5 Things to Watch as the Blackhawks’ Season Winds Down

The Chicago Blackhawks have struggled as their 2025-26 season winds down, having been defeated in their last three games by a pretty large margin. They’ve endured a lot of changes; the biggest of which was losing their entire leadership group of Nick Foligno, Jason Dickinson and Connor Murphy at the Mar. 6 trade deadline. Arguably their only power forward and big-hitter Colton Dach was thrown into deadline moves as well.

On top of that, the Hawks lost their only remaining veteran defenseman, Matt Grzelcyk, on Mar. 22 to a freak hand injury. Injuries to promising rookie Oliver Moore and depth addition Andrew Mangiapane didn’t help matters. As of Mar. 29, Blackhawks’ defenseman Artyom Levshunov was sidelined with a fractured left hand. Plus, prospects Anton Frondell and Sacha Boisvert have joined the team now that their respective junior seasons are complete.  

That’s a lot of change! With the Blackhawks once again at the bottom of the standings and having only eight games remaining in the season, a change to the dynamic is certainly in order. Let’s face it; it’s not so much about winning right now as it is seeing what they have with their young group as they look towards the 2026-27 campaign. With that in mind, the team can do some experimenting down the stretch.

Here are five things to watch as the Blackhawks finish out their 2025-26 campaign.

Frondell Deployed at Center

Perhaps the biggest story over the last week is 2025 third overall draft pick Frondell joining the Blackhawks. His season with Djurgardens of the Swedish Hockey League ended on Saturday, Mar. 21, and he made is NHL debut with the Blackhawks on Tuesday, Mar. 24 versus the New York lslanders.

Related – Anton Frondell’s NHL Debut With the Blackhawks Was a Roaring Success

So far, so good for the 18-year-old. He earned his first NHL point in his debut, a primary assist on a goal by Ilya Mikheyev, and added another with a feed to Connor Bedard in his second game, against the Philadelphia Flyers.