FEATURE: Inside the Blackhawks Mental Performance Program

A special to Blackhawks.com by former Public Address Announcer with more than 65 years of Blackhawks hockey coverage.

The Chicago Blackhawks have long been pioneers, from innovations on the ice like the curved stick and the butterfly save to advancements behind the scenes inside the arena like the goal horn and organ.

Off the ice, they’ve helped pave the way as well.

The Blackhawks were one of the first NHL teams to build a dedicated mental performance program for players and members of the organization, emphasizing the importance of mental health as a foundational piece of performance.

AJ Sturges, Samantha Leavens and Mike Kostka comprise the mental performance department. Sturges and Kostka work closely with the NHL players on daily performance psychology and Leavens works on guiding prospects and with the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs as they mentally prepare for the jump to Chicago.

"One of the big emphases we had when setting this up was advancing the conversation around performance psychology — which, for us, includes both mental health and mental performance together under that term. Our goal is to very simply raise mental health literacy and make it more a part of everyday conversation, helping to elevate the types of discussions people are having or shorten the distance to support in whatever form they might need," Sturges said. "We also want to create more tangible, easy-to-access help-seeking pathways so that if somebody is in need, it's not a situation where they have to call someone outside the organization and then catch them up to speed; it's someone who is here, present and ready when situations arise.”

"One of the core pieces of the foundation on the mental health side — and similarly for mental performance — is raising the baseline for everyone who comes through the organization, not only in how they talk about mental performance but in how they approach it. That can range from their preparation, to how they become pros, to how they maintain their performance across a season, as well as recovery, reflection, and everything that goes into it."

On a day-to-day basis, Sturges and Leavens conduct micro check-ins with players and staff. They stay aware of lineup changes, performance trends and the movement of players between Chicago and Rockford, maintaining an ongoing pulse of the organization.

Leavens often takes a wider-angle view, tracking season-long trends while staying in close contact with coaching and development staff to ensure messaging remains aligned. Each player processes feedback differently, and consistency is key.

"I like to see that everything is aligning and what I'm hearing from players and coaches are similar at least," Leavens said. "With development coaches, it's less mental performance work and more just kind of collaborating on how to best support the players. Sometimes that means having a conversation with Kendall Coyne Schofield about how she can approach a conversation or she can talk to me about some stuff and I can approach it. So it's more about how to collaborate and discussing the best approach to supporting a player."

The earliest touch points begin immediately after a player is drafted, particularly at development camp.

"Development camp is an enormous opportunity for us to build connection and build rapport," Sturges said.

"You kind of build the relationship when they're still in amateur for the most part," Leavens added. "Obviously some guys step right in after being drafted, like Connor Bedard didn't go back after that, but for the most part you get to build that relationship when they're even younger. And by the time they're here, they have a pretty decent foundation in the mental performance realm."

The Blackhawks were the first team to eliminate the on-ice portion of development camp. Part of that decision was to avoid disrupting players’ offseason training programs. The other objective was to lean further into off-ice habits such as nutrition, recovery strategies and breathing techniques for performance and recovery, among others.

Development camp also features team-building exercises such as cooking contests, tarp flips, charades and a beach volleyball tournament. Last year included a Lego-building challenge in which players constructed structures based solely on verbal instructions relayed through walkie-talkies to teammates in another room.

The mental performance team is the driving force behind these challenges, using them as opportunities to strengthen chemistry and reinforce organizational values.

"We're trying to create a curriculum across the entire week that's got a consistent theme, from the competitions that they do, to how the teams are formed, to how the interactions are being shaped, to the content that they're receiving," Sturges said. "It could be tangible tools and lessons, but we've put a huge emphasis on connection for the players."

The goal extends beyond a single week. Many prospects disperse across North America and Europe following camp, returning to college, junior or overseas teams. The Blackhawks want that bond to endure past that.

"How do we set them up so that they're leaving these camps feeling excited for one another, and so that the next time they're on the ice together — whether it's at training camp or our summer camp — that momentum is building? We want that core group to feel like they truly know each other, and that they're excited to be Blackhawks, and that they can push themselves in ways that might otherwise feel like a tryout," Sturges said. "We want them to push each other, but in ways that reflect safety and a sense of, ‘I care about these guys, I care about the organization.’”

"So all the planning we do in the summer — much of it behind the scenes and often in collaboration with work that’s already underway — focuses heavily on micro adjustments. We’re always asking: how can we make this more representative of the organizational values we want our players to have? How do we create more moments that allow them to connect and get to work together in ways that feel natural, not forced?"

By laying that groundwork at the draft stage, the Blackhawks establish built-in relationships long before a player reaches the NHL. And the mental performance coaches gain valuable familiarity with each individual, too.

Players feel fortunate to have those resources at their disposal, whether they actively use them or simply know they’re available.

"I think it's super important," Oliver Moore said. "Obviously AJ and Sam are the head of that here, and they do a great job checking in and making sure we feel good on and off the ice. Even going back to development camp and then throughout college — with college being a tough schedule sometimes — it was all about making sure I'm prioritizing my mental well being, continuing to have fun with things, and not getting into loops that you don't want to fall into. They're great and definitely super helpful.”

"You never really know when you're going to need them, and especially in my first year of pro, you really don't know what's going to happen. It's a lot of new, so to have people that can guide you through things and have those resources available is huge."

Spencer Knight, who has spoken openly about mental health throughout his career, believes investing in the mental side is as critical as physical preparation.

"Throughout my career, I've found that a lot of the sport is mental," Knight said. "Just the preparation side, even the performance side of just playing and understanding the game, understanding how to succeed on the ice, a lot of it's mental. It's obviously great to have those resources available to anyone who wants to utilize them, so I think that's the important aspect of that. I think people are realizing it's more than just being fast, strong, and you shoot the puck hard."

Not every NHL team offers this level of dedicated support. The Blackhawks view it as a core organizational investment and one that players clearly feel.

"Everyone's been great so far," Knight said. "It's another thing you can utilize, right? I think it's important to have the resources because whether people utilize it or not, it's something that can help a player make a difference on a team, right? You never know who it is or when it might be, but I think having those guys around, it gives you the ability to utilize another resource. I think if you're trying to make a difference in a league where every team is so good, you've got to do anything you can."

Sturges and Leavens are intentional about making their presence feel natural, not reactive.

"When I first was getting interviewed for the position, the word consistency came up a lot and just making sure guys had consistent support no matter where they were," Leavens said. "I'd like to think we've done a good enough job showing them that that support is consistent, and those check-ins don't feel like a panic for them, and it's not, 'Oh no, Sam and AJ are coming, something must be wrong.' It's just another day."

"Everyone's trying to solve the same puzzle," Sturges added. "We have very different pieces that might need a different approach, and one of the ways I would frame it is: not every organization has what we have here or the people with our background in training. Most organizations will have somebody close or around, but we're uniquely positioned and supported, which I think is one of the exceptional parts about what we get to do. And to frame it simply — we have incredibly coaches and incredible staff across the organization, and we want them to really be the best version of themselves in their roles."

Charlie Roumeliotis contributed to this article.