Blackhawks Offseason Preview.

 Offseason plans blog post PT 3 (Chicago)

So today we have the eliminated Blackhawks who were the 3rd team eliminated from playoff contention who have definitely had another bad year as they were the 2nd west team eliminated and have missed for 6 straight years now, they are the 3rd team in my offseason preview series, as I will breakdown why the Blackhawks missed the playoffs and what I personally think they could do in the offseason to improve their team to try and make it better for next year.

1st up the Blackhawks stats for the 25-26 season

27-35-14 68 6GR

193 31st GF 

246 25th GA

PP% 17.6 26th

PK% 83.6 1st  

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Goal Scoring Leaders

Bertuzzi 31

Bedard 30 

Mikheyev 15

Point Leaders

Bedard 69

Bertuzzi 55

Nazar 38

So when looking at the Blackhawks stats for the 25-26 season they are a few bright spots but once again a lot of the same stuff as with NYR and Vancouver are quite bad, so on the defensive side of the puck for them they haven’t been particularly good as sort of like with NYR they aren’t bottom 5 in the NHL defensive wise but they are in the bottom half as they are (as of April 3rd) 25th in the NHL defensively having given up nearly 250 goals against but having a young blueline like they do will have some hiccups so it isn’t too surprising to see them not have great defensive stats but surprisingly their PK has been superb as being where they are in the standings you wouldn’t expect them to do this but they have the number 1 ranked PK in the entire NHL, so a lot of there defensive woes have come 5V5 because there isn’t really much they can improve on with their PK, now when it comes to the offensive side they have all around been a bad team as they have the 2nd worst offense in the NHL and have a bottom 10 power play and you can see that reflected in their goal and point scoring leaders as Bedard and Bertuzzi have both had halfway decent seasons as Bedard is looking like the stellar 1st overall pick we were all expecting and Bertuzzi is on pace for 30+ goals and 60+ points which is great, but the supporting cast beyond that is not overly good as there is a 15 goal gap between 2nd and 3rd on the team in goal scoring and a 17 point gap between 2 and 3 with point scoring, so the Hawks have some solid Vets as well as good up and comers (such as Nazar, Moore etc), but those young players are not at a great production level yet and I feel that the reason this team is so bad offensively is because there supporting cast just wasn’t there this year, so like I said they have some bright spots (especially with the PK and Bedard) but still a lot of work is needed before this team makes a push for the playoffs. 

3 Reasons I believe they missed

1.) Not out of rebuild yet: now I think the main reason the Blackhawks have not been able to find success this year has to be the fact that this team is still slowly coming out of their rebuild, now this year we did see the Ducks and Sharks take massive steps to come out of their rebuild but it seems like Chicago isn’t at that level yet and I feel are a year or two behind teams like that, coming into this year most people thought the Hawks would take a step forward but still be well out of a playoff spot and that is sort of what happened this year, they did t take the step I think they wanted but them missing the playoff isn’t too surprising as this was a steppingstone year for a lot of their young guys, so in my eye the biggest reason they didn’t make the postseason this year was the fact that they weren’t ready to come out of their rebuild yet

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2.) Extremely young blueline: now the 2nd reason I feel they didn’t do well was the inexperience and youth that this team has on their blueline, now they have a lot of former top end picks on their blueline currently which is great and I think will make the defence lethal going forward but most of them are in their first year or two of NHL action as besides I think Murphy (who they would move at the deadline), Grzelyck and maybe to some extent Vlasic, all there other defenders are extremely young and inexperienced, so I feel they fact that they had so many young blueliners they were poised to have growing pains and not be a good defensive team this year and I think that is another reason they missed.

3.) Not enough scoring : now the final reason I believe the Blackhawks were not able to make the playoffs was the lack of depth scoring on this team, now as you guys can see in the goal and point leaders the Hawks didn’t have much offense from their guys outside of Bertuzzi and Bedard because you take out those two and no one else on the Hawks is a 20 goal scorer or 40 point player so whether it is young guys like Nazar or Moore or older vets like Burakovsky or Teravainen the supporting cast just wasn’t able to produce anywhere near enough for the Hawks to be competitive this year, so I believe the fact that they aren’t out of their rebuild yet, the you v Blueline they had and the lack of depth scoring were the 3 main reasons in my opinion that the Blackhawks missed the postseason. 

Projected cap hit: $63.77

Projected cap space: $40.23

Significant Pending UFA’s

I.Mikheyev 15-16-31 in 71GP

S.Lafferty 1-1-2 in 27GP

J.Anderson 16-14-30 in 46GP (AHL)

M.Grzelyck 0-12-12 in 69GP

Significant Pending RFA’s

C.Bedard 30-39-69 in 63GP

R.D Mastro 2-16-18 in 45GP (AHL)

K.Korchinski 2-24-26 in 53GP (AHL)

D.Commesso .904 SV% and 2.96 GAA in 35GP (AHL)

Now when it comes to their UFA’s and RFA’s they don’t have a ton but do have a couple huge names, I think the Blackhawks will probably not bring back most of their 4 UFA’s as I expect after this year Mikheyev and Grzelyck to be as good as gone and don’t expect either back and while I could see Lafferty or Anderson back on short term deals I feel there is a strong chance both of them leave too, meanwhile with their RFA’s I think there is a strong chance that after pretty solid AHL seasons that both Commesso and Mastro will be back on short term deals while I think Korchinski either gets a short term deal or potentially gets traded away but the big name here has to be Connor Bedard, so the Hawks have to sign their star player and I think if it was a long term deal the Hawks would probably have to give him a AAV of $12-13 Million which they can with the cap space they have open but that I think signing wise is top priority as they need to sign Bedard to a extension but that is what I think of the Hawks UFA’s and RFA’s. 

Current draft capital for Chicago in 2026: 9

1RD: CHI, FLO*

2RD: CHI, TOR, NYI

3RD: CHI

4RD: OTT

5RD: 

6RD:

7RD: CHI, FLO

Just real quick here the Blackhawks have a pretty decent amount of draft Capital entering the offseason and may acquire more by the draft, it’s not as many draft picks as we saw the Rangers and Canucks have, but it is a decent amount for a team who missed the playoffs and the one thing that is great for them is that they have 2 1RD picks and 3 2RD picks in the first 2 rounds this year, so if they get the Panthers 1st this year, having 5 picks in the first 2 rounds is great for the Hawks and puts them in a great position heading into the offseason so even though it isn’t as much as other teams they are still set up well going forward. 

Lastly I look at 3 things I think they should look at in the offseason to improve 

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1.) Bedard extension: now we look at 3 ways I feel the Blackhawks could improve in the offseason to become a bit more competitive next year, so the first thing I believe the Hawks should do is sign Connor Bedard, it isn’t a overly difficult priority but it has to be at the top of there to do list, Bedard has shown his potential at times this year and should finish the season between 75 and 80 points which isn’t terrible and I feel he hasn’t reached his potential yet, but given how big a part of that offense he was I think signing him is top priority, with their cap space I would just give him what he wants and I think on a longer term deal he could have a AAV in the $12-13 Million range which I think would be reasonable for what he brings, so it isn’t a difficult decision but signing Bedard to a long term extension is priority 1. 

2.) Use picks and prospects to add another high end player: now another thing I believe the Blackhawks have to figure out this offseason is how to get more impact players and I believe they can start dealing some of their draft capital to get it, now like I mentioned at this current point the Hawks have 5 picks in the 1st 2 rounds and a few high level picks in next years draft, now they have done some fantastic drafting over the past few years to the point where if they make more high end selections I am not sure where those prospects would fit in their lineup and they would have to move players out, so instead of going that route I think they have gotten to the point in their rebuild where they should move maybe a 1RD pick or a few 2nds for some instant help, they could desperately use another top 6 forward and getting a established top 4 defender might not be a bad idea either, so not sure which way they go but I got to think moving picks (and maybe some lower ranked prospects) to add some instant help to this team has to be a priority going into the offseason

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3.) Add 1-2 veteran defenders (at least 1 top 4 D): now another thing I really believe that the Blackhawks need to the in the offseason to compete a little more next year is adding a couple of veteran D to their team, now like I said this blueline this year was really young and while they do have a few future studs such as Levshunov, Rinzel and Kaiser but I think one of their defensive issues this year was the fact that their blueline was just way to inexperienced, so I believe getting a few veterans who can show the young guys the ropes (especially after dealing Murphy) would make a ton of sense for the Hawks and I believe also bringing in a veteran who can play top 4 minutes and take the load off of the young guys would also make a ton of sense and it could even be a younger guy who can be a solution going forward but it has to be someone who can help in the top 4 who has experience, so I think the Hawks need a more veteran presence in their D-Corp and in my opinion along with Signing Bedard  and moving off picks and prospects to add instant help I feel has to be a priority for the Blackhawks this offseason. 

So those are my thoughts on the Blackhawks, and what I think they should do in the offseason, now it really does hinge on what the do in the offseason but I think if the could get the right pieces and insulate their young g guys they could challenge for the playoffs next year, not sure if they will be able to sneak in Boyd I do think they can compete at least, but I would love to hear your thoughts below, are you surprised how bad the Hawks were this year, do you think they keep all their Free Agents and could they add more draft capital by the draft and what do you guys think they could do in the offseason to improve for next year, love to hear your thoughts in the comments below and don’t forget to check out my YouTube channel as well.