The Hockey News’ NHL summer splash rankings continue with the Chicago Blackhawks.
The series focuses on which NHL teams improved the most or got worse so far this off-season in terms of acquisitions, departures, hirings and firings. As always, there are exceptions to the rules – in some cases, there are teams that aren’t flat-out worse than they were last season but made significantly fewer moves than they either should’ve made or were expected to make.
We kicked off the series with the Buffalo Sabres in last place. Their defense corps may have improved slightly, but their forward group worsened, and they did significantly less than expected to take a step forward. The Blackhawks also did less than expected.
Additions
Andre Burakovsky (LW), Sam Lafferty (C), Dominic Toninato (C), Jeff Blashill (coach)
The Breakdown: Imagine you’re Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson. You’re in the midst of a full rebuild, and you start seeing solid development in a talented core of youngsters. To that end, superstar Connor Bedard is leading the way, and he needs some talented wingers to play with.
The Blackhawks’ big get this free agency was Burakovsky, who put up 37 points in 79 games this past season.
We beg your pardon, but is this really the best the Blackhawks can do this summer? He’s a good addition in itself, but he hasn’t produced enough in recent years to give hope that he’ll be the solution on Bedard’s wing.
The Hawks still have $21.4 million in salary cap space and apparently no high-end players to spend it on. That’s what has to irritate Blackhawks fans more than anything. They were busier in past off-seasons, when they acquired Teuvo Teravainen, Tyler Bertuzzi, Nick Foligno, the since-traded Taylor Hall and others, but they haven’t found that right line combination for Bedard. They still have tons of room to be active this summer, so the optics are not ideal.
It’s possible that the Hawks could eventually put newly drafted first-rounder Anton Frondell on a line with Bedard at some point during their careers, but a report by Expressen suggests Frondell is headed to the Swedish League for 2025-26.
Coming in to handle all that is Blashill, the former Detroit Red Wings coach who spent the past three years as an assistant coach with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He replaces Anders Sorensen, who remains as an assistant coach. Sorensen didn’t do all that bad of a job as the interim coach, despite posting a 17-30-9 record in 56 games.
At 51 years old, Blashill can still connect with his players and play to their strengths. But like his predecessors in Chicago, Blashill will have a challenging time trying to coax upper-level play out of a lineup that doesn’t have the horses to get them playing meaningful hockey down the stretch next year.
Departures
Patrick Maroon (LW), Philipp Kurashev (C), Joseph Veleno (C), TJ Brodie (D), Alec Martinez (D)
The Breakdown: The Blackhawks lost a great deal of veteran professionalism in the departures of defensemen Brodie and Martinez and winger Pat Maroon. Also gone are depth players Kurashev and Veleno. Kurashev actually played decently well with Bedard in the latter’s rookie season, with 54 points, but he only had 14 points this past season. Chicago didn’t give him a qualifying offer, and he signed with fellow rebuilding club, the San Jose Sharks.
Martinez, Maroon and Brodie were all true pros right up until the end, but none of the departures left a massive hole that can’t be filled. Eventually, the Hawks’ young players should be taking up most of these jobs, and five open jobs on the NHL roster should be sufficient motivation for those youngsters to take the next competitive step. That’s Plan A, but if it doesn’t work, Plan B could stand for Big trouble.
The Bottom Line
The Hawks have exciting young players, including Bedard and prospects Artyom Levshunov, Frank Nazar, Sam Rinzel, Oliver Moore and newly drafted center Anton Frondell.
The problem in Chicago isn’t the future. It’s the present.
Despite having Bedard leading the charge, the rest of the Blackhawks’ current lineup includes either mid-tier veterans, outright journeymen or youngsters still finding their way.
Re-signing Donato at a $4-million cap hit is a nice piece of business for Davidson, and the player will have high expectations to take himself and Bedard to another level. But look at their roster as a whole, and you’ll see they didn’t improve much at all.
Let’s be clear – Davidson did the right thing by tanking. However, the moves he has made to be competitive while they rebuild haven’t been sufficient, especially in the ultra-competitive Central Division.
Just because some of their past veteran additions underperformed doesn't mean this summer's conservative approach was needed, even if they're not the most attractive free-agent destination right now. They have picks and cap space to make more upgrades via the trade market, and they have two salary retention slots in case an addition doesn't work out.
Is there a potential for a Cinderella miracle in Chicago? Anything is possible, we suppose. But when their biggest acquisition of the off-season is Burakovsky – who hasn’t scored more than 13 goals in any of the past three seasons – they won’t likely improve in the standings. Their only saving grace at this point is getting the chance to draft Gavin McKenna next year.
Summer Splash Rankings
31. Chicago Blackhawks
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