Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas, as it was first called, was originally published anonymously in New York State’s Troy Sentinel newspaper on Dec. 23, 1823, and has been widely credited with permanently connecting St. Nicholas to Christmas and led to our idea of Santa Claus. With a few tweaks to his description over the years, Santa Claus is now firmly planted in our traditions of Santa of a jolly man in a red suit bringing joy with his reindeer-led sleigh of presents to everyone on his “nice” list.
The popular notion of writing letters to Santa has been credited to illustrator Thomas Nast, who created an iconic image in 1879 depicting Santa Claus at his desk piled high with letters from the parents of naughty and nice children and then also drew an illustration of a child posting a letter to Santa. The Nast cartoons fueled the nation’s imagination, and the Postal Service soon became the vehicle for children’s most fervent Christmas wishes.
With Santa being very busy this time of the year, he sent some of his letters concerning the Chicago Blackhawks to us at THW so they could be answered in a timely fashion. Here is a sampling of some of the letters and what fans are wishing for the Blackhawks for the holiday season.
Scoring Woes
Dear Santa, could you buy the Blackhawks some new sticks so they can score more goals? Archer J., Rock Falls, IL
While Santa would be more than happy to gift the team some new sticks, that is not going to change the fact that the Blackhawks, as of Dec. 10, are 31st in the league with an average of 2.42 goals per game and are 30th in the league averaging 27.3 shots on goal. As the team matures and improves, they will need to be more efficient with the puck in their rush up the ice and their passing in their offensive zone, which has been a big issue this season and is the reason why they currently lead the NHL in turnovers.
Dear Santa, can you make some players nicer because some get sent to the penalty box too much? Riley B, Liverpool, NY
Santa always wants people to be nicer, but sometimes, penalties happen because of mistakes and poor judgment. Unfortunately for the Blackhawks, one of the categories that the team is at the top of the NHL leaderboard is average penalty minutes. While many may want to point the finger at Jason Dickinson and Connor Murphy, the two Hawks with the most penalty minutes, the team as a whole needs to be better at avoiding unnecessary penalties.
Spending too much time in the box does not allow a team to get their offense in sync if they are trying to kill off penalties. This has been one of the reasons why their offense has not been as productive as the coaching staff, players, and fans would like it to be. Also, being inefficient on the penalty kill, currently ranking 23rd in the NHL at 76% efficiency, puts way too much pressure on the offense when they are trying to play catch-up in so many games.
Blackhawks’ Future
Dear Santa, I know the Blackhawks are going to struggle this season, but can you at least help them beat the St. Louis Blues every game? Suzette H, De Kalb, IL
Although we received this letter before Saturday night’s (Dec. 9) 3-1 victory over the Blues, Santa had nothing to do with this as he does not play favorites. However, he understands the sentiment that getting back on the road to being a top-level NHL franchise would include having an advantage over an arch-rival. Santa was impressed by how well they played in that game and was pleased to see that Anthony Beauvillier scored his first goal in a Blackhawks sweater.
Dear Santa, when will you be able to gift me some tickets to the Stanley Cup Final? Roger A, Camillus, NY
Ah, we see what you are doing here. You are wondering how long it will take for the Blackhawks to get back to a championship-caliber team and are hoping that Santa has some inside information. Well, this is one possible scenario that could happen with this team. It was thought that a nice improvement would start with the Blackhawks staying in the playoff picture for as long as they could this season, but the injury to Taylor Hall and the unfortunate incident involving Corey Perry put a major damper on that goal.
If the Blackhawks continue to trend in the right direction, they should be in the hunt for a playoff spot in the 2024-25 season, which should lead to a possible deep run in the playoffs in the 2025-26 season, and then they could be playing for Lord Stanley’s Cup in the 2026-27 season. Of course, many factors are involved with this possible progression, but this scenario could happen if things fall into place over the next couple of years.
Blackhawks Players
Dear Santa, will anybody on the Blackhawks be getting a lump of coal for Christmas? Mikey B, Bourbonnais, IL
Related: Blackhawks News & Rumors: Dickinson, Granato, Defense & More
I don’t think so. When you look at the stats for the roster, it is really hard to find anyone who has been so bad to warrant a lump of coal this Christmas. Lukas Reichel has struggled offensively so far and currently has a plus/minus of minus-18, but it certainly has not been for lack of effort. The 21-year-old had a slow start to the season after being placed at center. He was moved back to the wing, but he hasn’t been able to find his form. So Santa will save his lump of coal for the Brad Marchands of the hockey world.
Dear Santa, what would you do if you could use Santa magic to change one thing to let the Blackhawks play better? Jason M, Crown Point, IN
I would use it right now to have the Hawks play better in the third period. On Sunday (Dec. 10) against the Washington Capitals, they failed to generate a scoring chance during 5-on-5 action. Even though they beat the Blues, they had only two shots on goal in the third period and only one in the game before that against the Anaheim Ducks. This is where veterans like Nick Foligno can start showing leadership skills.
This also puts a great deal of pressure on the goaltending. Fortunately, Petr Mzarek and Arvid Soderblom have been playing pretty well this season. Mrazek stopped all 37 shots in the win over the Anaheim Ducks for his first shutout since April 4, 2021. He came very close to back-to-back shutouts but gave up one goal in the win over the Blues.
Santa Does Like What He Sees in the Blackhawks
Despite the struggles in the win-loss column, the man in the red suit does like what he sees from the guys in the red sweaters. Connor Bedard looks like the real deal, and many of the younger players have made nice progress throughout the season. Santa believes that if the Blackhawks and their fans follow the refrain from a popular song, “better not pout and better not cry” for a while, they will be gifted many more wins in the future.
