The 21-year-old produced the most time on ice out of all the Blackhawks blue liners recording almost 20 full minutes in his debut. He also produced two shots on goal, one hit and one block by the end of the matchup. Prior to tonight's contest, Vlasic appeared in 15 games with Chicago last season and tallied one goal, one assist and earned a career-high 21 minutes of ice time.
Head coach Luke Richardson felt the Wilmette native skated well in his first callup. While he had a few hiccups throughout the night, the coaching staff noted that he recovered quickly based off things he learned in Rockford.
"I thought he looked really good for his first game, so it's encouraging for him to just get more comfortable and get even more aggressive killing plays in the D-zone," Richardson said. "You saw it a couple of times when he stripped pucks and took off with it [to make] that first pass. That's what he's been doing well, down there all year."
With the IceHogs this season, the 6-foot-6 defenseman produced 17 points (2G, 15A) in 52 games. He missed some time halfway through after suffering a fibula fracture that kept him out for almost a month.
While in the AHL, Vlasic wanted to use his time to help expand his comfort zone and try new things with his playing style. However, he tried to implement a similar style in Tuesday's 4-1 loss but stated that it became a challenge after playing a more defensive style throughout the night. Moving forward, he hopes to build his confidence with the puck.
"I think we're kind of playing a little bit of defense there tonight," Vlasic said. "Hopefully soon, [I can] just kind of skate with the puck a little bit more and have a little bit more confidence with the puck."
