The Chicago Blackhawks are off to a decent start in their 2024-25 season. With half a dozen games under their belt, they have a 2-3-1 record. Not the best record, but also not the worst. They’ve shown they’ve made some strides since last season, but they also have a long way to go. With that in mind, here are six thoughts on how the Blackhawks are faring through their first six games.
Better Team Structure for Blackhawks
The Blackhawks added some veteran talent this offseason to round out a group of up-and-coming young prospects. So far, this seems to be working out well. It’s obvious this team is more structured, skilled, and confident than they were last season. General manager Kyle Davidson said he wanted to take the next step in the rebuild this season, and that appears to be going according to the plan.
Sure, there have been some stumbling blocks and mistakes made. This is still not a contending team, but it’s obvious they’re an improved team. For the most part, the group is controlling the play and working together as a unit. To quote captain Nick Foligno, “We’re a better team [than last year]. That’s just the reality. That’s why the expectation goes up, though. We talked about it: it’s no more moral victories.”
The Blackhawks also seem to have the right attitude so far this season, as Foligno alluded to. The expectation is to be competitive every night, and to win. Through six games, the Blackhawks have been competitive in every contest, which is a good thing to see. Heck, they beat the Edmonton Oilers, who were within one game of winning the Stanley Cup last season.
Head coach Luke Richardson gave the team kudos after their 4-2 win over the San Jose Sharks on Oct. 17.
There’s a lot more experience in that room now, and I think they get on each other to stay on the game plan, and we stayed a little more consistent. I’m happy with how we played pretty much… I keep adding on games, but except for that first period of the season, pretty solid.
Richardson didn’t like their first period in the Blackhawks’ most recent game against the Buffalo Sabres either. But even there, they rallied back in the second and third periods. They’re still working on their consistency.
Who’s Doing the Scoring?
This was a question posed by associate general manager Norm Maciver in a recent episode of Every Shift. My colleague Nick Hayden actually recently wrote a piece about this, highlighting added firepower, strong line combinations and players in their proper roles as reasons for the Blackhawks to find more goal-scoring success. While it’s still quite early in the season, we already have some players who are standing apart from the rest.
Blackhawks Expected Leaders
Teuvo Teravainen is already making a huge impact on this team. He’s leading the pack with three goals, four assists and seven points. Connor Bedard only has one goal, but he’s already contributed six assists (the team lead) to match Teravainen’s seven points.
Defenseman Seth Jones is right behind Teravainen and Bedard with six points, and one of them is even a goal! It took Jones until Jan. 19 to score his first goal last season, so it must be nice to get this one out of the way in just the third game this season. By the way, Jones leads the team with 21 shots on goal (Bedard is second with 19). Everyone complains that Jones isn’t a true top defenseman, but he’s been playing like one so far this season. With more help around him, I predict he’s going to have a solid 2024-25 campaign.
Finally, Foligno already has three goals, to match Teravainen for the team lead in that department. The captain has currently been deployed on the top line with Bedard and Teravainen, as well as the top power play unit, so it’s no surprise he’s potted three goals.
Blackhawks Depth Scoring
Now let’s get to the surprise contributors. Did anyone peg fourth-liner Craig Smith to be second on the team with two goals?! And that’s with only playing in five of the first six games and averaging right around 10 minutes of ice time. Well, it seems he and Lukas Reichel might have tapped into some unexpected chemistry (more on this below). Kudos to the vet, and I hope he can continue to be a solid depth contributor.
Another depth scorer is Ryan Donato, who tallied the lone goal in the Blackhawks’ 2-1 overtime loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Oct. 11. But the 28-year-old contributed 12 goals and 30 points last season, so this comes as no surprise to me.
Related – Chicago Blackhawks’ Ryan Donato Seeking Long-Term Contract to Stay in Chicago
Donato has already been scratched for two games while the Blackhawks attempt to rotate starts for their crowded forward group. Who wins these spots will be something to keep an eye on as the season progresses.
Slow Starts for Kurashev, Hall, Bertuzzi
Taylor Hall, Philipp Kurashev and Tyler Bertuzzi comprise the Blackhawks’ second line. But they’ve only combined for one even strength goal so far. Although, it was a fun goal by Kurashev on his birthday.
BIRTHDAY GOAL FOR PHIL 🥳🎂🥳🎂 pic.twitter.com/TIXdiPRsnD
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) October 13, 2024
This trio is the only line for the Blackhawks that has stayed the same since the beginning of the season. They’re still working on their chemistry and hopefully they can break through soon. Otherwise, some adjustments might be in order.
Kurashev Tasked With Driving His Own Line
While we’re on the subject of scoring and line combinations, I’d like to delve a little deeper into that second line of Hall, Kurashev and Bertuzzi. Second line center was NOT one of the things addressed with the offseason signings. If you look at the long term picture, this position would presumably go to top prospect Frank Nazar. But Nazar has started the season with the Rockford IceHogs. Considering the Blackhawks’ affinity to being patient with their prospects, I would expect Nazar to spend most of this season in Rockford.
It was a bit of a surprise to everyone when the coaching staff deployed Kurashev as the second line center, starting in training camp. Kurashev and Bedard had some great chemistry together last season, so it seemed to make sense to start them together this season.
But Kurashev had a breakout campaign in 2023-24, with 18 goals and 54 points. Many would attribute this to being deployed with Bedard. But the coaching staff has challenged Kurashev to drive his own line, without any help from Bedard.
Is Kurashev up to the task? So far there’s been mixed results. He’s developed some early chemistry with Hall, but it hasn’t exactly translated to points. Hall is doing his best to generate offense; he’s currently fourth on the team with 15 shots on goal (Bertuzzi has 10 and Kurashev has 8). While Kurashev’s faceoff win percentage has never been great, he’s surprisingly winning faceoffs at the 51.7% clip this season.
It might be too early to tell if this line can be successful. But if they can find their scoring touch, that will be very beneficial towards the Blackhawks winning some more games.
Improved Defensive Corps
The Blackhawks added defensemen Alec Martinez and T.J. Brodie in the offseason, and it’s already resulting in a much more balanced defensive corps. It’s also helped to have a healthy Connor Murphy on the back end. At their best, the defense has done a much better job of keeping the opponent to the outside, and being willing to put in the dirty work. The team is third in the league in blocked shots, with Alex Vlasic (18 blocked shots), Martinez (15 BS), Wyatt Kaiser (15 BS) and Murphy (14 BS) leading the way.
We spoke of Jones’ strong play above, and Vlasic is picking up right where he left off from his breakout campaign last season.
Regarding Kaiser, he’s come in and looked like an NHL defenseman right off the bat, despite missing some of training camp and the first game to an illness. He talked about being much more comfortable this season.
I’m definitely more confident in my game and understanding our systems a little bit. I feel like last year I was running around a little bit, trying to kill everything, do everything. And this year, I’m a little bit more calm, a little bit more understanding of how the game works. I still have a lot to learn. There’s still going to be ups and downs, but yeah, I think I’m in a decent spot.
That’s a good way the put it; I believe the entire defense was “running around a little bit” last season. But now more veteran players are in place, and that will only benefit the youngsters such as Kaiser, Nolan Allan, and other IceHogs’ D-men that might be called up throughout the season.
Power Play Progress
After ranking 28th in the league on the power play last season, the Blackhawk’s man advantage is showing some early life through these first six games. They currently rank sixth in the league on the man advantage, having converted five of 17 attempts for a 29.4% success rate.
Related – Blackhawks Look Much Better Through 4 Games
Teravainen and Bedard have built some instant chemistry together, both on the power play and 5-on-5 play. It’s been really fun to watch. Teravainen, especially, has definitely made a positive impact on the man advantage. As a matter of fact, he’s factored into EVERY power play goal scored. He currently boasts two PP goals, two primary assists and one secondary assist. Bedard has been a factor in four PP goals, contributing one primary and three secondary helpers. Jones is also doing his part, tallying a goal and two assists on the PP.
Coach Richardson spoke to Teravainen now being a part of the power play.
Richardson on Teravainen’s impact on the power play:
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) October 18, 2024
“He sees openings and he knows exactly what the next play is before he gets it on his stick. That’s indicative of the Foligno goal. Nick was almost not ready for it, it came that quick.”
pic.twitter.com/Gxo6jpOPnW
While we’re on the subject, how about that no-look pass by Bedard?! Yeah, this could be a fun season with the combination of Bedard and Teravainen.
On a side note, the Blackhawks penalty kill is currently ranked sixth in the league, with and 87.5% kill rate. Not too shabby! Special teams is such an important aspect of winning hockey games, so it’s good to see the Blackhawks doing well in these two areas so far.
The Reichel Dilemma
One of the biggest storylines heading into the season was where Reichel would fit into the lineup. The 2020 first round pick (17th overall) had a disappointing 2023-24 campaign, but hopes were high Reichel would put all that behind him with a strong training camp and a fresh start to a new season. Which is why it didn’t bode well when the 22-year-old was a healthy scratch for the Blackhawks’ first four games. When he did break into the lineup for their home-opener, Reichel gave his usual lip service about how being out lit a fire under him.
“Of course, you’re pissed and you’re upset, because you can’t play. … But I couldn't control it and now I get my chance, and I’m going to take it.”
— Phillip Thompson (@_phil_thompson) October 17, 2024
—Luke Reichel on drawing into the Blackhawks lineup for the first time this season pic.twitter.com/Swf2JjCcW6
I say this because we’ve seen this all before. Reichel says all the right things, but then he just doesn’t show the same passion on the ice. But to be fair, I think the German native has really been put in a tough spot with the Blackhawks’ coaching staff. He’s a finesse player that doesn’t especially like to get physical. Unfortunately, that’s completely at odds with what Richardson preaches.
But then there was the most recent tilt against the Sabres (Oct. 19). Reichel provided the primary assists on two goals by fourth liner Smith. He also registered four shots on goal, one hit, and got involved on the forecheck (something Richardson has been asking of him).
Said Richardson after the game, “[Reichel and Smith] played together as a line. Some of the other lines, especially early in the game, were too far away from each other. We weren’t slashing and supporting, which we’ve been doing well when we have success.”
Is the combination of Reichel, Smith and Andreas Athanasiou a recipe for success moving forward? Who had the veteran Smith on their bingo card to bring out the best in Reichel?! Nevertheless, this appears to be the case.
“This is an opportunity league. Opportunities are small or big, depending on who you are.”
— Phillip Thompson (@_phil_thompson) October 20, 2024
—Blackhawks F Craig Smith on Lukas Reichel showing chemistry with him during a 4-2 loss to the Sabres pic.twitter.com/9FFJdDgOUL
Perhaps this is the nudge Reichel needs to find his game within a Blackhawks’ system that doesn’t exactly support his game. It will be interesting to see how this situation progresses.
Related – Blackhawks Bytes: Bedard, Foligno, Teravainen & More
The Blackhawks have two more contests in their current four-game homestand; Tuesday (Oct. 22) against the Vancouver Canucks and Friday (Oct. 25) against the Nashville Predators. Then they head on the road once again for another four games. The season is just getting underway for the Blackhawks, and they’re working hard on being an improved team, that can do so on a consistent basis. We’ll see if the foundation they’ve set can lead to some more wins.
