason games to do that, but in this short time, you've got to find a way to do it in practice. We're going to have some scrimmages, so maybe some time to do it there, but there's nothing really like playing in a game. You've got to try to find a way to get your energy back up and your conditioning and be ready."

SODERBERG UPDATE

Among the absences on the first day was newly-signed center Carl Soderberg, who remains working through the immigration process from his native Sweden. There is no set timetable for his arrival and and subsequent quarantine that will need to take place, but Colliton said the staff is confident they can get him up to speed for game action when there is.
"(We're) working on it, both on our side and his side," the head coach said of the process. "Of course we want him here as soon as possible, we want to get him in the group, but we're trying to include him in some things we're doing and we've had a few conversations with him.
"I know he's really excited to join and when we do get him out of quarantine, we'll try to get him up to speed as quick as we can and get him in the lineup."

SELF-BELIEF

After an offseason that saw a re-focus on development for success down the road, plus the recent injury to Kirby Dach and medical issue for Jonathan Toews, many outside the Blackhawks' locker room haven't given the team much of a chance to be competitive in the shortened season. But that's not deterring the mindset from within the group.
"I think a lot of people are doubting us this year, but in the locker room, we know we have a lot of good players," DeBrincat said. "If we battle every night, we're going to have a chance to win. For us, that's our mentality: just work hard, not really listen to anyone on the outside and just believe in ourselves."
"As a player, you want to win now, you want to compete now. I think we can do that with this group. I think we can surprise some people," Kane said. "I think that we can put together a good team game. We have a lot of guys that work hard, a lot of guys that are fighting for jobs, that will follow that team structure."
The new energy the younger players bring and the overall excitement that a new year can bring had spirits high on day one -- a trend Colliton hopes to carry forward into the start of the season.
"The mood has been excellent, the work ethic was what we were looking for today, but that was day one," he said. "We've got to keep that mentality, be excited about the opportunity we have to prove that we're more than people say. That little chip on your shoulder is something we can use."

CAT-STROME-KANE

Though the majority of Monday's on-ice sessions were largely used to get the legs back under the players with skating and transition drills abound, the brief portion that did see the groups break into lines and pairings brought a familiar site: DeBrincat, Strome and Kane skating on a line together.
Without Dach for the next 4-5 months and Toews out indefinitely, the trio could very well find themselves together heading into opening night -- possibly building on the chemistry they had during previous stint together in the past two seasons.
"I think both (Strome) and DeBrincat have looked good in our skates. I think they're prepared. I think they want to take the next step," Kane said. "Us three have played together before. I think we've developed some chemistry. I've always like playing with Stromer, he's a guy that I felt I had some chemistry with and I've scored a lot playing with him. With DeBrincat, I think we're always kind of together, whether it's training or skating, so I've developed a good friendship with him and sometimes that can translate to some on-ice success, too… (The line combinations are) an ongoing process, but I'd be excited to play with those two guys and I think we can do some pretty good damage."
"I think we can be a really good line," DeBrincat said after day one. "We have to focus on smart decisions, not trying to play with it too much. I think definitely in the D-zone, if we can bear down there, we're going to get a lot of offensive chances. Having Kaner and Stromer on my line, there's going to be a lot of places to be open and hopefully we can move it around and score some goals."

DAY ONE GROUPS

Soderberg (immigration documents), Evan Barratt (unfit to participate), Brent Seabrook (unfit to participate) and Pius Suter (unfit to participate) all missed the opening day's on-ice sessions. Goalie Cale Morris was seen working separately from the larger groups and Colliton said he would be worked into the group as workloads with the other four goalies in camp dictate.
Here were the full groupings for the first two practices:
GROUP A
Adam Boqvist
Matej Chalupa
Alex DeBrincat
Calvin de Haan
Collin Delia
MacKenzie Entwistle
Brandon Hagel
Mattias Janmark
Patrick Kane
Chad Krys
Philipp Kurashev
Ian Mitchell
Brandon Pirri
Alec Regula
Nick Seeler
Tim Soderlund
Dylan Strome
Matt Tomkins
Lucas Wallmark
Nikita Zadorov
GROUP B
Andrei Altybarmakian
Nicolas Beaudin
Lucas Carlsson
Ryan Carpenter
Matthew Highmore
Reese Johnson
Wyatt Kalynuk
David Kampf
Duncan Keith
Michael Krutil
Dominik Kubalik
Kevin Lankinen
Anton Lindholm
Cam Morrison
Connor Murphy
John Quenneville
Andrew Shaw
Malcolm Subban
Michal Teply