I’m technically one game late, as the Chicago Blackhawks have officially played in 42 games at the time of this writing. 41 games is the half-way point of an 82-game season. But with the team finishing back-to-back contests over the weekend, and the next contest (versus the St. Louis Blues) not until late Wednesday night (Jan. 7), this seems like the perfect time to reflect on the Blackhawks’ path so far.
The team currently sits with a record of 17-18-7 (41 points), which is good for seventh place in the Central Division and 29th in the league. We might’ve hoped the Blackhawks would be a little bit higher in the standings, but they’ve been without the services of young superstars Connor Bedard (shoulder) and Frank Nazar (hit to the face) since Dec. 12 and Dec. 20, respectively. Nevertheless, the team is finding their way as best they can without them, having just won three consecutive games and going 4-1-1 since the holiday break.
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Let’s look at how the individual player statistics line up for the Blackhawks through the first half of the 2025-26 season. I’ve bolded player names and their stats below, to better highlight the their rank for each statistic.
*All stats are taken from the official Chicago Blackhawks website and app, along with the official NHL website.
Leaders in Goals
Tyler Bertuzzi currently leads the Blackhawks with 22 goals in 39 games played, which is tied for sixth in the league. He scored a hat trick against the Vegas Golden Knights on Jan. 4, so that certainly helps matters. While he’s somewhat known for being a streaky player, “Bert” has been surprisingly consistent this season. He sports 10 multi-goal games, including another hat trick on Nov. 5 versus the Vancouver Canucks. He’s thriving under head coach Jeff Blashill, who coached Bertuzzi in Detroit when he came into the league. Bertuzzi has an affinity getting to the dirty areas in front of the net, and Blashill encourages him to do what he does best. It’s obviously working out so far.
Despite missing 11 of the first 42 games, Bedard is still in second place with 19 goals. He boasts two hat tricks of his own, along with 13 multi-point games and three four-point games. His shoulder injury came at a bad time, as he was really starting to get into his groove and make a case for himself on Team Canada for the upcoming Olympics. But the good news is Bedard participated in some shooting and some drills at practice in Tuesday (Dec. 6). Coach Blashill said Bedard wouldn’t play on Wednesday versus the Blues, but they would take it day-by-day after that. It sounds like he’s getting very close to a return.
Ryan Donato is third in the goals department, with 10. It’s nice to see Donato still finding success after leading the team with 31 goals last season. But his role has changed this season. Inside of being Bedard’s sidekick and contributing more offensively, he’s been tasking with more of a shutdown role. Nevertheless, he’s still finding ways to produce. Donato is definitely a “utility” player that can be used up and down the lineup.
Assists Leaders
Bedard is the runaway leader here, with 25 assists. Blackhawks’ captain Nick Foligno has mentioned before how surprised he was when he first started playing with Bedard. He obviously knew he had a renowned shot, but didn’t realize what a playmaker he was as well. That was something that kind of fell under the radar.
Andre Burakovsky has been on a line with Bedard most of the season, and he’s second place with 19 helpers. Blashill has often said the two feed off each other well. Burakovsky can transport the puck up the ice, and he’s smart enough to know when to get the puck to Bedard in the soft spots on the ice. It’s no surprise the veteran and two-time Stanley Cup winner is high up on the leaderboard.
But the player who’s third place in assists does come as a bit of a surprise. Young defenseman Artyom Levshunov sports 18 assists. Being the quarterback on the top power play unit certainly helps; nine of his helpers have come on the man advantage. But the 20-year-old has really come into his own of late, being aggressive and contributing offensively in all situations. Levshunov has five assists in the last eight games, and four of them were tallied during five-on-five play.
Points Leaders for the Blackhawks
As you can guess, we have some repeat players in points leaders who are also goals and assists leaders. Bedard leads the pack with 44 points, and let’s remember that’s with only playing in 31 of 42 contests. Once he returns, hopefully he can pick up where he left off.
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Bertuzzi is second place with 34 points, and Burakovsky comes in third with 28 points. Fourth place? Nazar with 21 points (six goals and 15 assists). Nazar started off the season strong, with five goals and 11 points in 11 games in October. But he’s since hit a bit of a wall, especially in the goals department (only one goal since Oct. 28). Nazar is a strong two-way player and contributes in so many way. But I’m sure he’ll want to start finding the back of the net as soon as he returns from injury. It will be interesting to revisit this at the season’s end.
Special Teams Contributions
Success on special teams is often-times the difference between winning and losing. So let’s look at who’s been contributing the most here.
Both Bertuzzi (8G, 15P) and Bedard (5G, 13P) are in first and second place in power play goals and points. We have a new name in the discussion for third place in goals on the man advantage. Teuvo Teravainen boasts four PP goals.
Levshunov’s nine PP helpers is good for first place in assists, with Bedard’s eight assists coming in second. Burakovsky and Bertuzzi are tied for third in assists with seven a piece. Finally, Teravainen and Levshunov both come in third place in points on the man advantage, each with 10.
Moving on to the penalty kill, let’s first commend this unit as a whole for being third in the league with a 83.8% success rate on the penalty kill. Top contributors include: Alex Vlasic, Connor Murphy, Ilya Mikheyev, Teravainen, Wyatt Kaiser and Louis Crevier. It’s not an easy job to kill penalties, but these players take pride in it and have been doing a bang-up job.
While keeping the puck out of the opposing net is always the goal on the penalty kill, one certainly can’t complain when PK players go over and above and score a shorthanded goal.
The Blackhawks already have three shorthanded goals this season, notched by Crevier, Nazar and Jason Dickinson. Not only are these players working on shutting down the opponent on the PK, but they’re also trying to be more aggressive when the opportunity arises. So far, so good.
Top Faceoff Producers for the Blackhawks
Being a young team, the Blackhawks have struggled with winning faceoffs, currently ranking 30th in the league with a 46.4% success rate. But but one player that can almost always be counted on is Dickinson. The veteran center has won 48% of his draws through the first half of the season. He’s also taken the most faceoffs on the team (440).
Rookie center Ryan Greene isn’t far behind Dickinson, having taken 426 draws and winning 44.8% of them. It’s really quite impressive how Greene has stepped up to the plate, currently serving as the team’s No. 1 center with Bedard and Nazar out. This is just one same aspect of his the 22-year-old’s solid play.
Nazar ranks third on the team in both faceoff categories, having taken 413 draws to date, and winning 43.1% of them. This will be key to having more possession time when Nazar returns.
Highest Average Time on the Ice
Now that we’ve got the more popular stats out of the way, let’s look at some of the more miscellaneous statistics, starting with the most time on the ice. Heading up this stat is defenseman Vlasic, averaging 21:07 minutes of time on the ice. It’s not easy being the defenseman with the most responsibility and the most TOI, but Vlasic has stepped into this responsibility without much fanfare since D-man Seth Jones left for the Florida Panthers. At 24 years old, Vlasic is handling a huge responsibility with what seems like ease. But it most certainly is not, and should be appreciated.
Second in TOI is Bedard, with 21:02 average minutes on the ice. Coach Blashill has indicated he wants his team to be more of a four-line team, meaning he doesn’t want to lean on his superstars as much. This is coming to fruition with both Bedard and Nazar out. Blashill has been forced to lean on other players, and they are stepping up. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out when Bedard and Nazar return.
Defenseman Kaiser is third in time on the ice, averaging 19:12 minutes. Kaiser has come into his own this season after lots of inconsistencies over the past few campaigns. Remember when he was incessantly sent back and forth between the Rockford IceHogs and Chicago? Well, now he’s a reliable blueliner that’s also somehow tasked with mentoring Levshunov, even though he’s just 23 years old himself.
Blackhawks’ Top Hit Producers
Let’s move on to some of the more meathead statistics. Despite being something that doesn’t put exactly put points on the board, they are still important components to a winning team. Let’s start with hits.
Colton Dach is the closest the Blackhawks have to a true power forward. While he’s still working on his production, the 23-year-old is leading the team by a mile with 149 hits, which is also good for fourth in the league. Second place in hits is Crevier, with just 61 hits. Third place is a tie between Foligno and Donato, both with 51 hits a piece.
Most Blocks Shots
Blocking shots is an under-appreciated aspect of the sport, for sure. Putting your body in front of a flying puck is not for the faint of heart, and borders on insanity to most level-headed people. Nevertheless, it’s something that’s expected and revered in hockey, especially among defensemen. Leading in this department is Vlasic, with 52 blocked shots. Second place is veteran defenseman Murphy, with 59 blocked shots.
Levshunov comes in third place, with 41 blocked shots. What will their numbers be at the end of the season, and just how many bumps and bruises will they endure because of it? And let’s not even get started on the craziness of goaltenders!
Hardest Shot for the Blackhawks
On the other side of the coin, there are those that can really rip a shot off. For the Blackhawks, Crevier is credited for the hardest shot, calculated at over 102 miles per hour. The 24-year-old has become more and more confident in his heavy shot from the point as the campaign progresses. As a matter of fact, he’s registered three goals so far this season, and Coach Blashill even utilized him in the shootout recently against the Washington Capitals.
Second place in hardest shot for the Blackhawks is Nazar (94 miles per hour) and third place is Levshunov (93 miles per hour).
Maximum Skating Speed
A main aspect of the Blackhawks’ new identity is their speed. Seemingly all the new prospects are fast skaters. Case in point, rookie Oliver Moore has logged a maximum skating speed of 23 miles per hour, which is just outside of the top-10 fastest skaters in the league. Nazar comes in second at 22.69 mph. This is one of the reason Coach Blashill previously put Moore and Nazar on a line together, to capitalize on their speed.
Landon Slaggert ranks third on the team (22.66 mph) and Dach (22.58 mph) comes in fourth. Believe it or not, old man Dickinson ranks fifth (22.46 mph). Dickinson has always had deceptive speed that tends to fly under the radar.
Game-Winning Goals
Let’s conclude with some of the more clutch statistics for the Blackhawks, starting with game-winning goals.
It probably comes as no surprise that Bedard has the most game-winning goals, with three. But it’s interesting to see who comes in second. It’s actually a three-way tie between Mikheyev, Bertuzzi and Donato, all with two game-winning goals. Coincidentally, Bertuzzi has been hot lately with three goals and five points in the last three games. Mikheyev is right behind him, with two goals and four points in that same span.
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Players with one game-winning goal include Nazar, Burakovsky, Teravainen, Crevier, Kaiser and Dach. Obviously the Blackhawks will be super invested in raising this specific statistic throughout the remainder of the season.
Side Note: Bertuzzi and Donato each have one overtime goal. Shootout goals can be credited to rookie Nick Lardis (two of them!), Foligno, Burakovsky, Donato and Bedard.
Plus/Minus Leaders
Finally, although plus/minus is a bit of a misleading statistic, I wanted to include it because of who’s leading in this category for the Blackhawks. That’s right; it’s Bedard with a plus-8! The young man who was a minus-36 last season and a minus-44 in his rookie campaign is currently a plus-8. Obviously, this has something to do with better support around him. But this just still shows how much the 20-year-old has committed to the defensive side of play this season, in an effort to round out his game.
Players with a plus-2 are Slaggert and Sam Lafferty. Players with a plus-1 include defenseman Matt Grzelcyk, Crevier and Greene.
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Some players stand out more than others when looking at player statistics, which is to be expected. But it takes everyone to contribute in their own way for the team to be successful. While it’s great to see the leaders stepping up, it’s also a positive to see some of the surprise names on the list for the above stats.
Will there be the same leaders at the end of the Blackhawks’ 2025-26 campaign? Who else might step up and make a name for themselves? We’ll revisit these statistics at season’s end to see. In the meantime, we’re only halfway through the season. There’s lots more hockey to come!
