Last spring, Reichel was recalled by the Blackhawks and closed the season on a high note. He had four goals and eight points in his final eight games of the season. He played so well that I excitedly declared he would lead the team in scoring for the 2023-24 season. Yes, this was before the team drafted Connor Bedard, but nobody expected him to be this ineffective through a quarter of the season.

“It’s disappointing,” Reichel said of being a healthy scratch. “I know I’ve got to be better and play my game right now. It’s a good wake-up call. I’ve got to work hard and try to be better.”

Reichel will be back in the lineup Tuesday night against the Nashville Predators, but not in the top six, where he has spent the entire season. He will skate on the fourth line with Ryan Donato and MacKenzie Entwistle. This isn’t exactly the ideal line for Reichel, but he hasn’t been able to produce in the top six, even with an extended run with Bedard and Philipp Kurashev.

“Everyone has to check in this league,” head coach Luke Richardson said of his decision. “You have to check forward and back. Is this the style of line he’d fit in the long term? Probably, no. But he’s got to show some determination and get into some battles to win some pucks. This is a good start for him. Our so-called fourth line has been really good for us lately. We’re looking for him to add some speed on the forecheck and be that determined player.”

Richardson admitted that Reichel “didn’t seem himself” during the recent losses to the Detroit Red Wings and Winnipeg Jets. He said the young forward wasn’t visibly frustrated but down on himself.

“He needs to reevaluate his game,” said Richardson. “I think he needed to take a step back and look at it. We had a good chat this morning about him just coming to work tonight and not worrying about where he is in the lineup. He needs to work his way up. He’ll get a chance on the power play. He had a good shot this morning in the power-play drills, and that’s what he’ll have to do tonight. He knows that if he can get his game and skating going, he’ll be rewarded when there’s an opportunity.”

Richardson added that sitting out of Sunday’s game was not a punishment but rather a chance for Reichel to evaluate himself. He said the coaching staff gave Reichel their opinion, and he gave them some honest feedback. He asked him this morning if he was ready to draw back in tonight and was told that he was ready.

“It might not be perfect,” Richardson told Reichel. “You might not get three goals tonight, but let’s see some determination and that skating ability. He seems determined to do that tonight.”

Determination was the buzzword for Tuesday’s media scrum. Richardson said he doesn’t just want to tell players what to do. He wants Reichel and everyone else to tell him they want it.

“That’s him holding himself accountable instead of me holding him accountable,” he said. “That’s important for players to understand. We’re here to implement a system that we think our team can live up to and be successful at. The players need to take the onus on themselves. We control the ice time, obviously, but really, they do that in their play. It’s good for the players to speak up and say they’re determined.”

Reichel got the message loud and clear. He said he was shocked at first, but after talking to the coaching staff, he knows what to do to succeed.

“It’s a different game up there; it looks so easy,” he said. “I have to play the right way. Play good defensively. Make plays in the offensive zone.”

Richardson has shown a ton of patience with Reichel and given him plenty of shots to get right in a top-six role. Now it’s time for him to start over and work his way back to being the player we saw last spring.

“We’re not expecting him to do everything by himself,” Richardson said. “He needs to play within the team system, and when it’s his chance, shoot. Just like the other guys, they have to take that shot. We can’t be looking for the extra pass, the perfect play, or a cute stickhandle and saucer pass. That doesn’t really work in this league, especially when you’re not moving. So, for him to be moving, skating, and shooting, that will lead to some offense no matter where he’s playing.”

Getting Reichel going offensively would be a massive addition to this team. It would take a ton of pressure off Bedard, who has had to do everything on offense the past few weeks.

J.T. Compher opened the scoring for the Red Wings, who scored a shorthanded goal 19 seconds into the Blackhawks power play. 61 seconds later, Lukas Reichel answered, scoring his second goal of the season after Connor Bedard centered a puck from behind the net. Robby Fabbri made it 2-1 after walking around Wyatt Kaiser for a highlight-reel goal.

In the second period, the Red Wings broke things open. Ben Chairot and Compher scored a pair of goals 47 seconds apart. On Chairot’s goal, Kaiser slid across the crease predicting a cross-ice pass that never came. Instead, Kaiser impeded Mrazek’s ability to make a save. Reichel took a hooking penalty 15 seconds later. Once on that power play, it only took Compher 32 seconds to put the Wings up 4-1 with yet another backdoor goal…a play that has been killing the Hawks over their last stretch of games. Robby Fabbri would add a power play goal in the third and that was all she wrote.

Jay: Has Isaac Phillips leap-frogged Wyatt Kaiser?

Since Isaac Phillips was recalled on November 11th, replacing the injured Jarred Tinordi, he’s looked better and better every game. On the other hand, Wyatt Kaiser, who was the darling of training camp,, consistency has been an issue. With Tinodi’s return imminent, does Phillips have a chance of sticking in Chicago over Kaiser, or will he head back to the IceHogs? As of Tuesday, it sure seemed like he was Rockford-bound.

“I think the best thing for him, if he has to come in and out of the lineup…he’s better off to be playing in Rockford,” Luke Richardson said after Tuesday’s win over Seattle. “That was our whole message to [Alex] Vlasic last year. I think he came out of that fine and great. That’s what it’s there for. Isaak has played well. I think he’s had a couple little hiccups on the ice…little stumbles in the game…we have to clear that up. That’s just a young guy.”

Richardson was asked about Phillips again before Thursday’s game. “We’ll evaluate what we’ve seen so far, but also tonight counts. Sometimes you don’t have to make those decisions because…we don’t think too far ahead in case someone takes one off the foot. Hopefully not.”

In Phillips’ possible last rehearsal, he outperformed Kaiser. While Phillips did take a double-minor high-sticking penalty, Kaiser was a minus-two on a pair of goals you could argue were his fault. He was also on the ice for Fabbri’s third period power play goal. Phillips also finished -2, but he was Kaiser’s partner. He finished the game with five shots, seven shot attempts, and three hits in 17:13. Kaiser ended with one shot and four shot attempts in 16:33.

This isn’t to say that Kaiser is a bust or won’t eventually end up the better of the two defensemen. I’m also only making this “Kaiser v Phillips” because that is the decision the team is making. That said, a reset in Rockford might be good for Kaiser’s game. The eye-test and the metrics give the edge to Phillips. The argument Kyle Davidson and Richardson would likely give in keeping Kaiser in Chicago is that Phillips and Tinordi are similar players, in that they’re both large human beings. I think that’s underselling Phillips, though. He’s a strong skater, has shown a willingness to put the puck on net and is willing to clear a crease when necessary. My vote is to keep Phillips here. We’ll see what happens.

Greg: Petr Mrazek Continues to Struggle in Consecutive Games

For the most part, Richardson has been alternating his goaltenders, with Petr Mrazek and Arvid Soderblom starting every other game this season. However, when he gave Mrazek starts in consecutive games, the results have not been great.

Mrazek, the veteran of the duo, entered tonight’s game with a .906 save percentage (SV%), which is right in line with his .907 career SV%. His first start in back-to-back games came against the Vegas Golden Knights on Oct. 27. You may remember that game got off to a rough start with a couple of goals allowed early before Mrazek settled down and helped the Blackhawks win in overtime. He finished the game with a .857 SV%.

His other start in a second straight game came last Wednesday at the Columbus Blue Jackets, where he allowed five goals on 18 shots for a season-low .722 SV%. Tonight wasn’t great either, with five goals on 28 shots for a .828 SV%. His three lowest SV% outputs have come on the three times when he’s started a second straight game. This is a strange phenomenon for a guy who has been a true number-one goaltender at the level in the past.

Mario: Frustrations Showing From Bedard

Sometimes showing frustrations in games isn’t a good thing. It can sometimes show that things are getting under your skin about how things are likely not going your way. On Thursday night, following yet another unsuccessful powerplay opportunity, Blackhawks rookie Connor Bedard showed his frustrations against the Detroit Red Wings by slamming his stick into the boards a few times and then punching the bench a few more times for good measure. 

The frustrations for Bedard could be mounting as this might be the most unsuccessful season he has experienced, maybe ever, in his young playing career. But it’s not for a lack of trying. Bedard did all he could tonight to try to keep the Blackhawks in the game as he put up 11 shot attempts, created eight scoring chances, had seven shots on goal, the most in a game this season, in the losing effort. 

The good thing is that by letting these frustrations out, it shows that Bedard is holding himself and the team to higher standards than they are achieving. If there wasn’t frustrations being shown about unsuccessful power plays or anything of the like, you’d worry that the G.A.F meter was low in the locker room, or specifically with the most important player on the team right now.

But the great players in hockey hold themselves to those high standards. They hold their teammates to those standards too. For the kind of effort he put in tonight, to not be rewarded with a better result or at least a better team-wide effort, I’d be extremely frustrated too. It sounds weird, but hopefully the G.A.F. that an 18-year-old Bedard is showing can resonate with the locker room and pull the rest of the team into the battle with him. 

We’re back with another edition of the Blackhawks Beat. Let’s see if the Hawks can make it two in a row tonight against Patrick Kane’s Red Wings.

Typically, these weekly Blackhawks Beat columns are locked for CHGO Diehards only, but because of the breadth of the news this week, this one will be unlocked. Regardless, please consider becoming a Diehard. It comes with great perks, discounts and access to all of our great written content, including Greg Boysen and Mario Tirabassi’s weekly Rebuild Report.

I typically try to keep these things light-hearted, but with such an insane week with so many twists and turns, it will get slightly more serious than usual.

Here we go, and thanks for reading…

The Timeline

Tuesday, November 21: The Blackhawks promote Kevin Korchinski to the top power play unit at practice. Corey Perry is also on PP1 when practice concludes. After practice, Perry is seen interacting with kids, signing autographs and greeting each of them for approximately 5-10 minutes. The team then heads to Columbus for the next day’s game.

Wednesday, November 22: The Blackhawks make Perry a healthy scratch at the last minute ahead of their game against the Blue Jackets. The Hawks lose the game 7-3. After the game, head coach Luke Richardson calls the scratch an “organizational decision.” He offers no further details.

Thursday, November 23: The Blackhawks hold practice at Fifth Third Arena. Before practice, they announce that winger Taylor Hall will miss the remainder of the season with an ACL injury. Perry misses practice again. After practice, Richardson is once again vague on the details of Perry’s absence. “I know you have questions about Corey Perry not playing last night and attending practice today but we’re going to keep that internal in the organization right now. I’m not going to be able to answer any more questions on that.”

Friday, November 24: The Blackhawks hold a morning skate ahead of their game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Perry is not on the ice. After the skate, Richardson gives another non-update update. “It’s just going to be kept internal for now in the organization. Hopefully we’ll be able to give updates soon but we can’t give a timeline on that.” The Hawks beat the Maple Leafs 4-3 on the back of Jason Dickinson’s hat-trick.

Saturday, November 25: Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson breaks his silence, meeting the media before practice at Fifth Third Arena. “It’s been a team decision so far to hold him out and that’s all I’m able to provide,” Davidson says. “I’m just going to not comment on any possible outcome of this.” Later that afternoon, Perry’s agent, Pat Morris, provided the following statement: “Corey Perry has stepped away from the Chicago Blackhawks to attend to personal matters. Corey and his family appreciate privacy at this time.”

Sunday, November 26: The Blackhawks lay an egg vs the St. Louis Blues. Perry is again out of the lineup. Nick Foligno sounds off on the team’s commitment after the game.

Monday, November 27: A salacious rumor begins to surface regarding Perry and a teammate’s mother. The rumor catches fire, and is even ‘winked at’ by ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski.

Members of the Blackhawks beat, and national NHL media immediately debunk the rumor, but it seems too late, as it’s become the talk of the internet.

Tuesday, November 28: News breaks that Patrick Kane will be signing with the Detroit Red Wings.

At 2 pm, the Blackhawks announced they are placing Perry on unconditional waivers, and will terminate his contract as soon as he clears. At 4 pm, Davidson meets the media and give as much info as he possibly can, calling the situation a “workplace matter.”

In a story marked 2:38pm ET, ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reports, “Perry indeed traveled with the team to Columbus last Tuesday, a day before the game, and an incident occurred that day involving a team employee.”

Before the game, the Blackhawks announce they have traded for Vancouver winger Anthony Beauvillier.

The Blackhawks defeat the Kraken 4-3, and many Blackhawks are asked about Perry’s dismissal after the game. “It’s a hard day,” Foligno says. “It doesn’t make it any easier because we care about Corey a ton and we’re gonna wish him well. But the group in here has to galvanize around this and make sure we’re holding ourselves to a high standard, and how serious the Chicago Blackhawks are about that and the culture they want to build here. We’re lucky to be a part of it.”

“He’s a brother and we care about everyone in this room,” Seth Jones adds. “We don’t have any details of what happened, but I know the organization wants to keep a (level of) conduct here, and a place where we hold each other to a standard. I guess that was broken.”

Wednesday, November 29: The Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli advances the story. “According to sources, an alcohol-fueled incident involving Perry was alleged to have occurred during an event that included corporate partners and team employees in attendance,” Seravalli wrote. “It remains unclear what allegedly took place, who witnessed it, and who reported it to the team.”

Thursday, November 30th: Corey Perry issues a statement, taking full responsibility for his actions.

OK. Now you’re all caught up. I will try to tackle these things one-by-one, and if you’ve made it this far, thanks for sticking with me.

On the handling of the Corey Perry situation

Initially, I was critical of how the Blackhawks handled their messaging around Perry. In my mind, it was too vague, and left the door open for wild speculation. After talking to some sources inside the organization, I came to a realization that there were things that couldn’t be revealed, and backed off my statement, holding judgment until the story played out. Now that Davidson has shared as much as he is able, I think the Blackhawks handled the situation fairly well.

Kaplan’s report, which I mentioned above, lines up with the info I was given over the last few days. I wasn’t confident enough in the info to report it on my own, but in my mind, anything Kaplan reports is as good as gold. With this in mind, it’s clear to see why Davidson and the organization handled things the way they did. There is a victim on the other side of this story. That victim deserves privacy and protection.

Davidson is feeling personally responsible for the reprehensible rumor from earlier this week.

“What’s gone on over the last 24 hours has been very disturbing, and I feeling like I’m wearing it,” Davidson said Tuesday. “I’m carrying that.”

Perhaps more immediate clarity could have prevented crazy rumors from spreading, but with all the info we have now, it just wasn’t possible to share more or give more. It’s also unfair for Davidson to hold himself responsible for the world’s lack of media literacy. In 2023, people should be able to decipher between a random person’s tweet and actual sourced news.

I would like to hear from Danny Wirtz over the next few days. Since he’s taken the reigns (officially and unofficially) there have been a pair of controversies. The Perry situation, and last year’s decision to not wear Pride Night jerseys. That news was given to the media via sources, and wasn’t directly addressed by the organization until the damage had been done. Now, with the Perry situation, I think it would be meaningful for Wirtz to show his support for Davidson’s decision. It would also give him the opportunity to let people know that the policies the Blackhawks have put in place for their employees worked in this circumstance, and the Perry outcome is proof.

On Taylor Hall’s injury

Mainly, I just feel awful for Hall. The ACL was his third injury (that we know of) of this season. He did everything he could to remain in the lineup, including skating on a torn ACL. He’s been labeled as injury-prone for a couple of years now, and his brief 2023-24 experience with the Blackhawks won’t do anything to change that. Fortunately for Hall, he has another year remaining on his contract, so he has 2024-25 with the Blackhawks to shake that reputation and earn his next contract, be it with the Blackhawks or elsewhere in the NHL.

On Patrick Kane joining the Red Wings

Twenty years ago, I think this one would have hurt a lot more. It took me decades to get over Chris Chelios’ move to Detroit, but when I got the news that Kane had chosen the Red Wings, I met it with a big “meh.” And I wasn’t alone.

47% of Blackhawks fans we polled (which is undeniable scientific fact) also said, “Meh.” Maybe it’s a coping mechanism. Maybe it’s because fans had the chance to say goodbye to Kane all of last season. Maybe it’s the fact that the Red Wings rivalry is as dead as dead can be these days. Whatever it is, this move feels just like it would feel had Kane jumped to the Islanders or Panthers. It’s going to look weird, and that’s about it.

On the Anthony Beauvillier trade

With Hall and Perry gone, Davidson had to do something to address the offense, and while Beauvillier isn’t exactly the second coming of Mario Lemieux, he will help Richardson with scoring depth and flexibility. Beauvillier is good enough to play on the top-six in Chicago, but is versatile enough to move up and down the lineup. “He’s definitely a little spitfire out there,” Richardson said after Tuesday’s game. “He can skate, he can shoot, he brings energy. Hopefully, he brings some consistency and some extra scoring, which we could use right now.”

Beauvillier, 26, has eight points in 22 games played with Vancouver this season, and 237 points over 512 NHL games. He was drafted 28th overall by the New York Islanders in 2015, and carries a $4.15 million cap hit that expires after this season when he becomes an unrestricted free agent.

Also, Beauvillier is fun to say. Bo-VILL-e-ay! Bo-VILL-e-ay!

The Week Ahead

Tonight – at Detroit Red Wings

I know what you’re thinking, and it would be amazing, but Patrick Kane won’t play in this game. He did appear at Wednesday’s morning skate, which gave us the first glimpse of Kane in a Red Wings uniform, but the expectation, according to Kane, is he’ll begin playing for Detroit next week.

Saturday – at Winnipeg Jets

The Jets, who have beaten the Blackhawks in all five of their last matchups, are off to a better start than many expected (currently third in the central division with 26 points). After last season’s first-round playoff exit to Vegas, head coach Rick Bowness called out his team. “We had no pushback,” Bowness said. “Their better players were so much better than ours tonight. They deserve to win. They were the better team in the regular season. They were the better team in this series.” So what’s changed for the Jets this season? “I think the room’s tighter, I think the culture here is outstanding because of the players,” Bowness said on Tuesday. “It starts with that off the ice. That’s where it all starts, you’ve gotta have that chemistry, you’ve gotta have that culture off the ice. This team is a tighter team off the ice and it’s shown itself on the ice.”

Sunday – at Minnesota Wild

The Wild just made a change at head coach, firing Dean Evason for John Hynes. Something had to give in Minnesota. They’re 5-10-4 start was way below expectations. The Wild beat the Blues 3-1 on Tuesday night, so we’ll see what difference Hynes makes, but this feels like a change for the sake of change. I guess you can’t fire the players, right Jay Woodcroft?

Tuesday – vs Nashville Predators

Believe it or not, the Nashville Mid-ators have won six games in a row. I don’t know how and I still think they’re average as hell. There. There’s your game analysis.

Thanks for making it all the way to the end. Hopefully, next week’s Blackhawks Beat will be about friggin’ hockey!

After getting a month’s worth of news in half a day, the Blackhawks and Seattle Kraken finally played a hockey game. The Blackhawks played a simplified game, something that head coach Luke Richardson has stressed since the start of the season. The approach worked as it led to a hard-fought 4-3 victory.

The home team got off to a quick start with goals from Boris Katchouk and Jason Dickinson 89 seconds apart. It marked the first time the Blackhawks scored first since Nov. 16 against the Tampa Bay Lightning and their first 2-0 lead since Nov. 4 versus the Florida Panthers. The Kraken got on the board with a tally from Matty Berniers. They drew even in the late opening frame with a shorthanded goal from Alex Wennberg off a failed drop pass by Kevin Korchinski.

Early in the second period, Tyler Johnson took an excellent feed from Taylor Raddysh and went bar down for his sixth goal of the season. Lukas Reichel was credited with the secondary assist for his fourth helper on the campaign. Joey Anderson picked up his second assist of the night by digging the puck out from the end boards, then sending a backhand pass across the crease that was banged home by MacKenzie Entwistle.

Seven minutes into the final frame, Tye Kartye drew Seattle to within a goal by just squeezing the puck through Mrazek. Things got tense when the Kraken had a two-man advantage for 1:03 with less than six minutes to play. The penalty kill came up huge as they preserved the one-goal lead, much to the delight of the United Center crowd.

Jay: Please Kill the Slingshot Power Play

If you’ve been watching the Blackhawks for the last number of years, you’ll notice a trend on their power play. The puck carrier will skate up the ice with another skater on his tail. When the carrier reaches center ice, he will turn around and drop pass the puck to the trailing player. The concept is to create space and to allow a player with speed to enter the zone. Too often, it causes a turnover. Tonight, it caused a shorthanded goal. 

What you won’t see in the above highlight is Korchinski’s pass off a Kraken shin-pad at center ice. The puck ricochets into the Kraken zone, and they take it the other way. Yes, the defense and goaltending were poor in this sequence, but it never should have happened. 

This has been a thorn in my side for years. It seems that the slingshot works in the opposite way it’s supposed to. If the initial puck carrier is flying through center ice with speed, why slow him down? Why stop his momentum? By dropping it back, you’re allowing the penalty-killing team more time to gather four-wide at the blue line, making any zone entry more difficult. 

We’ll ask Richardson about it this week at practice, but please, please, please, let’s launch this approach into the sun. It rarely worked when the Blackhawks had played like Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat on the roster. What are the odds it works with a lesser-skilled team? 

Greg: Nick Foligno Back on Top Line with Connor Bedard

When the Blackhawks took the ice for morning skate ahead of tonight’s game, Richardson shuffled up his lines. The biggest move was Nick Foligno taking the left wing spot on the top line with Connor Bedard and Philipp Kurashev.

“He’s a great player to have as much success as he’s had in this league,” Bedard said of Foligno. “He’s a skilled player and has a lot of tools. Whoever we are playing with, I’m excited for that. Playing with Reichs the last few games was great. But having Folingo back should be good with how hard he plays. We have a little chemistry from the few games we played together.”

Heading into the game, Foligno and Bedard had played 106:12 of 5v5 ice time together; the most Foligno has played with any forward this season. They were on the ice together for 98 shot attempts for and 119 against, a 45.16 Corsi for percentage (CF%). The Blackhawks scored eight goals with them on the ice and gave up nine.

This combination was not very good tonight. They spent much of their 5v5 time chasing the puck in their own zone. In 8:05 of 5v5 ice time, the line had four shot attempts to 12 allowed for a 25 CF%. The good news was that they didn’t need to be dominant, as the Blackhawks got contributions from the other three lines. It will be interesting to see where the newly acquired Beauvillier will fit in. There is a good chance he jumps in on Bedard’s left side, and Foligno can return to that effective third line with Dickinson and Anderson.

Mario: Simplicity Pays Off

It’s amazing to see what the Blackhawks can do offensively when they are executing what head coach Luke Richardson is preaching: keep it simple. The Blackhawks scored three goals tonight that were simple plays and simple setups.

The game’s opening goal was from Boris Katchouk being in the right spot for a rebound off a shot with a screen in front of Phillip Grubauer. The second goal was another opportunity for Jason Dickinson to send a ripper on net through traffic on an extended offensive shift. MacKenzie Entwistle’s goal to make the game 4-2 in the second period was a perfect example of players being rewarded for going to the net with purpose. Joey Anderson brought the puck around the back of the Seattle net and tried to stuff it home, while Entwistle came out of the corner and went directly to the front of the net and found himself with a wide-open net and a rebound chance for his second goal of the season. 

These kinds of plays in the offensive zone are what Luke Richardson has been asking of his Blackhawks team and what de-facto “Captain” Nick Foligno has reiterated in postgame availabilities that the team needed to commit to doing. For as fun and exciting tic-tac-toe passing and cross-ice sauce passes are, the Blackhawks do not have enough talent to make those kinds of plays routinely yet. This is still a team that needs to rely on their work-ethic and not their talent to be competitive. It was a breath of fresh air to see them play this way tonight and be rewarded for it. 

The silence from both sides led to rampant speculation and wild rumors. Today, the Chicago Blackhawks released this official statement:

“After an internal investigation, the Chicago Blackhawks have determined that Corey Perry has engaged in conduct that is unacceptable, and in violation both of the terms of his Standard Player’s Contract and the Blackhawks’ internal policies intended to promote professional and safe work environments. As such, Corey Perry has been placed on unconditional waivers. In the event Mr. Perry clears waivers, we intend to terminate his contract effective immediately.”

Off the ice, it’s good that the team quickly handled this situation and made a decision. On the ice, the Blackhawks have lost two veteran leaders for the season in Perry and Taylor Hall.

Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson met with the media ahead of tonight’s game against the Seattle Kraken. While he refused to give full details on what got us to this point, he did give some clarity in his opening statement.

“Last week, management was notified of possible misconduct by Corey Perry,” he revealed. “I will not be able to disclose any details. This does not involve any players or their families. Anyone that suggests otherwise is wildly inaccurate, and frankly, it’s disgusting.”

Davidson was clearly upset by the whole ordeal and seemed to fight back tears at multiple times during the nine-minute press conference.

“Over the last 24 hours, what’s gone on has been very disturbing,” he said. “I feel like I’m wearing it; I’m carrying that. It’s tough to see.”

You can watch the entire press conference below:

The Blues got on the board early with a battle of young former WHL standouts going their way as Jake Neighbours beat Kevin Korchinski in a footrace and one-on-one battle to score the opening goal. Almost exactly two minutes later, former Blackhawks draft pick Kevin Hayes made it a 2-0 game with a decent snipe and Chicago was facing a multi-goal hole just five and a half minutes into the contest.

Ryan Donato made it 2-1 in the first period with a tip-in goal off a shot from Isaak Phillips with just over five minutes left to play in the opening period, but the momentum swing back in Chicago’s favor only lasted a little more than two minutes as the Blues made it 3-1 on a backdoor tap-in on the powerplay by Pavel Buchnevich on a no-look pass from Robert Thomas.

The game would remain 3-1 from that point through the second period and most of the third period with the Blackhawks controlling most of the offensive action and chances.

Create where it’s due, Jordan Binnington played well today and was able to make the saves asked of him when the Blackhawks got their scoring chances. The effort today wasn’t the problem with the Blackhawks, but rather the execution on the finishing of those chances made the difference.

With just over six minutes to play in the third period, the Blues put the game away with the 4-1 goal coming after Pavel Buchnevich picked the pocket of Korchinski and found Neighbours in front of the net to bury his second goal of the game. In the final moments of the game, the Blackhawks made it a 4-2 effort as Boris Katchouk, who felt due after having a ton of chances this season with none converting, buried a breakaway chance for his first goal of the season.

Arvid Söderblom played in back-to-back games for the first time this season following his overtime win over the Maple Leafs on Friday afternoon. He made 24 saves on 28 shots faced and sees his record fall to 2-7-0 on the year. With the loss, the Blackhawks record falls to 6-13-0 on the year and with 12 points in the NHL standings, are just two points ahead of the San Jose Sharks for dead-last in the league.

Greg: Blackhawks Still Chasing First Winning Streak

The Blackhawks picked up their sixth win of the season in dramatic fashion over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday. That gave them their sixth chance to win back-to-back games, something they have been unable to accomplish this season. In fact, the Blackhawks are the only team in the NHL to not have won back-to-back games. Even the San Jose Sharks have a two-game winning streak.

“It will build our team’s confidence,” Luke Richardson said about winning two games in a row. “It will also get us in a mindset when playing here at home – making it a difficult place to come in and play. It’s a two-win situation today if we can double up on the wins at home and make it difficult on the other team. That’s what we’re looking for today. Our game plan is very similar to the last game. Put it in deep with lots of speed, put pressure on them, and have as much control of that puck as much as we can.”

Richardson and the Blackhawks did not get the start they were looking for, giving up two goals on the first four shots of the game. After Donato got them on the board, they allowed a late first-period goal to the worst power play in the NHL.

The overall effort wasn’t terrible. The Blackhawks were the better team for stretches of the game. The biggest difference was that the Blues were able to take advantage of their scoring chances, and the Blackhawks could not. St. Louis’ top players played as such and won their team the game. When the talent gap is big on most nights, it will be hard to string together wins. However, it would be nice to finally get two in a row at some point.

Jay: Backdoor goals are killing the Blackhawks

Over their last three games, the Blackhawks have given up six goals that can be described as “back door.” What does that mean? While the puck is being carried on one side of the ice, the offside forward sneaks to the side of the net, looking for a pass to come their way as they’re uncovered. 

It happened three times vs Columbus, twice vs Toronto and again vs St. Louis. 

Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson was asked about it after Saturday’s practice. “We have to be better for our goaltenders, for sure, in that department,” Richardson said. “We talked to the D to be up a little more. When they shift they have to shift together and shift early, so we’re on the puck but we’re also covering the middle of the ice. If they can sauce a pass 85 feet across the ice and land it flat nowadays, well then we’ll give them that. It’s at least only one big push from the goaltender, it’s not a last-minute scramble to the backdoor. It’s usually about the top circles or hashmarks at least. That’s something we have to make sure we’re better at.”

With an inexperienced team, these learning lessons can be expected, but it hasn’t only been the young defensemen. On Sunday, it was Connor Murphy who was the defenseman in front of the net on the Blackhawks “diamond” penalty kill. He’s responsible for the forwards in front. As you can see in the highlight above, Jake Neighbours (63) leaves the net front area. This should turn Murphy’s attention to Pavel Buchnevich, the eventual goal scorer. In fairness, Murphy is responsible for defending a potential one-timer, which could have been an option for Neighbours, but it’s a calculation Murphy has to make there. Söderblom is square to the potential shooter on Neighbours’, side. He could let Söderblom handle the shooter while he handles the back door. 

Looking over the last few games, you can see that opposing teams have gone to school and are looking for the play vs Chicago. Until they make the adjustment, expect it to continue. 

Mario: Nick Foligno is without question the Captain of this Blackhawk team

Without wearing a “C” on his chest, Blackhawks newcomer Nick Foligno is undoubtedly the Captain of this year’s team. Following today’s 4-2 loss, and seemingly following every difficult game or scenario this club has faced, Foligno was again facing the media and answering questions with necessary brutal honesty. That’s a trait in a player that this club needs and that they have had in recent years with Jonathan Toews.

Here is Foligno’s full media availability following today’s game.

A former Captain himself in Columbus, Foligno is in his 17th season in the NHL and has the presence and cache in a locker room to call things as he sees them. What Foligno is calling out of his teammates, rookies and vets alike, after just 19 games in Chicago is the truth: there’s a missing culture to this team. Last year, the Chicago Blackhawks played with a dedication to keeping things simple and playing hard. Two simple things Luke Richardson asked of his team in his first year behind the bench. On most nights they were out-matched on talent, but they weren’t often out-worked.

This year’s team has not had that same identity or team culture surrounding them. Foligno called it out on Sunday afternoon and it is a message this roster needs to absorb and put into action. There’s a lot of “looking in the mirror” time coming for this team if they cannot find the will and commitment to executing the simplicity of the game and playing within the system Richardson is asking of them.

However, when Tinordi landed on IR and Zaitsev took a personal leave from the team (he has since returned), the Blackhawks recalled Isaak Phillips from the Rockford IceHogs. Phillips has 26 NHL games under his belt, with six coming in recent weeks. Pairing him and Kaiser together is not ideal, but they are making the best out of it.

“It’s fun to play together,” Phillips said after Saturday’s practice. “We can both skate. When we’re playing at our best, we’re both moving together. We’re both learning and having fun with it.”

The young duo has had some ups and downs. They are both mobile defenders, with Kaiser being the faster, smother skater and Phillips bringing the physical play. Both can add to the offensive attack, but neither have yet to establish themselves at that end of the ice.

“Their skating ability is great, and that’s what we need out of them,” said Richardson. “And part of that is getting up for a good gap. That’s the one place where they were just a little bit lacking last night (against the Toronto Maple Leafs), but they’ve been really good as of late.

“I like the way Kaiser is shooting the puck harder and more often, and I think that’ll become contagious. We worked on it again at the end of practice today, and that’s something we want to see from our D, especially the young guys. Feel confident to shoot that puck.”

Against the Maple Leafs on Friday, Phillips and Kaiser were on the ice for the first and third Toronto goals.

“On the first goal, I was a little hesitant to slide over, and then he was hesitant, and then that creates everyone to get caught in committal,” Phillips admitted.

Richardson said that Phillips and Kaiser didn’t slide over fast enough on the third goal, which gave Ryan Reaves a wide-open look from the slot.

You’d expect to see these types of plays from a pairing of rookie defensemen. They are going to make mistakes. The hope is that they learn from them and don’t repeat the same mistakes repeatedly.

Phillips is not lacking any confidence, despite not being able to cement his place on the NHL roster.

“Coming into camp, I came in with the same confidence I have now,” he said. “I feel that I’m ready to be here. This is the place I’m growing as a player. The confidence is there for me.”

He and Kaiser have played six games together this season and have 57:17 of ice time at 5v5. The only player Kaiser has more 5v5 time with this season is Tinordi. Phillips and Kaiser have a 39.81 Corsi for percentage (CF%), with just 27.3% of their shifts starting in the offensive zone. In nine games and 73:33 of 5v5 ice time, Kaiser and Tinordi have a 36.42 CF%, with 30% of their shifts starting in the offensive zone. So, it appears that Kaiser is slightly better with another rookie next to him than one of his veteran “safety nets.”

The Blackhawks will have an interesting decision when Tinordi comes off the injured list. General manager Kyle Davidson said on Saturday that Tinordi is skating on his own but has yet to join his teammates.

The Toronto Maple Leafs, another team that always seems to be in some sort of turmoil, made their only appearance on United Center ice this afternoon. The Blackhawks were looking to sweep the two-game season series after a 4-1 win in Toronto back in October. The speed and talent gap between these two teams were glaring, but the Blackhawks gave the effort that Richardson had been begging for. In the end, the home team erased a 3-1 deficit and won 4-3 in a crazy overtime.

The home got off to another slow start, giving up seven of the first eight shots of the game. Seven minutes in, former Blackhawk Max Domi made a nice cross-ice feed to Nick Robertson, who roofed the puck up and over Arvid Soderblom. Jason Dickinson answered less than a minute later with his second goal in as many periods. The veteran forward has three goals and seven points in his last nine games.

The start of the second period was a disaster. Shortly after Tyler Johnson erased a power play with a tripping call, Calle Jarnkrok got inside position and Alex Vlasic for an easy tap-in goal. Just over a minute later, our old friend Jake McCabe found Ryan Reaves alone in the slot for another uncontested goal and a 3-1 Maple Leafs lead.

Dickinson struck again later in the second period when a loose puck found him at the front of the net, and he beat Ilya Samsonov to the short side. This goal changed the momentum of the game as the Blackhawks started to get sustained offensive zone time and pressure. The last five or six minutes of the second period were some of the best hockey the team has played in quite some time.

Richardson sent the Dickinson line out to start the third period, and it took him all of 14 seconds to net his first career hat trick and tie the game at 3-3.

Jay: Jason Dickinson has received Luke Richardson’s message 

All season long, Blackhawks head coach Luke Richardson has preached simplicity. Get the puck in deep, skate north and south, put pucks on net. No Hawk has put out that style of play as consistently as Jason Dickinson, whose effort were rewarded with a hat trick Friday. 

The first of his three goals vs Toronto is just an example that you can use your skill and speed while keeping the game simple. 

He corralled a puck along the boards, used a toe-drag to maneuver the puck away from our beloved Jake McCabe, and put the puck on net. 

On his second goal of the afternoon, Dickinson once again utilized his toe-drag to gain better control of the puck, this time in close.

For the hat trick, which came 15 seconds into the third, Dickinson found the puck on his blade right in the slot. Why? Because his line mates, despite not having the puck, were aggressively stick checking, forechecking, and making it difficult for the Leafs to exit their own zone. 

During the second intermission, color analyst Troy Murray was praising the approach of Foligno-Dickinson-Anderson line. Murray praised the trio for not doing anything “fancy,” and stressed that the rest of the team, including Connor Bedard, who Murray called out for a turnover, need to go to school and get the message. 

Get the puck in, drive the net, then use your skill. It’s so simple. One does not have to sacrifice skill for simplicity. When these things work in tandem, the results will come. 

“Doing the right things all leads to great feelings in this locker room,” Dickinson said after the game. 

Richardson likes to use video to show his players what works and what doesn’t work in the NHL. Rest assured all three Dickinson goals will be featured in their next meetings. 

Greg: Joey Anderson and Cole Guttman Earn More Ice Time

The last few days around Blackhawks’ camp have been strange. There have been season-ending injuries, mysterious scratches, and a blowout to a team that had lost nine games in a row. With the glaring holes in the roster, Cole Guttman and Joey Anderson were recalled from the Rockford IceHogs on Thursday.

Guttman made the team out of training camp and scored against the Pittsburgh Penguins on opening night but was sent down after three games. Joey Anderson has been fantastic in the AHL. At the time of his recall, he led the IceHogs with seven goals, nine assists, and 16 points.

I asked Richardson before today’s game if having two guys looking to stay in the NHL inserted into the lineup might energize a team coming off one of their worst efforts of the season.

“We need that right now,” Richardson said. “In the past, they have both shown they can do a really good job for us. They’re familiar with us, which really helps, and we’re familiar with them. We’re really excited to see what kind of energy they can bring. They’re playing excellent hockey right now, and that’s what we need here. We need to get back on top of things. Obviously, we need a more consistent game, and we hope they will give us a bit of a charge today.”

Anderson made an immediate impact with the primary assist on Dickinson’s first-period goal. He was a factor in Dickinson’s second goal. Even though he was not credited with a point, he got in hard on the forecheck, which caused the puck to find Dickinson.

He was on the ice for all three Dickinson goals, had the assist, and was a plus-3. He played a simple and hard brand of hockey, something that has been missing for the last few games.

Guttman was not as effective as Anderson, but his game got stronger as the contest wore on. He was back on the “Ex Bolts” line with Tyler Johnson and Taylor Raddysh. In the third period, he passed up a shooting attempt but later got off a spin-o-rama shot that just missed the far post. He had two shot attempts, a blocked shot and won five of his nine faceoffs on the day.

Mario: Blackhawks Recover With Strong Finishes to Each Period 

A lot has been made about the Blackhawks’ starts to games and starts to individual periods this year. They have largely been slow to start games this season and head coach Luke Richardson has regularly turned to players like Nick Foligno, Corey Perry, and Jason Dickinson to give the team some jump to begin those periods of play, whether they are together on a line or not. Today’s game got off to a horrible start with the Maple Leafs dominating play with a 7-1 shots on goal advantage and a 1-0 lead just over seven minutes into the game. But the theme of the night was the response from the Blackhawks. 

Following the rough start, Jason Dickinson was there at the end of the first period to tie the game and start turning the tides the other way for Chicago.

But the second period was another horrible start for Chicago with a powerplay that the Blackhawks started the period with being negated just 22 seconds in and the Maple Leafs scoring at 4-on-4 just 55 seconds after that. Two make matters worse, two minutes later the Leafs are up 3-1 thanks to a Ryan friggin’ Reaves goal. Things could have easily gone off the rails from there but the Blackhawks did not fold. The pressure was amped-up from Chicago late into the second period and it was Dickinson for the second time giving the Blackhawks life in the game with the 3-2 goal. 

A high-pressure finish to the second period carried over into the beginning of the third period as it would be Dickinson getting on the board for the third time, scoring his first NHL hat-trick on a play that was caused by Nick Foligno working hard on a forecheck to cause a turnover. Chicago ran their momentum through the third period of the tied game into a chaotic overtime period that ended with a beneficial bounce going Chicago’s way and Kevin Korchinski finding the game-winner. 

It’s not a recipe to follow every night, having to chase the game consistently, but this was a game where the Blackhawks were able to not only string-together good stretches of play doing the little things right, but they were then rewarded for it. The way they ended periods today, and the way they started the third period, should be shown in video sessions all season long to remind them what good can come from playing with purpose in a simplified game. 

The organization has preached transparency under the new regime headed-up by front office leaders Danny Wirtz, Jaime Faulkner, Kyle Davidson, and head coach Luke Richardson. We’ve seen it in practice on a number of occasions since the four of them have been in their current positions.

And that’s why the lack of information and comments regarding Perry’s absence these past few days has been so mystifying.

On Tuesday, before getting on the plane to head to Ohio and face the Columbus Blue Jackets, the 19-year veteran Perry was playing on the top powe rplay unit for the Blackhawks along with Lukas Reichel, Philipp Kurashev, Connor Bedard, and Kevin Korchinski. There was at least some optimism and excitement to see what the four kids could do with their “hockey dad” and the team’s third-leading scorer playing on the man advantage.

Richardson said that there were no expected lineup changes heading to Columbus and Perry even took time after practice to come off the ice and talk with a big group of kids who were at the Fifth Third Arena and sign anything they put in front of him.

Then, minutes prior to Wednesday’s game against the Blue Jackets, we learned that both Taylor Hall (later learning he required season-ending knee surgery) and Corey Perry wouldn’t be available for the game and that scratching Perry was an “organizational decision.” If Corey Perry had played poorly, you’d believe the decision would be merit-based. But since Perry has been one of the most effective players the Blackhawks have had to begin this season, none of it made sense.

To add to the confusion, it appeared even players were in the dark on the situation when they were asked about it after Thursday’s practice.

Between Wednesday afternoon and Friday morning, there has been no further information given into the “organizational decision” to have Perry not only out of the lineup, but also not around for the Thursday morning practice.

Prior to Friday afternoon’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Luke Richardson still had no further information or comments on Perry not being around the team.

With no further information coming from the club, the speculation over Perry’s absence has run rampant across the league. The made-up trade rumors and scenarios that may or may not, could or could not surround the situation don’t help either. It could largely be avoided with even a small bit of information.

Maybe we’re not entitled to that bit of information. If this is a personal matter for Perry, one would think the verbiage would reflect that like it did earlier this month when Nikita Zaitsev was away from the team.

This is also a side of Luke Richardson that we haven’t seen since he took over as head coach in Chicago. Usually full of very honest and open answers to pretty much any question given to him, this is the least information Richardson has been able to give on a topic. Which feels extremely out of character in this scenario. Again, if it was related to on-ice performance, no one would bat an eye. But the non-comments about the situation are, at the very least, extremely odd from the Blackhawks standpoint.

Buffalo opened the scoring with a snipe from Rasmus Dahlin in the first period to give them a 1-0 lead that they would carry into the second period. The Blackhawks responded well in the middle frame with two goals in the period, the 1-1 game-tying goal coming from Taylor Raddysh and the 2-2 game-tying goal from Philipp Kurashev, with a Jeff Skinner goal in the middle and it would be 2-2 heading into the third period.

In the third, the Blackhawks opened the period with a ton of sustained offensive pressure and nearly took the lead on at least two great chances. But it would be Buffalo once again taking the lead thanks to Erik Johnson making it 3-2 just past the mid-way point of the frame. Chicago threw everything they could’ve at the end of the game trying to get the equalizing goal, but came up just inches short from forcing overtime, ultimately falling 3-2. They have dropped five of their last six games and, excluding empty-net goals, all five of those loses were one-goal games.

Jay: Philipp Kurashev stays hot

“He’s been awesome. He’s a different player this year.”

That’s what Blackhawks’ analyst Troy Murray had to say about Philipp Kurashev’s hot start to the season. After picking up a goal in Saturday’s 4-2 loss in Nashville, the winger kept his production going, this time scoring a goal and an assist in Sunday’s loss to the Sabres. He now has 10 points in 10 games this season, and Sunday was his third multi-point game of the season. 

Focusing only on Kurashev’s offense is doing him a disservice, though. He made several solid defensive plays, including knocking a puck out of mid-air on an odd-man rush. His reliable defensive play also allows Luke Richardson to deploy the top line of Connor Bedard, Lukas Reichel and Kurashev, knowing Kurashev can help the trio recover from any turnovers or defensive lapses. 

“Kursh was the driving force on that line,” Luke Richardson said after the game. “He’s been pretty responsible. [He] brings speed to our game, [and] consistency since he’s been back.” 

At all strengths, Kurashev was on the ice for 25 shot attempts for and only 13 against. He is quickly becoming one of the bright spots in a season quickly lacking in bright spots. He’s become one of Richardson’s most dependable players, and won’t be moving from that top line any time soon. 

Greg: Connor Bedard & Lukas Reichel Finally Put Together

The Blackhawks did not hold a morning skate today, and Luke Richardson said that the forwards group would be the same when he met with the media. What he didn’t let on was that while it was the same 12 forwards playing, the top six got a major shakeup. In a move that many have been wanting to see for weeks, Reichel moved up to the left wing of the top line with Bedard and Kurashev.

The new-look top line was victimized on the first Buffalo goal. They had a chance to clear the zone after Mrazek stoned Zach Benson, but they failed to do so, and seconds later, the puck was in their net. With about five minutes left in the opening frame, they provided the Blackhawks with the most sustained zone time of the period. They did produce a couple of shots on goal, but it was a lot of skating around looking for the perfect play rather than just getting the puck on the net and crashing the crease.

All three forwards picked up a point on the Blackhawks’ second goal, with Bedard and Reichel getting assists on Kurashev’s fourth goal of the season.

The line was buzzing early in the third period leading to Reichel drawing a penalty. Unfortunately, the power play unit was unable to cash in on the opportunity. At the end of the net, the trio finished with a goal, three assists, five shots on goal, and 11 shot attempts. At 5v5, they were on the ice for 16 shot attempts for and 10 against for a 61.54 Corsi For percentage (CF%). There is no reason to break this line up for Wednesday’s game against the struggling Columbus Blue Jackets.

Mario: Blackhawks have a response in middle frame

Coming into tonight, the Blackhawks had been out-scored 17-9 in second periods this season, their worst goal-differential in any of the three periods of a regulation game. Often times we see this Blackhawks group coming out of the gates with a good start, but have it falter later in the first period or not have that start translate to the second period and end up leading to either blown leads or to the Blackhawks chasing games.

Tonight, Chicago was chasing a game five minutes into the competition and had to make up from that 1-0 deficit heading into the first intermission.

They were awarded an early powerplay in the period, and after what looked to be an underwhelming man-advantage, Taylor Raddysh would get a deflected puck past Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to tie the game just after the powerplay had expired. The Sabres would respond with an actual powerplay goal from Jeff Skinner to regain the lead but it wouldn’t last long as Philipp Kurashev would score a rebound goal to tie the game once again at 2-2 and that would be it for then second frame.

It wasn’t perfect, but the Blackhawks were able to show a bit of jump and response to the Sabres in the second period, more than they were showing yesterday against the Predators. In the middle frame, the Blackhawks out-shot the Sabres 12-5 (10-3 at 5v5), and out-scored them 2-1.

The momentum built in the second period seemed to translate into the start of the third period, but unfortunately didn’t turn into the third goal of the game for Chicago before the Sabres eventually took the 3-2 lead later in the final period.

After a good start to the first period, the Predators were able to get out to a 2-0 lead heading into the first intermission with goals coming from Yakov Trenin and Gustav Nyquist. The Blackhawks were able to cut into the lead with a goal coming from Philipp Kurashev, but the Predators got back to a two-goal lead with the 3-1 goal coming from Cole Smith. Tyler Johnson got the Blackhawks back to within one-goal later in the third period, but it wasn’t enough of an effort late in the game to tie the game and Smith potted the empty-net goal to seal the game.

The Blackhawks are back in action tomorrow night back home in Chicago as they host the Buffalo Sabres.

Jay: Production Has Arrived for Philipp Kurashev

It feels like Phiipp Kurashev has been around forever. He made his NHL debut in 2020-21 and played in his 200th NHL game on Saturday in Nashville.

Over those games, we’ve seen glimpses and flashes from Kurashev, and it was clear to see what the Blackhawks saw when they drafted him in the fourth round (120th overall) in 2018. He brings a unique package of skills, speed, and board work.

Consistency had always been the knock on Kurashev, though. Despite the skills and flashes, the points were never there.

Well, it appears the production has arrived. Kurashev scored in Saturday’s 4-2 loss to Nashville, and he, along with his linemates Connor Bedard and Nick Foligno, were dominant in the loss. They out-attempted Nashville 15-5 in the game at 5-on-5. They were the only line on the team that finished over 50% in shot attempts. Kurashev also finished the game as the Blackhawks’ highest-rated player (2.22), according to hockeystatcards.com‘s game score.

Since returning to the lineup after a preseason injury, Kurashev has three goals and five assists in nine games.
It’s unlikely he’ll continue his nearly point-per-game pace this season, but if he can be counted on to provide 35-45 points per season, it’s a massive win for the Blackhawks.

For all the skill they have in their system with players like Bedard and collegiate forwards Frank Nazar and Oliver Moore, the Hawks have a lot of skill without a lot of grit. That’s what makes Kurashev’s development so important. Those guys will need someone to retrieve the puck for them, and as of now, there aren’t any NHL sure-things on the horizon.

Greg: Arvid Söderblom Good, but Not Great in Net

Arvid Söderblom had high expectations heading into his full NHL season. We all thought he would lead the team in starts by the end of the season, and that still may happen, but he has not played consistently. His first two starts were very good, giving up three goals on 68 combined shots against the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs. His next two starts saw him give up five goals to the Vegas Golden Knight and seven to the Arizona Coyotes. He’s only had one other start with a save percentage (SV%) over .900 and that came in a 4-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Nov. 5.

Söderblom’s biggest problem seems to be his confidence. We heralded at time last season about his play between the pipes. He was always compact and had very little wasted movement. The past few games, he’s been all over the crease, struggling with his rebound control, and flat-out fighting off the puck at times.

The Predators’ first goal may or may not ticked off Kevin Korchinski’s stick, but it beat Söderblom cleanly to the short side. The second and third goals were both results of his inability to absorb a rebound and cover up the puck. To make matters worse, they both came very in the first and second periods. Those are the types of goals that just kill momentum.

These are things that need to be better if he wants to remain part of the future, let alone earn more starts this season. It was not all bad for Söderblom. He made a huge stop on the shift following Kurashev’s goal, as well as a big toe save on the late second-period power play. However, they were cancelled out by his inability to keep the puck covered up. He finished with 28 saves and a .903 SV% but does not look like the confident goaltender we saw so much with the Rockford IceHogs.

Mario: Stop playing down to competition

All we keep hearing and talking about on the CHGO Blackhawks podcast regarding the level of competition the Blackhawks have faced early this season is that the quality of opponent is going to start leveling-down after facing contender after contender to begin the year. But in the three games so far this season that were supposed to be “easier” for Chicago, they are 0-3-0 and have been outscored 15-5 against Montreal, Arizona, and Nashville today.

It is so frustrating to watch this team win games over Tampa Bay, Toronto, Vegas, and Boston, some of them in convincing fashion, and then have duds against teams you have to be competitive against.

This is not a Blackhawks team that has enough talent to only play a 20 or 30-minute game and come away with a win. You have to have full-team efforts for a full 60-minute game to come away with wins, or at the very least, come away with efforts to hang your hat on. Last year’s team was arguably less-talented across the board, but their “will” and “want to” was there in 90-percent of the games. That workmanlike effort hasn’t been consistent in this year’s version of the Blackhawks and is supposed to be a staple of this team coached by Luke Richardson. We haven’t seen it yet and that team identity needs to start coming to fruition if the Blackhawks are going to be respectable. Yes, this season is still going to likely end up with a top-five or top-ten draft position, but how the team gets there still matters.

The new-look power play (more on that below) got the Blackhawks on the board 13 minutes into the game as Lukas Reichel redirected a Kevin Korchinski goal for his first tally of the season. The Blackhawks only had one shot on goal before Mikhail Sergachev took a boarding penalty. The visitors had an 11-5 shot advantage heading into the first intermission, but the home team had the only stat that mattered.

Brayden Point tied the game early in the second period with a power-play goal that looked very similar to Reichel’s. The Blackhawks challenged the play for being offside, and it looked like they were right, but it was deemed a good goal.

Three minutes later, Sergachev made up for his earlier penalty by scoring his first goal of the season to give Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead.

Corey Perry came back to haunt his former team by evening up the score early in the third period. He started a 2-on-1 rush with Boris Katchouk, but his pass across was broken up. Being the savvy veteran he is, Perry went right to the side of the net, where Katchouk found him for an easy tap-in goal, his fourth on the season.

The Lightning took control of the game right after Perry scored. After multiple shifts of sustained offensive zone time, they finally cashed in when Victor Hedman scored off a fortunate bounce off the end boards. Brandon Hagel iced the game with a late empty-netter.

Jay: Petr Mrazek Continues His Solid Play

After every Blackhawks game, the CHGO Blackhawks Podcast asks our audience to select the game’s fourth star. Every time Mrazek has started the game, he’s been a candidate (if he wasn’t named one of the game’s three stars first.)

Mrazek, who entered the season with low expectations, has been the most consistent Blackhawk all season. He’s 4-4 on the year, with a 2.86 GAA and a .919 save percentage. On paper, those numbers may look a little ordinary, but when you consider how many shots per game Mrazek sees, and the inexperienced defense playing in front of him, you can’t help but be impressed.

“The confidence has been there,” Mrazek said Wednesday. “The things that [goalie coach Jimmy Waite] wanted me to work on helped me in the second half of [last] year, and the offseason as well.”

“It’s been great so far,” Mrazek said of his relationship with Waite. “I can’t say a bad thing about it. It’s been awesome.”

It can be easy to lose sight of how much a goalie coach can change a player, and how long those changes can take effect, especially when the goalie is coming off a tough stretch of seasons as Mrazek was before he came to Chicago.

Keep a close eye on how Rockford goalie Drew Commesso plays this year. If he continues to thrive in the pro-environment, perhaps the Hawks would consider moving Mrazek to a team desperate for goaltending (Edmonton?) sooner rather than later.

Greg: Lukas Reichel Cashes in on Power-Play Opportunity

One of the hottest topics of the early season has been the lack of production from Reichel, who entered tonight’s contest with two assists in 13 games. We suggested on Tuesday’s episode that a promotion to the top power play unit might be exactly what the young forward needs to get his scoring touch going.

I didn’t get the chance to ask head coach Luke Richardson if he was thinking about that move after Wednesday’s practice because he had already implemented it. He was very specific this morning on what the power play needs to do to be successful.

“We need to start moving the puck a little quicker,” he admitted. “The goal we scored in Tampa was indicative of that. It was all just speed and movement. The game is so skilled now, and even the defensive guys have good sticks, so you have to move the puck quickly. I was happy with practice yesterday, and hopefully, that translates to the game.”

The Blackhawks got their first power play chance midway through the first period, and Reichel was quick to make an impact. He used the freedom of the bumper role to find some space in the slot, where he redirected Korchinski’s shot past Jonas Johansson for his first goal of the season. You could hear his sigh of relief all the way up in the press box.

The unit only got one more chance the rest of the night and wasn’t able to produce much pressure. However, more importantly, the pressure was taken off of Reichel with his first goal. Look for that play to lead to more points for the 21-year-old forward.

Mario: Blackhawks won’t be pushed around

Sometimes when you are overpowered in a hockey game from a talent perspective, you have to try to equalize the game in other ways. Physical ways. Tonight, while the Blackhawks were getting dominated in puck possession, they weren’t going to let the Lightning push them around in any other ways. Far be it from me to advocate for “gooning it up,” but I enjoyed seeing the pushback from the team tonight, despite having to chase the majority of the game.

Following a boarding penalty on Mikhail Sergachev for a bad hit on Philipp Kurashev, the first player to confront Sergachev was Connor Bedard, ensuing in a scrum.

After Steven Stamkos skated a little too close for comfort after a save and a whistle by Petr Mrazek, Connor Murphy grabbed him and a scrum ensued.

After Connor Murphy laid a big, clean hit on Tyler Motte, Michael Eyssimont decided he would take up issue with Murphy and was promptly fed his lunch by the Blackhawks defenseman.

I’m glad to see that this Blackhawks team is not conceding that they are going to be out-matched most nights. They are going to push against their opponents any way that they can. It was a key factor last season for this team and Luke Richardson seems to be keeping that going into his second year behind the bench. 

Part of the return for Lehner was a second-round pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft that former general manager Stan Bowman used on USNTDP goaltender Drew Commesso. Since the pick, Commesso has played NCAA Tournament games with Boston University and represented the United States at the World Junior Championship, the World Championship, and the Olympics. He excelled at each stop along the way and has Blackhawks fans excited for the future, as many look to him as a key piece to a potential championship puzzle.

Commesso started his first professional season with the Rockford IceHogs and has his American Hockey League career off to a great start. He has a 2.22 goals-against average (GAA), a .919 save percentage (SV%), and a shutout in five starts. The IceHogs recently named the young netminder their Player of the Month for October.

We were lucky to have Commesso on the CHGO Blackhawks Podcast earlier this week, and you can instantly tell that this kid is all about getting better and becoming the top goaltender for the Blackhawks. His transition from the college game to the professional ranks has been seamless.

“It’s been different from what I’ve been used to,” he revealed. “The day-to-day schedule is much different than in college. It’s an adjustment, but it’s one I’m enjoying. Not having classes is nice. It allows me to recover more and take in some more time at the rink.”

Most players will tell you that the game remains the same when you move from level to level, but it’s the difference in speed from where you were to where are that is the biggest adjustment. Commesso echoed that line of thought.

“It’s the speed and how everyone is really good. Everyone can shoot and make plays. That helps me. In college, I could get away with some things. Here, you get pushed every day in practice and half to give it your all. The biggest adjustment I’ve had to make is looking through traffic. Guys get to the net a lot harder and are a lot bigger.”

Commesso has been preparing for this moment for a long time. He grew up with Boston Bruins season tickets and spent a lot of his childhood three rows behind Tuukka Rask. However, he was not in the building for the infamous “17 seconds” in 2013. He went the extra mile over the summer and followed Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy’s training regimen. Commesso went out of his way to note that Vasilevskiy’s flexibility and explosiveness levels are what he wants to achieve.

“The pro game is more demanding on your body, and I knew I was going to have to put on some muscle,” he said. “I was stretching as much as I could and taking yoga classes three times a week. I’ve already noticed such a difference.”

He is training like Vasilevskiy and says his game emulates Jeremy Swayman of the Bruins and Igor Shesterkin of the New York Rangers. In fact, he and Swayman trained together in Boston during the offseason. If he can get to their level at the NHL level, both the Blackhawks’ front office and fanbase will be beyond thrilled!

Commesso is constantly working on improving his game, even when he’s not in the crease, which is somewhat of a new experience for him.

“Preparation wise, it’s pretty much the same whether I’m playing or not,” he said. “This is pretty new to me. When I’m not playing, I need to be doing something to get better, as well. I need to do something to separate myself, even if I’m not on the ice. I’ve been bringing a notepad and taking notes on the other goalies. The tendencies guys have and what makes them look good and be successful. I figure if I’m not playing, I can still find a way to get better.”

There is no doubt current general manager Kyle Davidson is building his team with good hockey players who are also good human beings. Character is a massive part of Davidson’s equation, and Commesso fits that mold, even though the previous regime drafted him.

“The character guys the Blackhawks are drafting have been unbelievable,” Commesso said. “They’ve all been incredible guys. That helps so much. Some of the best teams I’ve ever been on were filled with great individuals who are great people off the ice. That makes it easier for us to play together. We all push each other really hard. We have the same goal: to play for the Blackhawks and be a key part of them. Having guys with similar mindsets and approaches to the game helps everyone.”

We will continue to monitor Commesso’s progress with our weekly Rebuild Report, so make sure you are a Diehard to get access to it. Check out the full interview with Commesso below and subscribe to the CHGO Sports YouTube channel.

The odds were stacked against the Blackhawks as Jarred Tinordi, Andreas Athanasiou, and Taylor Hall were all out with injuries. Plus, Mrazek was on the bench in favor of Arvid Soderblom. Meanwhile, Sam Bennett returned for the Panthers, and Sergei Bobrovsky was between the pipes after the Blackhawks faced backup Anthony Stolarz last week.

Soderblom’s afternoon got off to a rough start when Oliver Ekman-Larsson deposited a puck past him just 39 seconds after the opening draw. Jason Dickinson answered less than seven minutes later by tipping home an excellent setup feed from Lukas Reichel.

Sam Reinhart scored his first goal of the day on a power play about five minutes later. It seemed that the Panthers would take that lead into the first intermission, but then Connor Bedard did this:

The middle frame saw Reinhart give the home team a 3-2 lead with a backhand goal. The advantage only lasted 78 seconds as Bedard scored another highlight-reel goal, where he fired the puck out of midair for his fourth goal in the last two games.

The third period was more of what we’ve seen over the previous four frames versus Florida, where the Panthers dominated the play. Carter Verhagehe scored the eventual game-winning goal on an early power play.

The Blackhawks had a chance to tie the game late but came up just short. The bottom line is they spent too much time in their own end of the rink and couldn’t produce a consistent offensive attack. Sounds familiar, right?

Jay: Nick Foligno Answers the Bell…As Usual

Maybe I’ve made too much of this “leadership” and “mentor” thing this season. I’ve written about it. I’ve talked about it a lot on the CHGO Blackhawks shows, and I do feel that, in general, “leadership” is overestimated and overblown in sports.

With Nick Foligno, it feels different. From the day he became a Blackhawk, he has done everything Kyle Davidson has wanted him to do and more.

He is always available after a tough loss. He offers great insight into the game and what it takes to compete and win in the NHL. Most importantly, he leads by example on the ice.

After Bedard scored two goals, Florida defenseman Dmitry Kulikov took the opportunity to line Bedard up for a hard hit along the boards. My immediate thought was, “Someone has to get him.” There was Foligno, immediately, grabbing Kulikov and letting him hear about it.

Whether or not the hit was clean (I think it was) doesn’t really matter. When your star player takes a hard, questionable hit, there’s no time to determine whether or not the hit is worthy of retaliation. Foligno went right after Kulikov. He got hit with a hooking and roughing penalty for his efforts, but the Hawks killed off the four-minute power play in impressive fashion.

Logical or not, things like this bring a team together. Hockey culture is hockey culture, for better or worse. Players like Bedard play with more confidence, knowing their teammates have their backs. Opponents hesitate before delivering a big hit, knowing they’ll have to answer.

These are the lessons Foligno is teaching the team on and off the ice.

Mario: We Have Connor Bedard and You Don’t

It’s no secret that Connor Bedard is already a special player. His abilities with the puck are undeniably generational as an 18-year-old playing in the NHL. His goal-scoring ability has been on full display in these past two games against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers. With two goals in back-to-back games, Bedard now has nine on the season in 13 games as a rookie and is scoring at a 56-goal pace.

Only four players in NHL history have scored 50 or more goals in a rookie season:

Teemu Selanne – 76 goals in 1992-93
Mike Bossy – 53 goals in 1977-78
Alex Ovechkin – 52 goals in 2005-06
Joe Nieuwnedyk – 51 goals in 1987-88

Only two Blackhawks players have scored 40 goals or more in a rookie season:

Steve Larmer – 43 goals in 1982-83
Darryl Sutter – 40 goals in 1980-81

None of these six players did so as a teenager. 

Bedard also became the seventh 18-year-old in NHL history to have back-to-back multi-goal games with his two-goal performance tonight. 

Bedard’s the best goal-scoring threat on the Blackhawks and in all honesty, he’s the best player on the roster in most-to-all offensive categories. He’s likely going to be that player his entire career in Chicago and getting him some offensive help will bode-well for the organization. 

But until that time, it’s special to watch him not only scoring in spectacular fashion, but watching him realize that he can do special things in the NHL now. It took a few games, but after putting the puck in the net seven times in his last six games, nine times in the last eight games if you counted the overturned by a millimeter goal against Boston, his confidence is sky-rocketing. He’s getting to, or already at a place where he expects to do something that drops jaws. If you weren’t already on notice, the other 31 teams in the league are totally screwed.

Greg: Blackhawks Showed a Ton of Character in Loss

During the 2022-23 season, the Blackhawks lost many games because of the vast talent gap, not because of the effort. Today’s defeat reminded me of a lot of what we saw a year ago and had Luke Richardson’s stamp all over it.

The lineup missed a ton of offensive ability with Hall and Athanasiou off the ice. Replacing them with Boris Katchouk and Reese Johnson doesn’t exactly give you hope for much production. However, this team showed excellent resiliency, tying the game on three separate occasions.

The best show of character came late in the second period when Dmitry Kulikov drilled Bedard face-first into the boards. Nick Foligno immediately hooked Kulikov to the ice and showed him that he was not going to be allowed with a series of punches to the head. The veteran forward was given a four-minute double minor for the reaction. The Blackhawks rewarded him by killing off both penalties. Those are the types of things that bond a team together. Knowing that all 18 skaters on the ice are fighting for each other and pulling in the same direction can help shorten the talent gap on most nights.

Even at the end of the game, the Blackhawks still tried hard to even things up, and Tyler Johnson had a wide-open net in the final seconds, but the puck just rolled off his stick. This is a squad that didn’t want to throw in the towel despite getting outplayed. That is precisely what Richardson wants to see.

Chicago has one player as part of their next contending core that has that instinct and ability in Connor Bedard. He’s not someone to really worry about at this point. But he cannot be the only player with that ability and drive to want to be the goal-scorer on the team. If you look back at the Championship Blackhawks of the 2010’s, there were plenty of players that had that instinct from Patrick Sharp to Patrick Kane to Jonathan Toews to Marian Hossa to Alex DeBrincat and so on down the list. It’s not just about being able to score goals and shoot the puck at a high level. It’s about being willing to do whatever it takes to score goals in a league where the pretty goals are nice, but few and far between.

With the young group of players in the Blackhawks system like Bedard, Lukas Reichel, Philipp Kurashev, Frank Nazar, Oliver Moore, Colton Dach, etc., there needs to be a group of them that emerge to have that kind of mentality if Chicago is going to be able to keep up in a high-scoring era of the NHL. But can that “killer instinct” when it comes to scoring be taught to players, or is it just a part of a hockey player’s DNA?

“I think it’s up to the player to find it,” Richardson said on Wednesday before the Blackhawks left for their Florida road trip. “We show them examples from games to be aggressive and proactive. We want to keep our feet moving and thinking shoot first on two-on-ones, two-on-twos, and line rushes. If the defense reacts to you and opens up, there might be a time to pass. But if you’re stopping your feet and trying to wait-out the defense, it’ll usually get closed off.”

A veteran in the locker room, a former Stanley Cup winner, a former 50-goal scorer, and a former league MVP, Corey Perry echoed the same sentiment about players needing to have it within them to strive to be great goal-scorers. “It’s a little bit of both. You can talk to players, tell them how to do it, where to go, what to do. But somebody has to be willing to go do it. You have to have that instinct. At the end of the day, if you want to score goals, you have to go to the front of the net. It’s not going to be pretty each and every night. That’s what we’re trying to get through here. Those pretty goals are going to have but if you look around the league, most goals come from within ten feet of the crease.”

To Perry’s point, the Blackhawks rank dead-last in the NHL this season in High-Danger Chances with 119 at all-strengths. They also rank in the bottom-five of the league in Chances-For (632, 31st), Shots-For (324, 31st), and Goals-For (31, t-27th).

But the 19-year vet also said that the young players in the locker room now have that ability to develop that instinct at this stage in their careers. “I believe in everybody in this room that can go do that. Sometimes when you don’t want to, you have to be willing to go there. It’s a matter of continuing to grind at it and put it in people’s heads that this is a tough league to score in.”

It translated in Thursday night’s game when we saw Kurashev and Bedard connect on the game’s first goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Kurashev had a chance to cut to the front of the net from the corner and fed the puck across to Bedard, who was getting inside position on Victor Hedman for a net-front goal. These two working together over the past few games is giving me confidence that Kurashev could be another on the list of players for the future that can develop that “killer instinct.”

One that is concerning me as this season progresses is Lukas Reichel. We’ve seen his skillset at the NHL level before and a ton of it in the AHL over the past three seasons. But the player that Reichel has shown himself to be this season is a shell of what we all expected to see from him. He has just one point this season, a secondary assist, in 12 games played. At all-strengths this season, Reichel has created 32 individual Chances-For, 19 individual Scoring Chances-For, and nine individual High-Danger Chances-For. Those numbers all rank behind players like Ryan Donato, Nick Foligno, and a Tyler Johnson. It is early in the season still, but that is concerning.

Reichel himself knows that he needs to be more assertive with the puck this season. “Some guys just have that natural instinct and ability like [Auston] Matthews or [David] Pastrnak. It’s just more just like getting it into our heads, me included, to have that mentality to shoot when there’s a 50-50 play or on a two-on-one, if the defense plays it well, we want to shoot it instead of passing it and having nothing happen.”

I don’t know if Reichel is trying to defer offense too much or create for the players around him, but he hasn’t been playing too much this season with players who should be deferred to all that often. Reichel and Taylor Hall or Connor Bedard have not been paired together this season and the 2020 first-round pick should be the one getting offense deferred to him, not the other way around.

Luke Richardson spoke about the young players trying to be good teammates, even a little too much, this season as they get their footing in the NHL. “Everybody wants to be a good teammate and you think [the pass] is open, but nowadays one pebble on the ice and the puck bounces and you lose that great chance…Sometimes you get the ‘it’s Taylor Hall, I want to get him the puck’ or ‘it’s Corey Perry, I want to get him the puck,’ and it’s not the right time. They will call for it and demand it when it’s time. It’s a fast game in the NHL and things close quick. You got to have the determination when you have a little bit of space, you have to make something of it…We can show them the clips, but they have to correct themselves on the ice.”

So if the Blackhawks don’t have that player in their young group, besides Bedard, who has that instinct as part of their makeup, who can develop it? I think we are seeing early stages of Kurashev starting to become that kind of player.

Elsewhere in the system, Colton Dach could be a candidate to have that kind of mentality and willingness to go to the hard areas of the ice to score goals. He’ll need more time to acclimate to the professional game, but his tenacity and size give him the inside edge to become that kind of player. I see a bit of that in Landon Slaggert as well in his time at Notre Dame. He’s not likely going to be a dynamically skilled as Brandon Hagel, but he is that same kind of energy and hard-nosed style of forechecker. It would be nice to see that hard work translate at the professional level and create those gritty, greasy goals.

Frank Nazar and Oliver Moore also could have that mentality because of their speed. We’ve seen a player like Andreas Athanasiou drive to the net and get breakaway chances just from his footspeed. It would be amazing to see speedsters like Nazar and Moore do that same in the NHL someday, but with a more skilled finishing ability in their hands.

But that is all coming from a place of hope and wishing that these players can develop that instinct. One that seems to already have that goal-scorers mentality and kill instinct when it comes to goal production isn’t with any NHL team right now.

No, it’s not Phil Kessel. It’s Cole Eiserman.

Eiserman is currently the No. 2 ranked draft prospect in the 2024 NHL Draft Class behind only Macklin Celebrini. He plays for the U.S. National Team Development Program and is scoring at a pace that will likely see him surpass USNTDP elites like Kessel, Auston Matthews, Jack Hughes, and Cole Caufield when it comes to putting the puck in the back of the net.

From Steven Ellis of Daily Faceoff in his latest NHL Draft rankings on Eiserman, “Sorry, Cole Caufield. Eiserman’s coming for your scoring record. Featuring a release a la Phil Kessel and Auston Matthews, Eiserman should have no issue blasting past the USA Hockey National Team Development Program’s record of 72 goals in a season set by Caufield in 2018-19. Whether it be against USHL or NCAA competition, Eiserman’s tremendous shot has been one of the top highlights of the season. The Boston University commit can be caught watching a little too often, but there’s no question he’s a 50-goal threat in the NHL.”

Eiserman stands six-foot tall and 200-pounds as a 17-year-old right now and has 27 goals and 37 points in 19 combined games this season for the USNTDP, on pace for 83(!!) goals this season. The Blackhawks are going to be in the NHL draft lottery again this spring and will be picking high in the first round again this summer. There is a good chance it will be within the top-five or top-three picks. Cole Eiserman is a real possibility for the Blackhawks and could be that player, alongside Bedard, as a goal-scorer with that “killer instinct” in their hockey DNA.

Whether it’s developed, acquired, or drafted, the Blackhawks will need more players who will be a par of the future that have the ability and the “want to” to put the puck in the net by any means necessary. That’ll have to come from driving the net, playing within ten-feet of the crease, and having a willingness to be the one to say, ‘I’m that M-Fer that’s going to score.’ The more we end up seeing that from the young group, the more the contending picture for the future will become clear.

Philipp Kurashev took a puck from behind the Tampa net, walked out in front, and fed the puck over to Connor Bedard, who scored his first of two goals on the night.

Nikita Kucherov put the Lightning up 2-1 just under seven minutes later with his 11th (!) goal of the season, but that would be it for Tampa until late in the third. The Hawks got three consecutive goals from Kevin Korchinski, Tyler Johnson and another from Bedard before the first period ended. For Korchinski, it was the first goal of his NHL career.

Corey Perry, who was honored by the Lighting for his time in Tampa, scored the lone-goal of the second period. Perry redirected what looked like a hat-trick goal for Bedard. Some fans even threw hats onto the ice thinking it was Bedard’s goal.

In the third period, Steven Stamkos cut the Hawks lead to 5-3, but that’s the last goal Tampa would score, as the Hawks held on, improving to 5-7-0 on the season.

In the win, Petr Mrazek stopped 30 of 33 Lighting shots, with 16 of them counting as “high danger.”

Injury-wise, Taylor Hall, Andrea Athanasiou, and Jarred Tinordi all left the game. While there was no official injury update, Luke Richardson said Hall’s injury probably looked worse than it was, while Andreas Athanasiou was also ambulatory after the game. We’ll know more over the weekend.

Mario: Keeping their Foot Down

It was refreshing to see the Blackhawks not only respond to allowing the first goal of the game, but respond emphatically. After the Lightning took an early 1-0 lead, it was the Blackhawks coming back to tie the game and then eventually come back to take a 3-2 lead and later a 4-2 lead after the first period.

If you told me before the game that there would be six goals split in the first period, I would have assumed the Blackhawks would have been down 5-1. This hasn’t been a normal thing for the Blackhawks this season, playing with a lead. Tonight was their fifth win of the season, but just the second time they’ve come out of a first period with a lead. In both of those games, they’ve won.

Chicago has to learn these lessons when they can about keeping their foot on the pedal when they get the chance to have a lead in a game. They are not a team good enough to get out the a two or three-goal lead and coast. Even tonight, when the game was 5-2, it wasn’t a fully safe feeling against a high-powered Lightning team. But the more this team can build confidence with performances like tonight and make the most of them by coming away with wins and examples of how to play with leads, the more it will become commonplace.

Jay’s Hit: First of Many for Korchinski

Lost in Connor Bedard-mania has been the steady and impressive play of 19-year-old defenseman Kevin Korchinski. Korchinski, selected seventh overall in the 2022 NHL Draft, made his NHL debut this season and has shown very few signs of struggling. Of course, as with any young defensemen, there have been learning moments, but any thoughts that Korchinski might have to head back to the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds were erased quickly.

Korchinski is second on the team in average ice-time behind only Seth Jones. Jones, who played over 31 minutes in Thursday’s win, averages 25:25 per game. Korchinski is already playing an impressive 19:40, and that’s with very little penalty kill time.

Years ago, a scout told me that with young defensemen, it might look like they’re holding their own, but below the surface, they’re floundering. This has not been the case with Korchinski. He’s looked NHL ready from jump, and his combination of speed, size, vision and skating ability make him a fascinating prospect. Luke Richardson raves about his game, and when in envision him filled out into his full NHL size, the sky is the limit. Korchinski has the potential to be a multi-time All Star, but first things first. He’s in a great situation, with Bedard taking so much of the spotlight off of him. While his great moments, like tonight, might get lost in a great Bedard performance, his down moments will as well.

Greg: Connor Bedard Explodes for First Multi-Point Game

Nobody in the right mind would call Bedard’s start in the NHL disappointing, with five goals and seven points in his first 11 games. However, we have all been waiting for him to have one of those games where he just dominates. Maybe it was because of all the moms in the crowd.  Maybe it was playing Hulk Hogan’s favorite team. Maybe it was because Tanner Jeannot made him bleed his own blood. Whatever the reason was, tonight was the first game where Bedard took thinks over and showed the hockey world what he can do.

The first of the rookie phenom’s four points came by going to the net, getting inside position on Victor Heman and tapping in a great feed from Kurashev. We talked on Wednesday’s podcast that the younger players need to recognize when to go to the net and Bedard picked his spot perfectly. After assisting on the Johnson goal, Bedard showed off his mits and became the youngest player in Blackhawks history to have a multi-goal game.

For a split second, we thought Bedard scored a hat trick on a second-period power play, however, his slap pass was knocked home by Perry. He was set up by Kurashev later in the frame for another scoring chance, but he couldn’t bury the puck.
Bedard finished with two goals, two assists, five shots on goal, nine shot attempts, a hit, and a takeaway. He had a 55.0 CF% at 5v5 and had the highest game score of any Blackhawk this season. A heck of a game. Now let’s roll it over to Sunday.

Despite scoring the game’s opening goal in under two minutes, Chicago wasn’t able to put together the bell-to-bell effort it requires to beat this top-tier Devils team on the second night of back-to-back games following a 5-2 win last night over the Florida Panthers.

Taylor Hall got things started quickly with his second goal in as many nights for the Blackhawks, putting the team out to the early 1-0 lead just 1:51 into the game. It marked the third-straight game that Chicago had scored the opening goal of the contest. But following an interference call on Connor Murphy mid-way through the first period, the Blackhawks lost all momentum they had built as the Devils scored on the ensuing powerplay with a goal from Dawson Mercer. That tying tally was followed by the 2-1 goal coming from Jack Hughes’ replacement Max Willman.

The Blackhawks would have a few chances to try to even the score, including a chance setup by Jason Dickinson and Tyler Johnson in the second period that would be saved by an incredible diving effort by New Jersey goaltender Vitek Vanecek.

The Devils held the majority of the game’s possession in the second and third periods, adding a 3-1 goal from Curtis Lazar in the third period to extend their lead. After a floundering powerplay with just over eight minutes to go in the game, it looked as if the Blackhawks had run out of gas completely. But with just under five minutes to play, Ryan Donato injected a bit of life into the game and the United Center crowd scoring his third goal of the season on his own rebound the make it 3-2 with 4:46 to play.

The game was nearly put on ice with 2:02 to play with an empty-net goal but it was called back by a Luke Richardson successful offside challenge and there was still life left in the building, though New Jersey would be able to kill the final minutes and add a legal empty net goal with just a second on the clock to end it officially 4-2.

Arvid Söderblom did everything he could to keep the Blackhawks in the game making 36 saves on 39 shots tonight. He has just three wins in 23 appearances for the Blackhawks in his NHL career, and tonight was another night in which the Blackhawks owed him a better result.

Following the loss, the Chicago media was held out of the locker room for about 20 minutes before it was opened. It ended up being a players-only meeting that seemed to focus on the team’s consistency, accountability, and reminding each other of working within the team system. Seth Jones and Corey Perry spoke about instilling the message of accountability in each other and making sure the team is working to execute on their goals as a group this season.

“We have a few words we came up with as a team this year that we want to live by, so we want to live by those.” Jones said about the message of the meeting. “You want to hold each other accountable. You’re not in there ‘Mother-effing’ guys, but if you make a mistake, your teammate should be able to tell you you’re wrong and vice versa.”

“Be accountable and play within the system that we’ve installed through camp and the first few games of the season,” 19-year-vet Corey Perry said following the meeting. “We do it in spurts, but we have to do it for a full game. We had a good heart-to-heart…We’re not putting anyone down. That’s not the message. It’s more about being brothers, being able to talk about it and figure things out as men.”

For a Blackhawks team that is working with a basically brand new leadership and veteran group, while also bringing in numerous young players hopeful to be a part of the next contending core group, there is miles of runway for these types of meetings and messages. Players like Perry and Jones, Nick Foligno and Connor Murphy, their top job this season is to make sure that players like Connor Bedard, Lukas Reichel, Kevin Korchinski, and the rest are acclimating to the professional game. Especially at the NHL level. It’s early in the season and getting players on the same page and adhering to the same message after game No. 11 is much better than having to do it after game No. 40 or later.

Jay: Wyatt Kaiser finding his game

During the Blackhawks preseason, Wyatt Kaiser was the darling of training camp. He was arguably the Hawks’ most impressive young defenseman and showed poise and ability beyond his years. Then the regular season began.

Kaiser was by no means awful to start the season, but it was clear he was struggling to adapt to the speed of the NHL game. He’d often have the puck stolen from behind as he took too long to move the puck, or he’d wait an extra tick or two too long and defenders would close in on him. An extra stickhandle here or there can make the difference between moving the puck into the offensive zone or a turnover. Kaiser’s mental clock has vastly improved.

Over the last 3-4 games, Kaiser has begun to look like the player we saw in the preseason. In fact, in Sunday’s loss to New Jersey, he was the Blackhawks’ highest rated player according to hockeystatcards.com.

Kaiser ended the game with 17:34 of ice time, one assist, two shots on goal, and two hits, all while spending the bulk of the game with Nikita Zaitsev (who has been decent in his own right). He was noticeable and has clearly gained the trust of Luke Richardson.

Greg: Arvid Söderblom Regains Form

The last time we saw Arvid Söderblom, he was torched by the Arizona Coyotes for seven goals on 22 shots. This was his second straight shaky start after he allowed five goals on 19 shots against the Vegas Golden Knights during the home opener. Normally giving up 12 goals in less than two full games is a major concern. However, Söderblom’s first two games against the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs were very good, allowing just three goals on 68 shots.

It’s because we have seen Söderblom have some flashes at the NHL level and be very good in the AHL that we get down when he has a bad stretch. We got the good version of Söderblom against the Devils. Mercer beat him with a quick shot to the short side while Nikita Zaitsev was getting boxed out in front of him for the first goal. The third New Jersey goal came on a redirect from in close, but he seemed to be cheating to his left, which left the five hole exposed.

The Willman goal was the worst of them all. Korchinski hustled back, but that was a save Soderblom needed to make. That has been the biggest difference between him and Petr Mrazek this season. Mrazek has been able to come up with the big stops more often than his younger counterpart.

The bottom line is that Soderblom had a nice bounce-back game following two rough outings. He made a season-high 36 saves and gave the Blackhawks a chance to win. You’d like to have one more big save, but this is all you can ask for on most nights.

Mario: Blackhawks need more out of their defensemen in the offensive zone

The Blackhawks blue-line is not their strong-point. While Kevin Korchinski, Alex Vlasic, and Wyatt Kaiser have been playing well as rookies, they are still very much prone to the rookie growing pains. Seth Jones and Connor Murphy are solid options as top-four defensemen in the NHL, but the all-around depth of the group is lacking at this moment in time.

What they also lack is goal production. Chicago defensemen have just one goal this season and it came on Saturday night from none other than Nikita Zaitsev.

On Sunday, I tracked the defensive shot-generation against the Devils and the period-by-period breakdown went as such:

– First period: Blackhawks defensemen accounted for ten of the 23 chances created and seven of the 14 shots on goal
– Second period: Blackhawks defensemen accounted for six of the 13 chances created and just three of the nine shots on goals
– Third period: Blackhawks defensemen accounted for just four of the 19 chances created and three of the 11 shots on goal

After the fast start to the game, the defensive efforts to create shots dwindled.

“We just need more goals. We need to make more plays on the blue-line.” A frustrated Seth Jones said following the 4-2 loss.

Alex Vlasic led all Blackhawks tonight with six shots on goal as well as leading in chances created with six.

Following Saturday morning’s optional skate ahead of the Blackhawks taking on the Florida Panthers, Blackhawks head coach Luke Richardson essentially confirmed that Korchinksi’s plan this season is to remain in Chicago the full year.

“He had a good training camp and a really impressive start to the season,” Richardson said of the 19-year-old defenseman. “He’s composed out there and his skating ability is NHL-elite level already. His decision-making has been very good and he’s a bright kid. He takes in a lot of information and implements it into his game. There’s no reason to have that conversation at this point. He’s earned and deserved that right.”

Richardson said that his conversations with Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson about Korchinski and his development plan were back in the summer following a very successful season with the Seattle Thunderbirds for the 2022 seventh-overall pick. Was the plan in the summer always going to be having him with Chicago the full year?

“I think he had a really good opportunity to, but you never know,” Richardson continued. “He came in more mature and stronger from last year. He had a lot of good experiences last year too, going to the Memorial Cup and World Juniors, so there has been a lot of growth in his game and him as a person from last training camp to this year.”

Saturday’s game against the Florida Panthers will be the tenth game of the season that Korchinski has played, pushing him past the nine-game threshold that rookies have to play in the NHL before the first year of their entry-level contract kicks-in. For Korchinski, that means he’ll be a restricted free agent in the summer of 2026 and if he plays more than 40 games this season, he’ll become an unrestricted free agent one year earlier than expected.

Here’s where Kevin Korchinksi ranks this season among 25 rookie defensemen in the NHL who have logged 80 minutes or more of 5v5 ice time (via Natural StatTrick):

• TOI: 149:36 (8th)
• Corsi-For%: 49.54 (11th)
• Shots-For%: 51.15 (11th)
• Expected Goals-For%: 47.70 (17th)
• High-Danger Chances-For%: 46.88 (16th)
• PDO (on-ice shooting % plus save %): 0.891 (25th)

Outside of his 5v5 PDO, this underlying numbers haven’t been bad for Korchinski as he gets his first taste of the NHL. He is doing so while spending time next to veterans Connor Murphy and Seth Jones on the second and first-pairs for Chicago defensively, a role not many 19-year-old players are asked to handle. He’s also just one of six rookie defensemen to log 20+ minutes of powerplay time to begin this season and ranks 4th among all rookies in average ice-time with 19:49 per game.

While having him in Chicago appears to be the most beneficial for Korchinski, there’s plenty of people North of the border who are keeping tabs on him as the month of November begins and the December 10 opening of Team Canada’s 2024 World Junior Championship training camp opens. The defending Gold Medalists would surely welcome having Korchinski back for his second go-around at the tournament, held in Sweden this year.

Have there been any discussions about making Korchinski available for the World Juniors? According to Richardson, “That’s unlikely. It’s a surprise to me if it happens.”

Sorry, Canada.

Mario Tirabasi is keeping tabs on the amateur ranks in North America. He will make a deep dive into the NCAA ranks and the Canadian junior leagues. Greg Boysen is focused on the Rockford IceHogs in the American Hockey League (AHL) and all the players playing professionally across Europe.

Mario: Landon Slaggert’s goal-per-game pace is totally sustainable, Martin Mišiak pacing OHL prospects

A prospect that Chicago Blackhawks fans might have forgotten about over the past year because of the hoopla surrounding the Connor Bedard sweepstakes and the eventual drafting of him and Oliver Moore in the first round, along with with emergence of offensive options like Frank Nazar and Lukas Reichel, is Notre Dame’s Landon Slaggert. The 2020 third-round pick enters his fourth season of college hockey serving as the captain of the Irish and is off to a hot start with seven goals in seven games to start the year as one of the top goal-scorers in the NCAA.

• Obviously the headline is tongue-in-cheek, but Slaggert’s hot start is likely a product of his health to start this season, the expectations of wearing the “C” for one of the nation’s top programs, and being out to prove that last season’s down year was a fluke for the South Bend native.

• Slaggert’s seven goals to begin the season have him ranked in a four-way tie for second in the country, behind Macklin Celebrini‘s eight goals to begin the year. He was also named the Big Ten Third-Star of the week for his four-goal performance this past weekend.
• Speaking of Macklin Celebrini, the top prospect in the 2024 NHL Draft Class has eight goals and 11 points in his first six NCAA games with Boston University.
• His Boston University teammate and maybe future Blackhawks teammate Ryan Greene is having a good start to his second year at BU. With two goals and five points in six games for the Terriers, Greene ranks tied for fourth on the team in scoring.

• With a three-assist night against Lindenwood on Saturday night, Frank Nazar moved his point total to seven through eight games to begin his second year at Michigan. His seven points match his total in his shortened season last year as a freshman after missing most of the year due to hip surgery.
• After being ranked at the top of the NCAA for a week, Oliver Moore and Sam Rinzel were both held off the scoresheets as the Golden Gophers were upset in a weekend sweep against the Wisconsin Badgers. Moore has six points in six games to begin his freshman season, tied for second on the team in scoring. Rinzel’s three points lead all Minnesota defensemen.
• I just had to get that note in there as a Badger.
• A defenseman that the Blackhawks might be keeping tabs on in his third NCAA season this year is Providence’s Taige Harding. The six-foot-seven defender had 13 points in 37 games last season for the Friars and was able to score his first goal of the season this past weekend with a tally against Vermont.

• Harding’s frame made him a project pick when he was taken in the third-round of the 2021 NHL Draft, but I think that gives him a bit of an inside track to making an impression on the Blackhawks, who have grown to really like sizable defensemen in recent years.
• Moving on to the CHL (OHL) portion of the North American pipeline, Kingston’s Captain Paul Ludwinski was named the OHL’s Performer of the Week after a two-goal, two-assist performance for the Frontenacs.

• Ludwinski is one of four Blackhawks prospects playing at or near a point-per-game pace to begin the year in the OHL, alongside Gavin Hayes, Nick Lardis, and Martin Mišiak.
• 2023 third-round pick Nick Lardis is off to a hot start in Brantford with a goal-scoring pace of 48 in 68 OHL games if he were to keep up his eight goals in 11 games pace he has started the season with. But, he has just one assist in these first 11 games, so he would finish the season on this pace with 48 goals and seven assists.
• That would be a hilarious stat-line to finish with.
• Gavin Hayes is another point-per-game player in the OHL with six goals and ten points in ten games for the Flint Firebirds.

• Hayes spent the final days of his 2022-23 season with the Rockford IceHogs as they pushed into the postseason and was an extended-stay prospect in training camp with the Blackhawks this season, both bode well for his status within the organization. Also, Hayes looks to be at least an invitee to Team USA’s World Junior Championships camp in December, which would be a great accomplishment for the 2022 third-round pick.
• Also likely to join Hayes at the World Juniors this December and January is Slovakian prospect Martin Mišiak, who ranks third on the Erie Otters in points this season as an OHL rookie with five goals and 12 points in 13 games. Mišiak was held off the scoresheet in the most recent game for the Otters, which ended a five-game scoring streak for the 2023 second-round Blackhawks pick that saw him record three goals and eight points over that stretch.
• Mišiak’s 12 points leads all Blackhawks OHL prospects.
• Finally, cheers to Sudbury Wolves forward and 2023 fourth-round pick Alex Pharand getting his first goal of the season this past weekend!

• Pharand has that goal and two assists in 12 games to begin his second OHL season in Sudbury.

Greg: Drew Commesso is a wall in the AHL, while Jiri Felcman stays hot in Switzerland

The Rockford IceHogs had a successful weekend defending home ice at the BMO Center. First, they rolled the Iowa Wild 6-2 on Friday night. They followed that up with a 3-0 shutout of the Grand Rapids Griffins the next night. The IceHogs are now 3-2-0 in the young season and are just two points behind the Texas Stars and Manitoba Moose, who are tied for first place. They will play a pair of games north of the border at the Moose this weekend.

• Jaxson Stauber rebounded nicely in his first start since giving up seven goals to the San Jose Barracuda opening weekend. He made 22 saves to earn his first win of the season against the Wild. He didn’t give up a goal until late in the second period when the IceHogs already had a 5-0 lead. Stauber even picked up his first AHL assist on David Gust’s opening goal.

• Ryder Rolston was named Friday’s First Star of the Game for his goal and assist. I had a feeling his game would translate well to the AHL, and so far, he’s proving me right. He has two goals and an assist in his first five AHL games.

• Rolston’s assist came on Michal Teply’s second-period goal. This could be Teply’s final season with the organization unless he has a breakout year. The 2019 fourth-round pick is off to a solid start with a pair of goals.
• After picking up his first professional point with an assist on Friday, Ethan Del Mastro notched his first professional goal to open the scoring on Saturday. He crashed the net and banged home a rebound for the eventual game-winning tally.

• Speaking of professional firsts, Drew Commesso stopped all 18 Griffins shots he faced to earn his first AHL shutout. The young netminder is 2-1-0 with a .928 save percentage (SV%) and 2.02 goals-against average (GAA) as he settles in nicely to the rigors of an AHL season.

• Cole Guttman assisted on two of the three IceHogs’ goals Saturday night. Since being reassigned to the AHL, he has three assists in three games.
• Marcel Marcel could be making his AHL debut this weekend. He was medically cleared to play on Sunday after missing the start of the season with a right-hand injury.

Let’s make our weekly trip overseas to check in on the Blackhawks’ prospects playing in Europe. This season the organization is represented in Russia, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, and Czechia.

• Starting in the KHL, Ilya Safonov notched a goal on Friday, giving him goals in two straight games. That streak came to an end in Saturday’s 2-1 loss to Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk. The 2021 fourth-round pick has six goals and nine points in 23 games for Ak Bars Kazan, with half of his goals coming in the last seven contests.
• Roman Kantserov has gone pointless in his last six games for Metallurg Magnitogorsk while averaging under 11 minutes a night during that span.
• In Sweden, Victor Stjernborg had an assist in Växjö Lakers HC’s 4-2 win over Örebro HK. The 20-year forward has two goals and four points in 13 SHL games.
• Milton Oscarson was on the losing end to Stjernborg and Växjö last week, but he was the offensive star for Örebro by scoring a goal and assisting on the other. This was the 2023 sixth-round pick’s first multi-point game in the SHL.

• Making the quick trip over to Finland, where Riku Tohila scored his first career Liiga goal on Friday. This is the lone point for the 6-foot-8 center in eight games in his native country’s top league. He has three goals and an assist in seven games in the U20 league.

• Jiri Felcman had a big week for Langnau in Switzerland’s U20 league. He had a goal and an assist on Wednesday and added another helper on Sunday. The 18-year-old center has six goals and 15 points in 12 U20-Elite games. He has played three games in the National League, two for the SCL Tigers and one on loan to the Bellinzona Rockets, where he picked up an assist for his first professional point. Felcman was also named to the Czechia U20 national team for the upcoming Five Nations tournament.

• Finally, in Czechia, defenseman Michael Krutil scored for HC Stadion Litoměřice. The fourth-rounder from 2020 has two goals and four points in his last four games in Czechia’s second-tier league.

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Now, onto this week’s Blackhawks Beat.

You may have missed this piece of news last week, but the NHL is likely doing away with one of their coolest and most unique events … the centralized NHL Draft.

Centralized? What the hell does that mean, Jay?

Every year, when the NHL holds its entry draft, each team gathers in front of the stage at designated team tables. GMs, assistant GMs, scouts, owners, and other executives all gather together to draft. Every team, every exec, all within 100 feet of each other for the entirety of the draft. Fans and media in the arena can watch, in real time, if a GM gets up to talk to another GM. They can see teams interacting with each other and reacting to the draft as picks happen.

Two weeks ago, the league sent a survey to NHL teams asking if they supported the decision to decentralize the draft. The vast majority voted yes, so it looks like 2024 will be our last chance to experience the draft in its current format.

So why is the NHL doing this?

The bottom line is money. It’s expensive for teams to fly, board, feed, and accommodate their staff for a week in a road city. Some teams have also expressed concerns over the proximity of the draft to free agency, which usually happens the week after the draft.

Fine … but here’s the thing. Does it have to be all or nothing? Couldn’t teams send fewer people? Couldn’t the league move free agency back a week? Why does it have to be a complete elimination of one of the NHL’s coolest features? Now the NHL will be like the NBA and NFL with all picks being made remotely.

From a personal and somewhat selfish standpoint, 2023 was my first time covering the draft in person. It allowed all of us at CHGO a unique networking opportunity. We got to work around some of the biggest names in hockey media and interact with some of the biggest executives in the game. I know that doesn’t matter to the average NHL fan, but it makes everyone wearing an NHL credential a better and more informed journalist.

I implore the NHL and their teams to think of the fans. The current format leads to so much more intrigue for the viewer and fans. Get creative and find a way to make this work. It’s so rare that the NHL has an entertainment edge on the other big leagues in sports. Why take away something so unique to the game we love? I hope they reconsider.

The Week Ahead

Saturday – vs Florida Panthers

The Panthers are currently sixth in the eight-team Atlantic Division, and they have a winning 4-3-1 record. That’s how stacked the Atlantic is this year. The defending Eastern Conference Champs aren’t off to the start they expected, but should still be in strong position for a playoff spot when the season wraps up. Last year, they proved they can make a deep run in spite of a low playoff spot. They’ve been without defensive stalwarts Brandon Montour and Aaron Ekblad so far this season, but both are expected to be back in the lineup by Saturday. Oliver Ekman-Larsson has been an unexpectedly solid addition in their absence.

Sunday – vs New Jersey Devils

The Devils are the NHL’s next big thing. They’re young, fast, and ready to win. They’re off to a 5-2-1 start, led by the offensive fireworks of 2019 No. 1 overall pick Jack Hughes. In eight games this season, Hughes has 5 goals and 13 assists for 18 points. You read that correctly … 18 points in 8 games. And he’s 22 years old. Hughes is hardly a one-man show, though. Jesper Bratt, Timo Meier, Dougie Hamilton and rookie Luke Hughes (Jack’s brother) are just a few of the names that make up a stacked Devils roster. To me, they are the most exciting team in hockey, right up there with the Colorado Avalanche. Their biggest question is in goal. Both Vitek Vanecek and Akira Schmid have sub-.900 save percentages and goals against averages of 3.24 and 4.07 respectively.

If the Devils can get their goaltending even up to league average, they’re going to be very dangerous.

Have a great week, Blackhawks fans. We’ll see you back here next Tuesday.

Headline Photo Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

The Blackhawks were feeling good after a 4-1 win at the Toronto Maple Leafs but have since lost to the Colorado Avalanche, Vegas Golden Knights, and Boston Bruins by a combined score of 12-3.

“I’m tired,” a very disappointed head coach, Luke Richardson, said after Tuesday’s 3-0 loss to the Bruins. “One year is enough of ‘we’re a hard-working team.’ We want to push for more this year. I think we start with good intentions, but the other teams – not outwork us, work ethic-wise, but the hardness of the work, like physical one-on-one battles. We’ve got to work on that in practice. This is how you’ve got to play every shift in every game.”

The veterans in the locker room echoed their frustrations following this rugged stretch of games, but they aren’t using their competition as an excuse.

“You see the schedule at the start of the season, and you know what to expect coming in,” said forward Corey Perry. “Yeah, you can say it’s been tough. A lot of the games, for the most part, we’ve been in. It’s just that one mistake, and the game’s over.”

Defenseman Jarred Tinordi had the same line of thought on Tuesday night but was encouraged that the Blackhawks are hanging with the top teams in the NHL. They just need to find that extra gear.

“I think we have some lapses in our play, especially in these last two games, where the other teams have been able to capitalize on. We’re playing good teams right now, and that’s what good teams do. We have stretches where we’re playing good hockey. And then we have one or two shifts or a five-minute lull in our game that end up costing us.”

Richardson promised a hard practice after Tuesday’s game. He gave the team Wednesday off but told them to expect a “high compete, high level, skating practice.” The team responded with intensity from start to finish.

“We took a couple of drills that maybe aren’t like the look of a game situation, like the one battle drill,” said Richardson. “It’s certainly nice and tight together, but it gets them used to playing and making high-pressure decisions and quick, you know, instances, and that sometimes happens all over the ice.”

The players met the media in the locker room, more out of breath than usual and with extra fog on their visors. After putting in their work, the team was in good spirits and very talkative. They certainly aren’t buying into the tough schedule narrative.

Nick Foligno heard Richardson’s comments and agreed with what he had to say. He played with the Bruins the last two seasons, so he knows that hard work in practice translates to success on the ice.

“That’s the standard we have to get to and understand in this room,” he said. “Luke shouldn’t have to say it. But I know we’re a younger team where it’s got almost to be second nature here. That’s just the bare minimum – to compete and put your nose over the puck, the hard areas of the game. That’s where success is in this league. I think guys need to understand that, and we need to do a better job of making sure we understand that.”

“But I think the message was clear today and how we need to play. A lot of his is just will and getting on the same page. You can do all the Xs and Os you want, but if you’re not willing to pay a price on the wall, or in front of the net, or getting guys out of the front of your net, it’s hard to win in this league.”

Foligno was hopeful that the young guys got an understanding of that level and that they need to maintain, not just on the practice ice but in the games, too. He added that sending a message like this amid a stretch playing against championship-caliber teams has value.

Connor Bedard got the message and called today the best practice of the season. This is not surprising when you see the rookie’s work ethic and desire to be the best player humanly possible.

“That was a lot of fun,” he admitted. “We’re competing, but we’re having fun. It’s like a game. You’ve got to battle. You’ve got to battle hard. So, it’s good.”

Bedard took Richardson’s message to heart and said his post-game comments were right.

“He’s a great coach, and we all have so much respect for him. So, whenever he talks, we listen. We’ve got to get the motivation to set that bar despite the caliber of the guys we’ve been going up against. You’ve to raise that bar of expectations and have high standards.”

It certainly appears that the locker room has received the message and is ready to buy in. They are not using this brutal schedule as an excuse, but this start makes it hard to gauge exactly where this team is. Friday’s rematch against Vegas makes the Blackhawks the first team in NHL history to play four straight games against an undefeated team.

There isn’t a reprieve coming any time soon, either. After Monday’s game at the Arizona Coyotes, the Blackhawks return home to play the Florida Panthers and New Jersey Devils on back-to-back nights. Then it’s off to the Sunshine State for games at the Tampa Bay Lightning and Panthers before returning home for another tilt with the Bolts.

The start of a new season is tough for any team, but when you factor in all the new faces and young players on this roster and the quality of opponents, the Blackhawks have an even harder time finding their identity. One thing is clear after today: they won’t stop working on it.

Oh, we are SO BACK!

The Rebuild Report, that is. The Blackhawks … they’re still years away from truly being “back.” But since we last spoke to you on these here Rebuild Report pages, the Blackhawks are closer to the end of the rebuild process, and much of that can be attributed to winning the NHL Draft Lottery and getting Connor Bedard.

As we move forward into the 2023-24 season, the focus is no longer on getting Bedard and having him be the accelerator of the rebuilding process. That part of the plan is done. Now, we focus on the parts around Bedard in the organization as GM Kyle Davidson continues to build a team from the bottom-up in the organization to hopefully replicate and extend the window of success the Blackhawks enjoyed in the late 2000s and 2010s.

This season’s Blackhawks have a few more players on the NHL roster that matter when it comes to the rebuild, like Bedard, Kevin Korchinski, Alex Vlasic, and Lukas Reichel, so we’ll caution you that you won’t be hearing about them that much in the Rebuild Reports this year — barring the unlikely events of any of them being sent down to the Rockford IceHogs or back to their respective Junior clubs.

Instead, this year’s edition of the Rebuild Report will have a different feel to it as a number of the Junior and NCAA prospects have graduated from Mario’s beat (CHL and NCAA) to Greg’s beat (Europe and Rockford IceHogs).

Also, a new crop of draft picks have entered the fray — players who are already making major impacts on their NCAA, CHL, and European clubs.

Without any further ado, here’s the first edition of the Chicago Blackhawks Rebuild Report for the 2023-24 season!

Mario Tirabassi: ‘Speed Kills’ as Frank Nazar and Oliver Moore takeoff to begin NCAA season

After the dust started to settle on the draft floor around the Blackhawks selecting Bedard first overall at the NHL Draft last June, Davidson began trying his best to move up in the first round to make sure he could get Oliver Moore. Even though he was unable to get any teams to bite on moving down for the Blackhawks, Moore still fell right into his lap at the 19th pick.

Boy, does that look incredibly lucky right about now.

• Moore is a true freshman at the University of Minnesota this season, a team that lost Logan Cooley and Matthew Knies from their roster last season. The opportunity for Moore to step into a big role for the Gophers was there to begin the season, and he has run with it. Regarded as the best skater in the 2023 NHL Draft class, Moore has six points in his first four NCAA games with one goal and five assists.

• Moore and his Blackhawks prospect teammate Sam Rinzel, who has three assists in four games for Minnesota, have the team ranked No. 1 in the country.

Frank Nazar is another speedster up-front in the Blackhawks organization who is looking more and more like a future key to the rebuild. He already had those expectations last season after being picked 13th overall in the 2022 NHL Draft. But after missing nearly his entire freshman season at Michigan last year, Nazar has a lot to prove this season in a top-six role for the Wolverines. After the program lost Adam Fantilli, Luke Hughes, and Mackie Samoskevich, Nazar is taking his opportunity to be a leader for the Michigan program.

• In six games to start the season, Nazar has four points and is part of a five-way tie for second on the team in goals. Michigan is currently ranked No. 6 in the NCAA.

Staying in the Big Ten, the Notre Dame program is being led this season by senior captain and Blackhawks 2020 third-round draft pick Landon Slaggert. There was some speculation that Slaggert could have turned pro after last season with Notre Dame, a season that saw him deal with a number of injuries and a career-low 13 points in 35 games.

• Slaggert returned for a fourth season to play for the Irish under his head coach and dad, Andy Slaggert, and to play with his younger brother Carter after having the chance to play with his older brother Graham previously. Hard to argue with those choices.

• The middle Slaggert child is off to a good goal-scoring start for the Irish, with three goals in his first five games of the season.
• If I’m handicapping it, I’ll be shocked if Slaggert AND Nazar are not playing professionally for the Blackhawks organization in April.

Unfortunate news right at the beginning of the NCAA season for Minnesota-Duluth’s Dominic James as he sustained a shoulder injury that required season-ending surgery in the second game of the season.

Another 2023 NHL Draft pick not named Bedard to keep tabs on this season is Martin Mišiak.

• A second-round pick by the Blackhawks from the Youngstown Phantoms in the USHL, Mišiak came over State-side from Slovakia last year to join the Phantoms and helped them win the Clark Cup. Following being selected by the Blackhawks 55th overall, Mišiak was selected first overall in the CHL Import Draft by the OHL’s Erie Otters.

• In ten games with the Otters to begin the year, Mišiak has four goals and nine points, good for a tie for second on the club in scoring.

Nick Lardis has six goals in his first eight games of the year. He was selected by the Blackhawks in the second round last summer and is starting the season with the OHL’s Brantford Bulldogs.

• Lardis was picked 67th overall by Chicago and was widely regarded as a steal for the club at that position. He tallied 37 goals and 65 points in 69 OHL games last season, splitting time between Hamilton/Brantford and the Peterborough Petes.

Expect to hear A LOT about the OHL this season from me in these Rebuild Reports because that is the only CHL league that the Blackhawks have any prospects playing in this season in Canada.

• The WHL was populated by Colton Dach, Nolan Allan, Korchinski, and Jalen Luypen last season, but all have turned pro, and it looks less and less likely as the NHL season continues that Korchinski is headed back to “the dub” anytime soon.
  
• The other CHL league that will be unpopulated by the Blackhawks prospect system this year is the QMJHL after Gatineau’s Marcel Marcel signed an AHL contract this offseason after being selected by Chicago in the fifth round of the draft and Samuel Savoie’s season was ended with a broken femur in the preseason.
  
• Finally, if you’re new to the Rebuild Report, we don’t only focus on the Blackhawks’ current prospects but also on players who could join the ranks of the Chicago prospect system in the future. Players who are 2024 NHL Draft-eligible and playing in North America that will be of great interest to Blackhawks fans this season include names like Macklin Celebrini (Boston University), Cole Eiserman (USNTDP), Sam Dickinson (London Knights), Berkly Catton (Spokane Chiefs), Henry Mews (Ottawa 67s), and Cole Hutson (USNTDP), just to name a few.

Greg Boysen: IceHogs Off to Slow Start, European Prospects Fill the Scoresheet

The Rockford IceHogs are off to a 1-2-0 start to their American Hockey League (AHL) season. They started by swapping 7-2 decisions at the San Jose Barracuda before dropping their home opener to the Chicago Wolves 5-3 last Saturday night. They will be at the BMO Center all weekend with games against the Iowa Wild on Friday and the Grand Rapids Griffins on Saturday.

• Through three games, it is a pair of AHL veterans who are leading the way. Joey Anderson has two goals and six points, while David Gust has a pair of goals and five points.
• Rockford’s blue line is stacked with defensive prospects this season. Despite allowing 14 goals already, the young group is off to a solid start. Isaak Phillips leads the way with a goal and an assist, both coming on the power play. In fact, he is the only IceHogs defenseman with a point in the young season. Ethan Del Mastro, Nolan Allan, Filip Roos, and Louis Crevier have yet to find the scoresheet.
• Ryder Rolston scored his first professional goal in the season-opening win over the Barracuda. Jaylen Luypen picked up his first AHL point with the primary assist on the play. He added a second helper later in the game.

• Michal Teply is back for his third season with the IceHogs. It’s hard to imagine that he is still in the Blackhawks’ long-term plans, but a huge season could change that. We have seen flashes of Teply being a very good offensive threat the last two seasons, but consistency has been lacking. He scored a goal in the opening-night win in San Jose.
• Cole Guttman, who was sent back to Rockford last Saturday morning, picked up an assist in the loss to the Wolves. He spent the game centering the IceHogs’ top line.
• Drew Commesso, who switched his number from 29 to 33, has started two of the three games this season. He is 1-1-0 with a 3.04 goals-against average (GAA) and a .908 save percentage (SV%). Jaxson Stauber had a rough outing in San Jose, allowing seven goals on 49 shots for a .857 SV%.

Let’s start our trip across Europe in Sweden, where a trio of recent draft picks are playing. The veteran of the group, 20-year-old Victor Stjernborn, is playing full-time in the SHL for Vaxjo Lakers HC. He scored a goal for the defending champions’ most recent victory. Overall, the 2021 fourth-round draft pick has two goals and an assist in 11 games while averaging over 13 minutes a night.

• Milton Oscarson, a member of the most recent draft class, is in his second full season in the SHL with Orebro HK. The 6-foot-7 forward has a goal and an assist in 12 games. He has 10 shots on goal while playing about 14 minutes per outing.

• Nils Juntorp is back in his native Sweden after spending last season in the USHL. The 2022 sixth-round pick has a goal and three points in seven games for Kristianstads IK in HockeyEttan, Sweden’s third-tier league.
• Heading over to Russia, Ilya Safonov is looking to build off a breakout 2022-23 KHL season. He got off to a slow start for Ak Bars Kazan but picked it up of late. Since Oct. 1, he has four goals and seven points in 10 games.

• Roman Kantserov has started his first full season in the KHL with Metallurg Magnitogorsk after just one game in Russia’s top league last season. The 2023 second-round pick has started to find the scoresheet on a consistent basis after struggling early. He had two goals and five points in 20 games. Highlights like the one below show you exactly why the front office is excited about his potential, and you should be too.

• Riku Tohila has split his season between Finland’s top professional league and the U20 team. In 6 Liiga games for JYP, the 6-foot-8 center has no points. He has three goals and an assist in seven U20 games. The ice time differential is significant. The 2022 seventh-round pick is playing over 16 minutes a night at the U20 level but only about nine minutes in Liiga.
• Defenseman Janne Peltonen, drafted in the seventh round of the most recent draft, is also playing in Finland’s U20 league. In 17 games for Karpat U20, he has two goals and seven points while being a plus-4. The young blueliner is playing big minutes, playing over 21 minutes multiple times this season.
• Michael Krutil, still under contract with HC Sparta Praha, has been bouncing around the top two tiers of Czechia hockey. He’s had the most success in his native country’s equivalent to the AHL, with a goal and six points in eight games for HC Stadion Litomerice.
• Finally, let’s stop in Switzerland to check up on 2023 third-rounder Jiri Felcman. He’s made a brief appearance in both the NL and SL but has spent the most time in the U20-Elit league. He’s been an offensive force with five goals and 12 points in 10 games for Langnau U20.

That’s it for today! Remember to become a CHGO Diehard to get access to these Rebuild Reports all season long!

The home team thought they struck first when Connor Bedard appeared to score his second power-play goal in as many games. However, the Bruins challenged the zone entry, and the review showed Andreas Athanasiou was offside on the play.

Paval Zacha scored the game’s first goal that counted by redirecting a Kevin Shattenkirk shot past Petr Mrazek. The Blackhawks were lucky to get out of the sandwich stanza only down a goal as Boston outshot them 18-7.

The game got out of hand in the opening minutes of the third period. First, Matthew Poitras stole the puck from Corey Perry in the neutral zone, then beat him down the ice to tuck the puck past Mrazek. Trent Frederic gave Boston a 3-0 lead just 56 seconds later by driving hard to the net.

This was another case of the Blackhawks just not having enough talent to keep up with an elite team. Much last the last time out against the Vegas Golden Knights, they were right there for two periods then fell apart in the final frame.

Greg Boysen: Nick Foligno Makes Most of Top Line Opportunity

With Taylor Hall now on injured reserve, the door was open for a new veteran to step up and play with Bedard. Luke Richardson decided to put two “gray beards” with the rookie phenom for the rematch against the Bruins. Tyler Johnson and Nick Foligno were the lucky players to get the first crack at the top line.

“It’s hard to have a guy like him out of the lineup because of what he means to our team,” Foligno said of Hall. “It’s a great opportunity for a team still trying to find its identity, for a guy to step in and show what he can do.”

After Tuesday’s morning skate, Foligno was very optimistic about the new line combination.

“I’m excited. I think it will be fun to play with him,” he said. “I’m excited to play with Johnny, too. I think that will be a great line in the sense of what we can accomplish together—especially having TJ on the right side. He’s an experienced guy who knows how to play. He can help Connor and help ourselves have some success. When the opportunities present themselves, we have to make sure we capitalize on them. Nothing changes in how I play. Hopefully, we can complement each other well.”

Foligno was not overwhelmed with the assignment and had himself a pretty good night. Eventually, in the third period, Johnson was taken off the top line and replaced with Philipp Kurashev. The original line had seven shot attempts and eight against while at 5v5.

The cagey veteran finished his night with a team-high three shots on goal, five shot attempts, a hit, and a takeaway. He had a 44 CF%, the third-best among all Blackhawks forwards. While you didn’t sign Foligno to be a top-line winger, he certainly deserves to be back on the line Friday in Vegas.

Jay Zawaski: The NHL’s offside review system is trash

This is going to come off as sour grapes, but I don’t care because I’m right.

Midway through the first period, Connor Bedard looked to have scored a beautiful power play goal. Charlie Coyle threw a blind pass to the slot, and Bedard one timed the attempt, ripping it past Boston goalie Jeremy Swayman. 

The Bruins challenged the play because several moments earlier, they thought Andreas Athanasiou might have had a shoelace offside. 

Ultimately, the Bruins won the challenge, and the goal was disallowed. 

I understand that technology exists to get calls right. For the most part, I believe that is a good thing. Are two feet in bounds in the NFL? Was that home run fair or foul? Was the baserunner safe or out? All of these reviews make sense because they are reviewing the specific moment of the play. Most of the time, this is not the case with NHL offside.

The spirit of the NHL’s offside rule is to prevent cherry picking. If a player is trying to cherry pick, it will be glaringly obvious to the linesmen and the call will be easy. 

Still want the rule to be frame-by-frame perfect? Okay, fine. Then the NHL should put a time limit on the offside challenge. Athansiou’s offside was about 22 seconds before Bedard put the puck behind Swayman. In no way did it impact the ultimate result of the play. In fact, the Bruins had retrieved and turned over the puck between the offside and the goal. 

Goals are exciting. Offside reviews are not. It’s time to re-evaluate this rule.

Mario Tirabassi: I’m Starting to Worry About Lukas Reichel

I know I shouldn’t be, but I’m starting to worry that Lukas Reichel is being put in a position to not be Lukas Reichel.

I trust Luke Richardson enough to not question his decision-making process at this stage in the game because, based off of his current track record as a coach and the 1,486 career NHL games he played more than I did, he knows what he’s doing. Richardson spoke before tonight’s game about Reichel’s play at center and that he is not worried about it. Not worried about it affecting his confidence. Lukas Reichel also spoke about his game as a center in the NHL and that he is not worried about it and not worried about his confidence.

Well, I am.

Among 20 Blackhawks skaters that have played 25 minutes of 5v5 ice time this season, here are Reichel’s advanced metrics when he is on the ice and how he ranks on the team, according to Natural StatTrick:

• Corsi-For% – 36.57% (18th)
• Shots-For% – 33.67% (18th)
• Goals For – 0
• Goals Against – 5 (Most goals against of any player with zero goals for)
• Expected Goals-For% – 40.29% (15th)
• Scoring Chances-For% – 36.26 (18th)
• High-Danger Chances-For% – 41.18% (11th)

All three categories that he ranks 18th out of 20, the two skaters lower than him are Cole Guttman (now in Rockford) and Nikita Zaitsev (the healthiest of scratches).

It’s just the first seven games of the season and this is the longest leash that Reichel has had to play center in the league since becoming a member of the Blackhawks organization, but he doesn’t look like the same player that gave us all the confidence in the world last season that he could step into the NHL and very quickly develop into a complimentary offense-generating option for Chicago behind Connor Bedard.

Playing center in the NHL comes with more physically demanding responsibilities than as a wing, including playing around the net defensively, winning more battles in the corners of your own zone, winning faceoffs, and having to cover more ice throughout the entirety of a game. Not to mention playing in a top-six center role means you are drawing more difficult matchups. I’m not looking to pull the plug yet on Reichel as a center in the NHL, but I’m starting to get itchy about it. With less defensive responsibilities and more room to be creative offensively, Reichel can let his talents with the puck shine, rather than hindering them so he can work on his two-way game more.

There’s an analogy I’ve grown to appreciate as a parent: If your child is getting a C+ in Math, but an A in Ninja Kicks, you don’t get a Math tutor, you get a Ninja coach.

Maybe that makes more sense to me than anyone else, but hopefully you get my point, which is to put a player in a position to be the best version of the player they are. Alex Ovechkin had his worst season when he was told to focus on his defensive game and backcheck more. Patrick Kane was not good as a centerman. Even as thin as the Blackhawks are down the middle, it’s totally fine if Lukas Reichel isn’t a good center, but can be a great winger.

Welcome to another edition of my weekly Blackhawks Beat. Each Tuesday, I share my thoughts on the Blackhawks topic that’s taken up most of my head space over the week. These first few are unlocked to everyone, then we’ll make them a Diehard-only perk, similar to Adam Hoge’s “Bears Things” newsletter.

Want to make sure you get them all year? You can become a Diehard today and not only get all my newsletters, but access to Mario and Greg’s weekly “Rebuild Report” and a free Hawks-inspired t-shirt as well!

We’re six games into the Blackhawks’ season and Connor Bedard’s NHL career. The young center has two goals and two assists in those games, and despite not filling the net with goals just yet, he’s been one of the best Blackhawks players. Maybe the best. The now-injured Taylor Hall, Ryan Donato and Taylor Raddysh have been his most consistent linemates so far.

Are they enough, or is it time for GM Kyle Davidson to bring in some scoring help for Bedard?

When the Blackhawks won the draft lottery, Davidson made it clear the Hawks wouldn’t stray from the rebuild plan.

“The rebuild was never based on first overall,” Davidson told CHGO. “We have to build a team. You look at any Cup team … it’s not just one guy. They all rise and play important roles in important moments. It’s never one person. (Getting Bedard) is just a bonus. That’s all it is. It doesn’t change the path. It doesn’t change what we’re doing.”

I agree with Davidson. They shouldn’t just throw the rebuild to the wind and go sign a bunch of free agents just to get a playoff spot.

However, if there is a player who makes sense for the team in the context of the rebuild, why not use some of the team’s many assets to find some help for Bedard?

Taylor Hall, whom the Hawks traded for this summer, will be one of those players for Bedard this season, but on Monday, coach Luke Richardson called Hall week-to-week with an upper-body injury. Even with Hall, I thought it might be a good idea to bring in some support. Now that he’s out, I really think it’s time as long as the move fits the long-term plan. This should not be a rental situation.

So what options does Davidson have in that regard?

NOTE: It’s important to keep in mind that NHL transactions don’t usually happen until Thanksgiving, thus limiting the Hawks’ options at the time.

Connor Garland – Vancouver Canucks

Vancouver winger Connor Garland has requested a trade from the cap-strapped Canucks. He also hired a new agent right before the season began. Garland wants out, and while a 27-year-old right winger doesn’t seem to make a ton of sense as we look three, four or five years into the future, his presence could help ease the offensive burden for Bedard, while still being an important piece when the Hawks are ready to compete for a playoff spot again.

Garland has three years left (including this season) on his contract and carries a $4.95 million cap hit. Vancouver needs to move this salary and has shown a willingness to eat some of the cap hit in order to make it work. The Hawks could be a tempting trade partner, as they’d likely be willing to eat the entire cap hit, especially if the trade piece going back to Vancouver is a low draft pick, a mid-level prospect, or everyone’s favorite journeyman player, F. Considerations.

In 327 NHL games, Garland has 84 goals and 112 assists. He’s not exactly Pavel Bure in terms of speed, but has some finish to his shot and is a bona fide top-six winger.

Shane Pinto – Ottawa Senators

This would be a dream scenario for the Blackhawks but is also the least likely. Pinto, 22, is a center and a restricted free agent. While he wouldn’t play on a line with Bedard, it would free up Lukas Reichel to move to Bedard’s line, should the Hawks decide the Reichel-at-center experiment is over.

The only reason Ottawa hasn’t re-signed Pinto is because of their cap situation. They certainly want him back, and are trying to make it work. If the Blackhawks, or any team, is going to pry Pinto away from Ottawa, it’s going to take a king’s ransom.

Would Davidson be willing to part with the latter of his first-round picks in the 2023 Draft? Would that be enough for Ottawa?

Probably not, however, the Hawks could look to help Ottawa get some cap space with a different trade, but that would be down the road.

Find a team loaded with forward prospects or NHL defensive issues

The Blackhawks have a glut of defensive prospects. Aside from current Blackhawks Kevin Korchinski (untouchable), Alex Vlasic (close to untouchable) and Wyatt Kaiser, the likes of Ethan Del Mastro, Isaak Phillips, Nolan Allan are working their way to the NHL via Rockford. Sam Rinzel and Taige Harding are on the radar, as well, but are still years away.

The Blackhawks have defensemen to move.

Toronto has cap issues and needs help on defense. None of the “in-the-system” prospects will appeal to the Leafs right now, as they’re looking to win a Cup…not develop a kid. The Hawks could move a veteran defenseman, like Connor Murphy, but that doesn’t solve the Leafs’ cap issues.

Buffalo is short on the defensive end, but seek a right-handed shot player, and like Toronto, Buffalo is in win now…or at least win soon…mode. The Hawks’ defensive prospects close to NHL time are all left-handed shots.

Sign Phil Kessel

This is just a nod to Mario Tirabassi, who’s been stumping for Kessel for a couple of years now. I mean, I wouldn’t be mad about it, but I’m not sure how much it actually helps.

This is the dilemma. Teams with cap issues are trying to win now, so a defensive prospect doesn’t help. Teams in situations like the Blackhawks, with young talent building towards their next generation, aren’t looking to deal.

If I’m Kyle Davidson, I’m making calls to Vancouver about Garland. It makes sense for both teams, and the Hawks have an advantage in that they can accommodate all of Garland’s cap hit. Removing that $4.95 million helps them out big time, and they could make him available to the Hawks for very little in return. Plus, you’d have to assume that Garland would be very excited about the opportunity to hop over the boards with Connor Bedard and Taylor Hall this season.

Chicago Blackhawks Upcoming Schedule

Tuesday – vs Boston Bruins

This will be the first “normal” game the Blackhawks will play this season. It’s not a home opener. It’s not a centennial celebration. It’s just a game, and I think the Hawks are very much looking forward to a normal game.

The Bruins, who beat the Hawks 3-1 in Boston on October 11, is 5-0 on the season. David Pastrnak (5 G, 3 A) and Brad Marchand (4 G, 3 A) lead the team in scoring, while the goaltending tandem of Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman have been absolutely lights out. It’s another big challenge in a season full of nothing but big challenges so far.

Friday – at Vegas Golden Knights

Holy crap the Golden Knights are steamrolling the league. Not only are they (also) undefeated, they have outscored their opponents 25-11 in their six games. They have a bigger goal differential than goals allowed. The Knights have six players averaging a point per game, including leading scorer Chandler Stephenson and William Karlsson (aka Great Value William Nylander).

Speaking of Friday, we’re hosting a watch party, presented by our friends at Goose Island, at Legends Grill and Bar, located at 9710 191st St. in Mokena. The puck drops at 5 pm, and we’ll host a postgame afterward. Come hang out!

Monday – at Arizona Coyotes

Oh, the Hawks are allowed to play a team with a loss? Who knew?

I’m really looking forward to this game. The Coyotes are 3-2 to start the season, and have a much better roster than they did last season. In addition to rookie phenom Logan Cooley, Arizona added Matt Dumba, Sean Durzi, Nick Bjugstad, and Jason Zucker.

Keep a close eye on Cooley, though. He will be one of Bedard’s top challengers for the Calder Trophy.

We’ll be back here next Tuesday. See you then.

Jay Zawaski