PITTSBURGH — Blackhawks rookie defenseman Artyom Levshunov entered Thursday with only two goals in his first 69 career NHL games.

That’s in spite of the fact he has attempted 232 shots, 87 of which made it on-goal. That equates to a .977 save percentage by opposing goalies against him.

Part of that is determined by luck. Four of those shot attempts hit posts, and two more hit crossbars. If even half of those shots had gone in, that save percentage against him would drop down to .944 — right around the NHL average save percentage against defensemen of .939.

But part of that comes down to skill, too. The Hawks have identified that and are actively working with Levshunov to improve his shooting.

“He has had tons of prime shot opportunities in the slot, [and] we want to help him [finish more],” coach Jeff Blashill said last week. “I would say his mechanics aren’t great, but he’s so strong that he’s gotten by without it.

“We’re trying to help his shooting mechanics to help give him more, not just velocity but also create a little more deception. He gets locked in, so his deception isn’t what we think it can be.”

Blashill said Tuesday that process will continue into the offseason and beyond. There’s no “instant gratification” when it comes to correcting and altering habits and muscle memory cemented over years of doing something one specific way.

But Levshunov did unleash one “pretty legit” shot in practice Monday, Blashill added. He also tested Panthers goalie Daniil Tarasov on Sunday — at the end of a beautiful end-to-end rush — with a shot that looked strange but still came in fast due to Levshunov’s strength in his right hand (the lower hand on his stick).

Deception is indeed important, too. It’s telling that Levshunov’s two hardest shots this season — a 93.2 mph one-timer Jan. 1 against the Stars and a 92.8 mph bomb last week against the Lightning — were both blocked en route. Overall, 42.2% of his career attempts have been blocked, well above the league average for defensemen of 37.2%.

Wyatt Kaiser, Levshunov’s usual defensive partner, has also worked on his deceptiveness this season, making quick movements and head-fakes to open up shooting lanes from the point. Levshunov could take some lessons from him.

“When I start to score, I think that’s improvement,” Levshunov said.

Boxing out

Blashill’s defensive system is most effective when Hawks defensemen effectively box out opposing forwards around the net.

Blashill believes his team has “done a better job in the last stretch” with that, but they did make a few costly mistakes with that Tuesday, including one by Wyatt Kaiser that enabled the Wild’s late tying goal.

That led to some feedback. Once a Hawks defenseman gains inside positioning, he shouldn’t endlessly keep pushing the forward away, as Kaiser tried to do. At that point, he should redirect his focus toward either fronting the shot or maneuvering to maintain that inside positioning.

Trade timing

An NHL roster freeze will take effect during the Olympic break, so it’ll be interesting to see if a small flurry of trades occur during the next week before that begins. March 6 might not be the only trade deadline this year.

The New York area teams have already been busy. The Islanders recently completed trades with both the Rangers and Devils, acquiring Carson Soucy and Ondrej Palat, and now the Rangers are holding out and shopping ex-Hawks star Artemi Panarin. Could that pattern spread across the rest of the league?

Ben Pope

Chicago Sun-TimesChicago Blackhawks reporter