The Blackhawks’ Rebuild Could Be At A Standstill

The Chicago Blackhawks are once again at the bottom of the NHL standings, a place they have unfortunately become quite familiar with over the past 5-10 years. The team has been in a rebuild for much of that time, and while the struggles have led to the acquisition of top young players like Connor Bedard and Anton Frondell, they haven’t taken big steps forward as a franchise, and their roster construction has become a major concern. The Blackhawks have stockpiled promising young talent, but the transition from collecting future assets to tangible on-ice results has been long and arduous.

This season, a 1-5 start (heading into Tuesday night) has exposed a Chicago roster that doesn’t appear ready to compete for a playoff spot. Granted, Bedard has only just returned to the lineup, but even if he helps them build on 12 goals in six games, he won’t do much to address the 26 goals the team has given up. Even if Bedard returned and kept up the point-per-game pace he posted last year, Chicago won’t outscore its defensive problems unless they make some major changes.

Losing games is part of the rebuilding process. In fact, it’s an important part of it. But losing should build growth, learning, grit, and tenacity, and, most importantly, progress. The Blackhawks are showing very little of that. Sure, individual players are getting better. Bedard certainly has. But losing due to normal growing pains is one thing; losing because of flawed roster construction and poor team play is another.

At this point, Chicago should be showing a more solid defensive structure, better puck management, and the ability to close out a lead. Yet even with a veteran-laden roster, those issues have persisted. Six games is a small sample size and hardly a reason to blow up the roster but looking unprepared for NHL games is a concern.

The Blackhawks have plenty of young talent beyond Bedard and Frondell. Up front, Frank Nazar, Oliver Moore, and Roman Kantserov are ready, while Sam Rinzel, Wyatt Kaiser, and Artyom Levshunov are on the back end. It’s a terrific list of prospects, and mixed with some solid veterans, it should create a more balanced lineup, but the 1-5 start says otherwise.

Bedard’s return from injury should certainly help, but it could also further expose Chicago’s dependency on him. Last year, the 21-year-old had 30 goals and 45 assists in 69 games, leading the Blackhawks’ offense by a wide margin, with just one other Blackhawks player (Tyler Bertuzzi) topping 50 points. Chicago finished 30th in the NHL in goals for and 27th in goals against, and thus far this year it looks like more of the same. Even with Bedard in the lineup last year, the Blackhawks’ power play clicked at 16.95%, so there should be a dramatic improvement this year with him back in the lineup, as they have scored just once on 14 power-play tries. All of that is to say that Bedard won’t solve all of Chicago’s problems, and he certainly won’t fix their defensive breakdowns. Even if the Blackhawks improve dramatically with Bedard back in the lineup, he will only be masking the flaws in a very poor roster.

The focus will largely shift to Bedard for the next few games, but the Blackhawks need to address their defensive problems before they are out of the playoff race by American Thanksgiving. Chicago has suffered a couple of lopsided losses to Carolina (5-2) and Utah (6-0), largely because they give up a pile of high-danger looks and can’t move the puck out of their zone. Young teams are expected to go through defensive growing pains, but at some point, the head coach and general manager need to identify issues and make progress on solutions.

It’s a tough assignment for head coach Jeff Blashill, who is expected to develop young players while keeping the team in games. Blashill has an uphill battle this season to implement a more effective defensive structure, get the players to execute it, and find ways to place young players in roles that support both the team on the ice and their development. It’s not an easy task.

GM Kyle Davidson has spent years acquiring assets and shaping the roster into one that can compete, but the second half of that statement has yet to come to fruition. The Blackhawks have a nice catalogue of draft picks and rank highly in prospect rankings, but at some point, a team needs to take shape to compete nightly. Prospect projections are fun, and it’s nice to be optimistic about the future, but eventually those prospects have to become solid NHL contributors, either by developing into that or by being traded for NHL contributors. Potential isn’t progress until it’s realized, and Chicago still has a long way to go.

The Blackhawks might still be a year or two away from competing, or they might turn things around this year. Either way, they still need to make moves to turn this collection of young talent and solid veterans into a group ready to compete regularly for the playoffs.