Hockey season is here.
It’s a special year for the Chicago Blackhawks, who will celebrate the franchise’s centennial season. The team has a young star, a new coach, a stack of expiring contracts and a fan base that’s ready to win.
With all of this comes questions about the future. Before the season starts Tuesday at Florida, here are some of the biggest questions the Hawks face.
1. Can the Hawks create scoring chances?
In the words of Captain Obvious, the Hawks need to score more. The problem last season was not only failing to convert opportunities, but also struggling to create them.
The Hawks were last in the NHL with a 42.8% scoring-chance percentage in five-on-five opportunities. The league average was 48.4%. The highest percentage belonged to the Carolina Hurricanes at 57.1% — a 14.3% separation from first to last.
The Hawks’ top line will be Ryan Donato, Connor Bedard and André Burakovsky, who was with the Seattle Kraken last season. Their combined stats in 2024-25 included 64 goals and 102 assists.
In his introductory news conference, coach Jeff Blashill said he wanted his offense to play fast and be predictable to each other. That should be good news for Hawks fans, as last season’s offense with minimal scoring opportunities didn’t have the chance to work with each other.
2. Will the defense be aggressive?
In an Oct. 26 game in Dallas, Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen collected a pass on the left side of the ice. He drove toward the goal and, instead of taking a shot, delivered the puck right past Hawks defensemen Connor Murphy and Alex Vlasic.
Resting behind the pair was Stars captain Jamie Benn, who received the pass off his left shoulder and flicked it midair past goalie Petr Mrázek — now with the Anaheim Ducks — for Dallas’ second goal of the game.
Take that scenario and multiply it by a big number because it happened a lot. The Hawks defense was too slow throughout 2024-25, leading to a season-long stay in their defensive zone.
The Hawks’ stagnant movement allowed opponents to create 24.9 scoring chances per game, second-most in the NHL behind the Anaheim Ducks (25.8). Additionally, the Hawks had the second-lowest faceoff winning percentage at 44.8%. This led to long nights for Mrázek and Arvid Söderblom, and there’s only so much you can do when opponents have so many opportunities.
A Hawks defense that’s aggressive, especially in the neutral zone, should give the goalies much-needed time to rest. The addition of Spencer Knight, who thrives off of rebounds, also should help.
Sam Rinzel had an impressive training camp and will be in the top pairing with Vlasic. Artyom Levshunov will be in the second pairing, and both he and Rinzel are great at using their sticks and disrupting plays.
Blashill’s vision for the defense is “when we don’t have the puck, we’re a pressure team.” Easier said than done, but a Hawks defense that embraces pressure could flip the team on its head.
3. Will Connor Bedard sign an extension?
There hasn’t been any sign that Bedard won’t sign an extension with the Hawks next summer. There hasn’t been a sign of anything, really, as the 2023 top pick has been mum about his contract talks.
His fellow forward Frank Nazar signed a seven year, $46.13 million contract in August after just 56 NHL games played. It’s clear the Hawks believe Nazar will take a leap and be an integral part of the future.
So … what’s the wait with Bedard?
Entering his third season, Bedard needs to improve his speed and faceoff percentage, but his playmaking and vision match those of any other NHL star. A new voice will be welcome, even though Bedard had mixed feelings about the firing of former coach Luke Richardson. Bedard had five goals, 17 giveaways and a 30% faceoff percentage in the first 26 games last season before Richardson’s departure.
Blashill believes Bedard will reach new heights in the centennial season, and his play will be a large factor in the coach’s immediate reputation with the front office. If Bedard does reach these heights, though, it could put the Hawks in a weird position.
Connor Bedard is eager for Chicago Blackhawks games to begin after a quieter-than-normal offseason
The better Bedard plays, the more money he will be worth when contract talks resume. The Hawks have the most cap space in the NHL — but also a hefty number of young players and prospects who might command new deals in the future.
Blashill’s biggest job may be to make Bedard truly believe the team will start winning in the future. Blashill said right out of the gate he can’t put a timeline on when the losing will decrease, so that could leave an early impression. Davidson said there’s no concern regarding Bedard’s extension — but how patient is Bedard willing to be?
4. Three years removed from his last head coaching gig, how will Jeff Blashill do?
Blashill’s style in a few words: “I want to score a lot and give up a little,” he said at his introductory news conference.
Yes, that’s a good place to start. It will be interesting to see how things look in his first head coaching role in four seasons.
His last stint was with the Detroit Red Wings from 2015-22. He had a 204-261-72 record in seven seasons before his firing. The Wings made the playoffs in his first season, losing in the first round to the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games.
Blashill spent the last three seasons on Lightning coach Jon Cooper’s staff. It was a needed step back for him to be a part of a consistent winning staff. That, along with what he learned in Detroit, is the reason Davidson was confident in the hire.
What did he learn? The only way to answer that is with the product he puts on the ice.
5. What will the team look like come season’s end?
The deeper the Hawks go into their rebuild, the more moves they’ll need to make. They went all-in on new deals for Nazar and Vlasic, so they might be taking a “sign now, figure it out later” approach with their young players.
Knight is a name to watch for. The expected starting goalie arrived in a deadline trade with the Panthers last season and finished a combined 17-16-1 with a .910 save percentage for the two teams. With one year left on his contract, don’t be surprised if the Hawks look to keep him on board for a long period.
Murphy, Jason Dickinson, Nick Foligno and Ilya Mikheyev are other notable names entering the last year on their contracts. If the Hawks are confident in their youth, Murphy and Dickinson could be on the move.
Murphy, 31, put up 19 points in 68 games in 2024-25. The defenseman’s cap number this season is $4.4 million, and he will be an unrestricted free agent after the season.
Dickinson, 30, could be an enticing figure in the trade market, offering veteran experience and depth. He averaged 15 minutes, 42 seconds of ice time last season and had 16 points in 59 games.
Lukas Reichel spent the entirety of training camp surrounded by trade rumors but remains on the Hawks roster. He may have one more year to prove he can play his best hockey in Chicago.