After the Chicago Blackhawks‘ home opener, which came after a long road trip, it seems like a good time to sit back and look at how this young team has started the season. One might look at their 2-4 record and say the start is not impressive. But if you look at who they have played, one might want to reevaluate that position. Their last two contests saw them fall to the two previous Stanley Cup champions, the Vegas Golden Knights and Colorado Avalanche, who are also undefeated as of Oct. 22. Four of the six opponents the Blackhawks have faced to start the season made the playoffs last year and have an excellent chance to make this year’s playoffs.
The reality is that after these six games, there is a lot to like about the 2023-24 version of the Blackhawks. In taking a deep look at their season so far, it was determined that two things would not be a part of these seven thoughts: The first is that none of the thoughts will be about Connor Bedard. Enough has been written about the young phenom in the Chicago area and North America. This will be about what the entire team has done so far.
The second thing that will not be included is anything that happened in the loss to the Avalanche (Oct. 19). The team looked tired and was overwhelmed by a good team that had started the season red-hot. We will let the coaching staff look at the tape of that game and give the team a break that had just played in their fifth consecutive road game.
Defeating Maple Leafs Set the Template for Success
As the Blackhawks move forward, they should refer to the win over the Toronto Maple Leafs (Oct. 16) as what they need to do consistently to be a successful team. Playing well in front of their goaltender allowed Arvid Soderblom to do what he needed to so that Toronto’s high-powered offense could be kept in check. It was quite an accomplishment that the Blackhawks were able to keep Auston Matthews from scoring, especially after he had just become the second player in the last 106 years to open a season with consecutive hat tricks.
MacKenzie Entwistle, Tyler Johnson, and Taylor Raddysh joined Corey Perry in scoring in that game, giving the team a nice balance of production from some of their young and veteran players. The energy that the entire team brought to the game paid off on the scoresheet, as the tenacious Blackhawks forced the veteran-laden Leafs squad into making many mistakes, especially in the first period.
Another impressive factor in this game was the young Blackhawks were able to get and keep a lead against a playoff team, withstanding a fierce Toronto push late in the game. If you do not think that is important, go back and watch the highlights from Saturday’s (Oct. 21) game, in which the Maple Leafs rallied from two goals late in the third period before defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning in overtime.
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The Corey Perry Effect
The former All-Star sent his teammates a subtle but clear message about not giving up when he scored at the end of the Vegas game. It was not that he scored with 15 seconds left in the game. It was how he scored that mattered. Perry, Kevin Korchinski, and Nick Foligno drove hard down the ice, allowing Perry the opportunity for a shot that he buried in the back of the net.
Perry has been known for his strong work ethic wherever he has played. This has also rubbed off on others, as the “identity line,” as our THW colleague Brooke Lofurno has referred to them, has been one of the more pleasant surprises to start the season, largely thanks to Perry’s influence.
The Vegas Blueprint
In defeating the Blackhawks on Saturday night (Oct. 21), the Golden Knights showed the Blackhawks and the rest of the NHL what it takes to be successful night after night. Yes, they have talented players. But in beating the Blackhawks, the Golden Knights had 13 players finish with points in addition to their five goal scorers (from ‘3 takeaways from Knights’ win: Club’s start sets NHL record’, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Oct. 21, 2023). That kind of depth separates great teams from good teams and should be something the Blackhawks strive for as they develop and acquire talent for their roster, just as they did when they won their three Stanley Cups in the 2010s. As any team will tell you, it is much easier said than done.
Improving Defense
The loss against Vegas was the first time the Blackhawks had given up five goals in a game. Having a minus-4 goal differential so far this season highlights the noticeable difference in the defensive play, which, up till now, has been a stark contrast to the team that had a minus-97 goal differential in 2022-23. Head coach Luke Richardson and his staff have wisely paired their trio of young defensemen, Alex Vlasic, Wyatt Kaiser, and Korchinski, with veterans on most shifts.
Kaiser has logged an average of 16 minutes of ice time and has held his own while being paired with Seth Jones, Jarred Tinordi, or Nikita Zaitsev, which will hopefully start seeing him cut down on making turnovers and taking costly penalties. Korchinski and his usual blue line partner, Connor Murphy, each have a plus/minus of minus-6, but the 19-year-old is also seeing time on the second unit power play and has made significant strides coming out of training camp. Vlasic is usually paired on the top unit with Seth Jones and has used his previous 21 games over two seasons with the Blackhawks to gain the trust and confidence of the coaching staff.
Colin Blackwell’s Return
There is little doubt about the positive effect that the Perry, Nick Foligno, and Taylor Hall veteran group have had on this roster. That veteran presence will increase by one soon when Colin Blackwell returns to the lineup. Hopefully, having recovered fully from the sports hernia surgery that sidelined him in March 2023, the 30-year-old will look to reverse his unproductive play from the last two seasons.
In addition to his skills in helping to kill penalties, the Hawks would love to see Blackwell play as he did during the 2020-21 season with the New York Rangers. Skating mostly on a line with Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome, Blackwell scored 12 goals and 22 points in the 47 games of the COVID-19-shortened season. He has not been able to match that production since being taken in the expansion draft by the Seattle Kraken or in the short stints he has had with the Maple Leafs and Blackhawks (from ‘Here’s why Colin Blackwell could be an expansion-draft steal for the Kraken’, The Spokesman-Review, April 19, 2021).
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But from watching most of those 47 games that season, it was clear that Blackwell could use his hockey IQ to improve everyone around him. It is still unclear where he will fit in when he returns, but the former San Jose Sharks draft pick can elevate the play of whomever he plays with. Usually considered a bottom-six type of player, Blackwell’s best numbers have happened when he logged more meaningful time on ice. While the argument can be made that his numbers were boosted by playing with Panarin, the other side is also true as Panarin and Strome benefitted from Blackwell’s play that season. That will be one of the big questions going forward as the Blackhawks figure out how and when to get him back in the lineup.
Power Play Struggles
Much has been made of the Hawks’ struggles on the power play to start the season. After going 1-for-5 against Vegas, the Blackhawks’ power play percentage is 7.4 percent, 28th in the NHL. Richardson addressed this after the Vegas game, stating that he believes his power play units are waiting too long and looking too hard for the perfect shot. Special teams for young teams are always a work in progress. We should see improvement in that area in the coming weeks.
Lineup Tinkering
After the loss to the Avalanche, Richardson decided to do some lineup shuffling, stating that he wanted to take advantage of the home-ice last change and give teams something else to think about. The changes were mainly on the first, second, and fourth lines, as Richardson did keep Brooke Lofurno’s “Identity Line” together. I am not overly thrilled with the changes on the D-lines, especially splitting up the Vlasic-Jones pairing, as that duo had been doing well, but the coaching staff needs to evaluate their talent. However, they need to be careful not to try and fix things that are not broken.
It’s been an interesting and exciting start to the season for the Blackhawks and their fans. The team has done many things on and off the ice that indicate this team is heading in the right direction. It may take longer than some of us want, but the Blackhawks are a team that will be back in the Stanley Cup playoffs at some point in the future.