Chicago Blackhawks Have the Talent; Now They Need Results – The Hockey Writers – Chicago Blackhawks

For the past few years, there’s one word that comes to mind when fans hear the Chicago Blackhawks: rebuilding. It explains the losses, the patience for the fans. The good news is that rebuilds eventually come to an end, and for the 2026-27 Blackhawks, it’s going to be the first real test of exactly how the state of the rebuild is. The talent is there, lots of it, all Chicago needs now are the results to prove their future contention.

Results

This doesn’t necessarily mean Chicago will win the Stanley Cup tomorrow. They won’t win 50-55 games with the snap of a finger, but what to look for in the results can include meaningful improvement and the young core proving their worth to lead the team to playoff contention.

The first couple of months last season were key for the Hawks with close scores in every game. Compared to the two previous years, Bedard’s first two years in the league, this is a bigtime improvement in where the team is going. Personally, the first two months last year were the most fun I’ve seen the team have in a long time. To fans who don’t watch as much, seeing a streak like 5 straight losses on the schedule might seem like the same thing is happening as it has been the past few years, but score lines don’t always tell the story.

Their best game in that span was an 8-3 win over St. Louis on Oct. 16, the first time they scored that many goals since 2022. That game showed a lot of competitiveness with the youth core, sparking excitement surrounding the team.

“A lot of fun,” Blackhawks forward Frank Nazar said postgame. “Obviously felt really sweet to go out there and put up a good number against a team like that, playoff contending team…it was really good.”

Patrick Kane’s Return

After it was announced that Patrick Kane was returning to Chicago, the team witnessed a huge increase in season-ticket interest, sparking more excitement on the 37-year-old’s return. Kane made it clear in his return press conference that he wanted to “make a difference and help the team win.” (from ‘Patrick Kane’s Blackhawks return isn’t about nostalgia. It’s about winning,’ The New York Times, July 24, 2026.)

While the nostalgia is good, the return is more about increasing better veteran leadership.

When players like Artemi Panarin and Alex Debrincat debuted in 2015 and 2017 respectively, Kane was paired up with them and provided great offensive numbers while on the ice. Even in Detroit, both Kane and Debrincat were a dynamic duo to watch. Potentially being on the top-line with Connor Bedard will bring wonders to offensive production.

The Central Division

Obviously teams like the Minnesota Wild, Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars are frontrunners to win the division every season with no signs of stopping, with possibly the Utah Mammoth pulling themselves in the mix.

The reigning President’s Trophy champion Colorado Avalanche might have a more difficult shot this season in winning back-to-back President’s Trophies.

Division contention doesn’t happen overnight, but if Chicago can play their division rivals to their absolute limit from offensively to special teams, the scores become irrelevant. The past few seasons when it came to playoff seeding, it was an “all hands on deck” scenario for Colorado, Dallas and Minnesota to see who could end the season closest to the top spot. A young team like Chicago can play spoiler in their matchups with their rivals if they can out-skate and outplay them for a full 60 minutes.

Rebuild Timeline with Special Teams

Chicago might struggle on special teams this year, something that they thrived in last season, only behind Colorado for the league lead in penalty kill.

Losing guys like Ilya Mikheyev, who was the top forward on the penalty kill, to Tampa Bay on July 1 and Jason Dickinson to the Edmonton Oilers at the deadline is going to sting the Hawks on the penalty kill.

Something to look out for is how the team can handle departures from two of their best forwards. Players like Nazar, Oliver Moore and Artyom Levshunov should be the top guys in the discussion with stepping up on the penalty kill more than the power play. With Nazar’s tenacity and active stick, Moore’s skating and Levshunov’s gaining crucial short-handed reps last season would make them important in that aspect.