October 16, 2024 | 12:42pm ET
By Tab BAmford, TheFourthPeriod.com
WELCOME TO YEAR TWO OF THE BEDARD EXPERIENCE
Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images
Connor Bedard, centre
CHICAGO, IL — The 2023-24 season was, in many ways, an unmitigated disaster for the Chicago Blackhawks outside of a few bright spots, the most obvious of which was Connor Bedard’s Calder Trophy winning campaign.
Philipp Kurashev and Jason Dickinson blew away their previous career bests and Dickinson rightfully received some votes for the Selke Trophy, but injuries, off-ice drama and underwhelming performances led to a miserable 54-point season.
Last year, injuries piled up at an unprecedented rate for Chicago, forcing young players to play roles they weren’t ready for with players they probably shouldn’t have skated with for too long. At one point in early January, the Blackhawks acquired one career AHL forward and made two waiver claims in a 48-hour window just to have enough healthy bodies to put a roster on the ice.
That lack of depth and the front office’s firm commitment to developing their stockpile of prospects appropriately led to a drastic shift in course for the Blackhawks during the offseason. Even with a handful of young, promising players turning pro, Chicago General Manager Kyle Davidson heard the calls from his room to change the room and did precisely that.
In their exit interviews in April, both Nick Foligno and Seth Jones said the team needed to be harder to play against. Jones used the phrase “identity players” who knew their role and played it hard every night.
Fast forward to July 1. The Blackhawks surprised a lot of people when they signed seven free agents and acquired a veteran forward from Vancouver to restock their NHL roster. And almost every one of them told the media they were personally recruited to come to Chicago by Foligno.
Foligno was named the permanent captain of the Blackhawks at the start of training camp, a role he played with only an A on his chest last year as the organization left the C empty for a year out of respect for Jonathan Toews. With Foligno assuming the role of both captain and lead recruiter, a new-look roster took the ice in training camp with hopes of being more competitive.
Well, they took the ice for practices. The Blackhawks are still a rebuilding organization in transition, so most of their preseason games were devoted to seeing young players in action against AHL and NHL players. When the regular-season began, there was still a fair amount of learning to do about the Blackhawks’ roster, who was skating where and how the pieces fit together.
On the blueline, Davidson replaced the likes of Jaycob Megna and Jarred Tinordi with Alec Martinez and T.J. Brodie. Up front, the Blackhawks added some skill top their top six with Teuvo Teräväinen – who started his career in Chicago – and Tyler Bertuzzi. Chicago also added depth players who fit Jones’ “identity” role in Pat Maroon, Craig Smith and Ilya Mikheyev. In net, the Blackhawks brought in Laurent Brossoit to provide better veteran depth.
Lots of recognizable names added. And there are hopes for veterans like Taylor Hall to return from injury and make an impact on the lineup; he was limited to only ten games in his first season with the Blackhawks because of a torn ACL.
But we didn’t see the full lineup in action more than one game – and ugly loss to Minnesota – during the preseason. So how would they look on a season-opening four-game road trip that, on paper, didn’t look very favorable for Chicago?
The first period of the new season – also the first period in the history of NHL hockey in Utah – was terrible. But the 11+ periods that followed showed a Blackhawks team that appears to be the more competitive, harder to play against version that the players and Head Coach Luke Richardson desired when they spoke with the media before their tee times lined up in April.
Chicago finished a four-game trip through Utah, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Calgary with a 1-2-1 mark, with the one win coming in surprisingly dominant fashion at the Oilers. The Blackhawks scored five goals in Edmonton; they scored four total in the other three games combined. Scoring is still going to be an issue even with the veteran additions.
Teräväinen has jumped onto the top line with Bedard and their chemistry is starting to develop nicely. They put on a show in Edmonton, combining for three goals and seven points. Beyond that line is where there are some questions.
But the defensive play has started the season better. Mikheyev has settled into a checking line role with Dickinson and Joey Anderson and the analytics love them as a defensive trio (they haven’t been scored against yet and have a positive shot differential at even strength while playing against opponents’ top lines).
One early bright spot for the Blackhawks – and one of the few breakout candidates on the roster because of the influx of veterans – is young defenseman Wyatt Kaiser. He missed most of training camp because of an illness and was on IR when the puck dropped in Utah, but has been rock solid in the three games in which he has appeared thus far. He follows Alex Vlasic into the NHL lineup on the conveyer belt of prospects that is churning in Chicago, and looks like a solid prospect who is now surrounded by experienced players.
Will the Blackhawks be a playoff team this year? It’s highly unlikely a team makes a jump from 54 points to the required number to play in the tournament, especially when you aren’t adding a transcendent superstar. But that wasn’t the immediate goal. The focus in Chicago this season is more consistent play and growth from the young players. All eyes will still be on Bedard, and he should get more help – and wins – this season.