ROCKFORD, Ill. — The players could sense the video clips were going on too long. Mark Eaton began to grasp that, too.

Eaton had just been moved over from his job as Blackhawks assistant general manager of player development to be the Rockford IceHogs head coach in the AHL. He had a ton of experience with a lot of the IceHogs players from his past position, but he was entering his new job with zero experience. There would be a learning curve to a lot of things, like showing video clips before a game.

“I don’t think he realized how long some of the clips took, so we were watching clips for quite a while before the game,” said Blackhawks defenseman Ethan Del Mastro, who was with the IceHogs during Eaton’s early days on the job. “And then, he’s like, ‘That’s enough. We’ll cut it there.’ It was funny because he had all these clips he wanted to show and talk about it, but it was getting too long before the game. He obviously knows as a (past) player he doesn’t want us sitting there too long, eventually start losing attention.”

Eaton had been happy and content in his previous role with the organization. He had a development staff under him and they kept tabs on the development of every Blackhawks prospect near and far. Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson had an immense amount of trust in Eaton to ensure players were developing properly.

And it was that level of trust that led Davidson to offer Eaton what he considered an even more important role this season. When Davidson decided to let Luke Richardson go as Blackhawks head coach in early December and promote Anders Sörensen, who had been the IceHogs head coach, Davidson needed someone to replace Sörensen. With the IceHogs’ roster including Kevin Korchinski (a 2022 No. 7 overall pick), Frank Nazar (No. 13 in 2022), Artyom Levshunov (No. 2 in 2024) and a number of other promising Blackhawks prospects, Davidson deemed the development in Rockford this season to be paramount to future NHL success.

“It all goes back to how important the development of our young players is in the big picture here,” Davidson said recently. “And to have someone like Mark Eaton that was around Rockford a ton, he was around all those players a ton the last couple of years, but specifically this year, and he saw what was being done, how things were being executed in terms of practices, game planning, development planning. And so to have someone that was so intimately involved and intimately understanding of the day-to-day in Rockford, that was something that was important to make sure there was some continuity for those players, because we did feel like they were on such a good track.

“Mark being a highly capable person and really smart, and he didn’t have any coaching experience going into that spot, but I had no doubt that he would be able to handle it and be able to make that transition seamless and continue the positive strides that our players have made there this year.”

Eaton was surprised when Davidson offered him the position. He was intrigued by the opportunity and has always been up to do what’s best for the organization, but there were some family conversations to be had first. As much as Eaton did travel in his player development role, he was still back home often with his wife and daughter on the East Coast. The IceHogs job would mean being gone a lot more.

“My wife, throughout my playing career, career in player development and management, has been super supportive,” Eaton said. “She’s the rock, the glue of the family. She told me she’s fine with it, but better ask my 16-year-old, and she instantly said, you know, what a cool opportunity, certainly take advantage of it. And, you know, my wife will make it work as far as us seeing each other, so they’ve been out a few times. And I can’t say it feels normal, but she’s making it seem as normal as possible.”

So Eaton accepted the job. He knew there was plenty of learning ahead of him. He had worked a lot with individual players and a number of the IceHogs, but this was different. This was pulling back his focus to a larger group while also being attentive to individual development. This was implementing systems, managing ice time, considering lines and pairings, thinking about matchups and so much more.

Eaton has relied heavily on assistant coaches Rob Klinkhammer and Josh MacNevin, goalie development coach Matt Smith and nearly everyone else around the IceHogs since the start.

“Part of me feels bad, like they’ve had to teach me some things because in development you’re dealing more with the individuals and the kind of the habits within their game and what they need to do individually to be successful,” Eaton said. “Whereas coaching, it’s a lot about the team and systems, the different scenarios within a game that I hadn’t thought about since my playing days. And even in my playing days, I knew what my job was as a defenseman, but I didn’t know what F1 on the forecheck or trackers needed to do or what other positions’ responsibilities were. So that’s kind of what I’ve been learning on the fly.”

A day after he was hired, the IceHogs had their next game.

“It happens fast,” Eaton said of what it was like being on the bench for that first one. “It’s even still like the number one priority is making sure the next line knows who’s up. And if you’re thinking about matchups, a lot of times what’s actually happening in the game takes a back seat, which definitely shouldn’t be the case. But yeah, again, it’s still a few months in and still a lot to learn about.”

After losing 4-1 in his coaching debut, the IceHogs had another game the next day and lost 2-1 in overtime. Eaton was relieved when the IceHogs finally broke their losing streak at four games the following week with a 5-1 win.

Despite the rocky start, Eaton and the IceHogs have made progress since then. From a team perspective, the IceHogs have gone 19-18-4-1 under Eaton and are having their best month of the season with a 6-2-1-0 record in March. The IceHogs are in position for another playoff berth.

Blackhawks defenseman Wyatt Kaiser played for Eaton for a lot of January and February. Kaiser always liked working with Eaton in his previous role and discovered a new respect for how Eaton went about his responsibilities as head coach.

“I think you can tell he’s very thoughtful and he’s very knowledgeable, but then the next step of trying to teach that and explain that in a very clear message and consistently speaking on that and having that make sense to a lot of different people who have different ideas of hockey,” Kaiser said. “It’s hard to coach. You have a lot of different personalities, the way each player thinks the game is a little different. But I think he does a really good job of teaching. He’s able to teach what he thinks in his message and being able to resonate with all the players so far.”

Del Mastro noticed Eaton also got a better handle of those video sessions and meetings.

“Just coming into meetings and stuff like that, it’s hard to figure out timing, how long to talk for, when not to talk to and stuff like that,” Del Mastro said. “By the end of it, he was realizing where to talk, how long for meetings, where to add stuff in, (take) stuff away. He was getting better with time, each game.”

From a personal standpoint, Eaton can recognize his own growth as a coach but also in how he sees and understands hockey differently with his coaching experience. It forced him to look at players and the game from a new perspective.

“It was just a trial by fire and watching the games obviously live from behind the bench, but then rewatching them shortly after and seeing things that you didn’t see live, and kind of just changing the way you look at games or watch games on video,” Eaton said. “I kind of went top down, more from the systematic approach and then the individuals within the system and then the habits within the individual. I have to sometimes rewatch periods or spans of games to pick up on certain things. But yeah, it’s the best way to learn.”

Eaton and Sörensen were often in communication in their previous roles, and that hasn’t changed much. Sörensen said they talk at least a few times every week.

“I think a lot of the things we’re doing here, they do there, so it’s a smooth transition that way,” Sörensen said. “Klinkhammer’s been with me a couple of years and helped him out. But we’ve talked constantly about little challenges, how to structure things, if it’s video or practice. He’s a smart hockey person so he knows what he wants, but it’s been really good.”

Eaton was unsure whether he’d return his old job or where Davidson envisioned him for the future. But whatever role Eaton is in, this season will affect how he approaches the game.

“That wasn’t really my thought going into it,” Eaton said. “It was more, you know, always been a team player, loyal. And to a situation Kyle thought I’d be best served in filling, I was more than happy to do that. But now having been in this role for three months, there’s no question that it’s helped me grow in all areas — as an individual, my approach to development, if that’s what I go back to. Just viewing hockey and kind of what goes into the day to day of coaching has been very eye-opening and enlightening and very constructive for me.

“It’s given me a new perspective on hockey, a way of seeing the game. And ultimately, whatever happens from here, I’m definitely going to be better off for it.”