LAST SEASON
The Chicago Blackhawks’ shameless pursuit of the 2023 No.1 overall pick and superstar prospect Connor Bedard paid off two seasons ago, but the strategy stripped the team bare in the short term.
With most of their respectable pros chewed up and spat out by the tank job, Chicago embarked on the 2023-24 campaign with a roster full of old-timers like Nick Foligno and (briefly) Corey Perry, teens like Bedard and former seventh-overall selection Kevin Korchinski, and cap casualties like Tyler Johnson and Nikita Zaitsev. It did not go well: the Hawks finished with seven fewer points (52) than they did during their “Bad for Bedard” season.
On the bright side, the 18-year-old Bedard looked like the real deal (22 G, 61 P in 69 GP) and picked up the Calder Trophy for his efforts. With their next franchise player in place and a host of prospects set to join him over the next two seasons, the Blackhawks can focus on playing like a real NHL team again in 2024-25.
KEY ADDITIONS & DEPARTURES
Additions
Tyler Bertuzzi, LW
Teuvo Teravainen, LW
Laurent Brossoit, G
Alec Martinez, D
T.J. Brodie, D
Ilya Mikheyev, RW
Craig Smith, RW
Patrick Maroon, LW
Departures
Tyler Johnson, C (UFA)
Nikita Zaitsev, D (KHL)
Taylor Raddysh, RW (Wsh)
Rem Pitlick, C (UFA)
Reese Johnson, RW (Min)
Jarred Tinordi, D (UFA)
Filip Roos, D (Ott)
Colin Blackwell, C (Dal)
Jaycob Megna. D (Fla)
MacKenzie Entwistle, RW (Fla)
OFFENSE
Bedard is the main man in Chicago. His continued physical maturation and a year of pro experience should transform him from a great rookie to a legit No.1 center. He’ll get badly needed reinforcements in wingers Tyler Bertuzzi, a standout for the Red Wings before stopovers in Boston and Toronto, and Teuvo Teravainen, the 2015 Stanley Cup champion who is back in the Windy City after a fruitful eight-season hiatus (61.31 P per 82 GP) with the Carolina Hurricanes.
The appeal of immediately combining the three is too good to pass up. Teravainen is a slick playmaker who will tee up Bedard’s vaunted shot, which should find twine more than 10.7% of the time in Year 2. Turbo’s defense has earned him down-ballot Selke Trophy votes and will help clean up Bedard’s shocking rookie-year metrics (38.55% of high-danger chances). So too will Bertuzzi’s tireless, pestering style. His motor is unmatched, and he is a consistent 20-goal guy when healthy.
That leaves 24-year-old Philipp Kurashev hanging after he busted out for 54 points beside Bedard last season. He’s a mess on defense (-44), and the Hawks need to see whether he can produce away from his buddy. Speedy centerman Andreas Athanasiou (20 G, 40 P in 2022-23) and injury-prone former MVP Taylor Hall (697 career points) combined to appear in just 38 games in 2023-24. Deploying the three together could make sense to start the season; they all have something to prove.
The 36-year-old power forward Foligno (17 G, 37 P in 74 GP) and shutdown center Jason Dickinson (22 G, 35 P in 82 GP) were such pleasant surprises in 2023-24 that GM Kyle Davidson extended them. Dickinson had never scored more than nine goals before last season and Foligno won’t get as many top-six opportunities in 2024-25, so their points totals will likely take a hit. They’ll still provide valued grit and leadership in matchup minutes.
Canucks cap casualty Ilya Mikheyev (31 P in 78 GP), inconsistent youngster Lukas Reichel (16 P in 65 GP), and scrappy journeyman Ryan Donato (30 P in 78 GP) are all options to slide up the lineup in a pinch.
Seth Jones remains by far the most dangerous Chicago blueliner. He has scored at a 45-point pace over three seasons with the Blackhawks.
DEFENSE
Like the Blackhawks’ offense, Chicago’s ‘D’ was a bad group that relied heavily on a new star. Alex Vlasic will never have the offensive gifts of a modern Norris winner, but he showed top-four, shutdown chops alongside Jones on an otherwise wretched blue line. The 6’6, 23-year-old led full-time Hawks defenders in every meaningful metric. Vlasic is in it for the long haul after signing a 6-year, $27-million extension in April.
Jones continued to log huge minutes (25:59 ATOI) in his third season for Chicago. His play doesn’t justify a monster $9.5-million cap hit, but he’s not as bad as his -90 rating since 2021 (second-worst in the NHL) implies. His PDO, the measure of “puck luck,” is sixth-lowest among all NHL players to log more than 3,000 minutes since he signed for the Blackhawks. Jones is still a big, talented puck mover despite his erratic decision-making.
Coach Luke Richardson will have better depth outside his top pair in 2024-25. Davidson provided him a pair of grizzled vets in Alec Martinez, a three-time champ who still logs more than 19 minutes a night at 37, and T.J. Brodie, a solid if sluggish stay-at-home D. Along with Connor Murphy, a locker room leader who struggled through a groin injury for much of last season, they provide Richardson with plenty of seasoned options.
Kevin Korchinski (15P, 19:37 ATOI in 76 GP) skated with Murphy for 40 games last season and will continue to do so unless the decision-makers in Chicago think Korchinski has anything to learn from low-pressure minutes with the AHL Rockford IceHogs. Big bodies Isaak Phillips and Louis Crevier both got extended auditions in the show in 2023-24 and could be candidates to make the team as the seventh defenseman. Smooth-skating Wyatt Kaiser’s development is a higher priority in the organization, and he has more to lose from sitting most nights.
Of the forwards, Dickinson is the strongest defender. He finished 12th in Selke voting despite Chicago’s abysmal season. Foligno, Mikheyev, and veteran utility man Craig Smith are options to flank him on a checking line.
GOALTENDING
Of the eight goaltenders who started 30 games for one of the NHL’s bottom-five teams last year, only Petr Mrazek managed a SV% higher than .903 (.907). Mrazek faced the sixth-most shots of any goaltender, and the lowly Blackhawks won just five games without him in net. Few goalies in the NHL have endured as many peaks and valleys as the 32-year-old, but 2023-24 was certainly a peak: the Czech earned every cent of his 2-year, $8.5-million contract extension.
The extension rewarded Mrazek for his best season since he left the Carolina Hurricanes, but it doesn’t mean he’ll enter 2024-25 as the unquestioned No.1 netminder. Davidson signed Laurent Brossoit to a two-year pact of his own after a stellar season as Connor Hellebuyck’s backup in Winnipeg (2.00 GAA, .927 in 23 GP). Brossoit will get his first shot to play in a true tandem with the Blackhawks; his 22 starts last year were a career high.
Arvid Soderblom will return to the IceHogs after an abysmal rookie year (5-22-2, .879 SV%). He can make the big save but needs to work on his fundamentals to earn another chance in the NHL.
COACHING
The Blackhawks were bad on offense (last), bad on defense (29th), bad on the kill (28th), and bad on the power play (28th) in 2023-24. None of that makes Luke Richardson a bad head coach, not yet at least.
Richardson has never worked with an NHL-caliber roster. He’s iced some teams that would be lucky to win a round in the Calder Cup Playoffs over the past two seasons. With a vastly improved group at his disposal, this is the first year his tactics will warrant serious scrutiny. At the very least, Richardson deserves some credit for keeping spirits high through a painful rebuild.
ROOKIES
A glut of defensive injuries meant the Blackhawks played a LOT of kids last year. Phillips, Kaiser, and Korchinski all spent their Calder eligibility while towering AHLers Crevier and Ethan Del Mastro remain rookies for at least another season.
The most exciting defenseman in the Blackhawks organization is Artyom Levshunov. The 2024 No.2 overall pick gives the team a right-sided stud opposite Vlasic and Korchinski. With so much organizational depth at the position, Chicago can afford to take their time with Levshunov at the AHL level. He could get a look in the last week or two of the season.
Frank Nazar will join him in Rockford to start the year, but his future is as Richardson’s second-line center. A probable deadline fire sale should land the former 12th-overall selection in that role by spring.
Another forward with a top-six future is Oliver Moore, who slid to the 19th pick in Bedard’s draft. Daily Faceoff lead prospect analyst Steven Ellis has Moore ranked ahead of Nazar because of his speed and hockey sense. He could be in line for a late-season audition after the Minnesota Golden Gophers’ season wraps.
BURNING QUESTIONS
1. What are realistic expectations for Connor Bedard? The list of modern NHL players who garnered as much pre-draft hype as Bedard is as follows: Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid. Based on his rookie season, No. 98 is a bit behind the two greatest centers of the 21st century, who both came out of the gates scoring more than a point per game. Maybe expecting Bedard to debut as a fully-formed superstar was unrealistic, but consider the teammates involved. Crosby had Colby Armstrong and, briefly, Mario Lemieux. McDavid and Jordan Eberle were inseparable. Bedard had Kurashev and Foligno (sorry, guys). Can the former WHL phenom close the gap on his vaunted predecessors as he lines up with Bertuzzi and Teravainen in Year 2? Bedard’s hands and release are already among the NHL’s best.
2. Who stays…Davidson sent a positive message by keeping Mrazek, Foligno, and Dickinson around. The Blackhawks already had their franchise player and a treasure trove of prospects, so why not reward the guys who will help them along? Ryan Donato has a similar opportunity to extend his stay in Chicago. He’s a fourth-line center who competes hard and chips in some scoring. Craig Smith’s smarts and locker-room presence could buy him another year in the bottom six, where he’s not blocking anyone’s development.
3. And who goes? The Blackhawks are done being bad on purpose, but they’ll probably sell at the deadline regardless of their position in the standings. Alec Martinez is a pro’s pro and an elite shot-blocker, but he’s a placeholder until Kaiser or Del Mastro earns a shot on the big team. Athanasiou and Hall have plenty of skill, but, on the wrong side of 30, they do nothing worth forestalling an extended look at Reichel or Nazar in the top six. All three will garner interest from playoff teams, but their cap hits will be sticking points. With one of Chicago’s salary retention slots still tied up in Jake McCabe, Davidson will have important decisions to make in March.
PREDICTION
There’s finally room for some excitement in the Second City after four seasons of terrible hockey. Adding Bertuzzi and Teravainen up front, Brodie and Martinez on the blueline, and Brossoit between the pipes would be a coup for any team, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Expect a campaign like the erstwhile Coyotes had last year. High on optimism, the Blackhawks will come out of the gates hot before levelling out around the 80-point mark.
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POST SPONSORED BY bet365
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