Blackhawks’ Woes From Season Opener Should Raise Concern

How were they not dialed in before the season opener? The players worked all summer for this. Yes, Blashill moved everything around, and it showed because it looked like all the skaters were trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, but these are professionals; they need to be ready to go. That’s something to keep an eye on as we go through October. 

Everyone on Chicago just looked lost and out of place. Oliver Moore isn’t a first-line player, yet he was up on the left wing alongside Roman Kantserov and Patrick Kane. Moore was just paid to be a third-line guy for the next five years, and to move him on opening night up to the left wing on the first line was a curious choice. Frank Nazar, who just started his six-year contract at a $6.59 million average annual value (AAV), was the third-line center, when he should be being built to be the future second-line centtre. 

The best-looking line was the fourth line of Jordan Greenway, Cole Smith, and Ryan Greene. Greenway netted the first Blackhawks goal of the 2026-27 season; the trio worked hard all night long and deserve their flowers. 

Bedard is the catalyst on this offense; there’s no doubt about it. However, it’s the job of the coaches to work around it and find other ways to score. In the coming games, it may be best to just have all their current best options in the top six and hope they can pot some goals or at least generate more chances. Trying to change the lines and spread the wealth when they lack depth, have no chemistry, and have a bunch of young players still attempting to figure themselves out because of a shortened training camp and preseason is not the move.  

Defensive Woes and Flawed Systems

Defense has been a struggle for the Blackhawks, and unfortunately, it was again. The Blackhawks constantly got hemmed in their own zone and had no idea how to break the puck out. Most importantly, the transition defense was non-existent. There was a two-on-one for the Golden Knights every couple of minutes because the defensemen were either too far up or chose to pinch in at a bad moment. There wasn’t one defender you say that did a good enough job to win. 

Byram had a poor first game with the Blackhawks. In the third period, he came alive a little bit, but for most of the game, he lost battles for possession, let multiple shots get off, and didn’t lead the power play very well at all (he might’ve stuck out as the worst on the unit). Byram has plenty of time to pick it up, and nerves from trying to earn his whole extension in one go might’ve gotten to him. Plus, this was his first game as the number one on the blue line. Even number-one defenders make mistakes and Byram has time to settle into Chicago; he’ll just need to do it sooner rather than later, because the whole defensive corps revolves around him now. 

Alex Vlasic needs to start using his 6-foot-6 frame and box out more, and not be afraid to step up for a body check. Artyom Levshunov, who had a good preseason, looked lost on the penalty kill and was the reason the first goal happened, as he couldn’t cover Victor Olofsson. Those are the things that add up and can derail a gam, especially when the Blackhawks are counting on the two of them to get things done, which we’ll find out soon whether that’s a good thing. Without goaltender Spencer Knight’s heroics, the game could’ve easily been a blowout. 

The Blackhawks can’t expect to only play hard for one or two periods out of the full 60 minutes and expect to win a hockey game. The reason why this is concerning is that the exact same things that happened last season; the issues they tried to run away from crawled right back, including Knight needing to stand on his head to keep the game somewhat close.

The good news is: while last season started similarly when things went tumbling downhill in the season opener against the Florida Panthers, the Blackhawks ended up being in a playoff spot in November. While the playoff spot in November may not happen because of Bedard being out until then, hopefully things fall into place more as they play the next couple of games. This is only game one of 84, but the team cannot roll over like this without Bedard and need to be more engaged going into and through October.