32 in (roughly) 32 Season Preview: Chicago Blackhawks

Chicago seeks to repeat their unexpected success and make playoffs in a division filled with playoff contenders

Team: Chicago Blackhawks

GM: Chris Jacobus

Power Ranking Placement: 26/32 in league, 8/8 in division, 15/16 in conference

Significant Additions:

TJ Oshie, C/W - 86 OV

Alexander Georgiev, G - 84 OV

Nick Holden, D - 81 OV

Ross Colton, C/W - 79 OV

Alexander Barabonov, C/W - 79 OV

Significant Subtractions:

Marco Scandella, D - 80 OV

Matt Murray, G - 80 OV

Nikita Gusev, C/W - Left for Russia

Artem Anisimov, C/W - Left for Russia

Sebastian Cossa, G - Prospect

Rieger Lorenz, C/W - Prospect

Josh Archibald, C/W - Didn’t play enough games (is still on roster but will miss the year)

Joel Kellman, C/W - 72 OV (“significant” as in “was on the starting roster”)

Offseason grade: D+

Now, it may seem like a harsh grade given they’ve added Oshie, who is a better player than anyone they had last year. They also added Georgiev, who is definitely an improvement over Murray. Their first line may be better, and they have a better backup goalie, but that’s where the improvements end. They lack depth and scoring beyond their top line, and players like Edler, Stralman, and Nemeth all got worse this year. A lot of the players they lost this off-season were not of their own doing. Gusev and Anisimov leaving for Russia is unfortunate for them and Archibald missed too many games to be eligible for this season, so a lot of their troubles this season were due to bad luck and not bad management. I think GM Jacobus is doing his best to try to make the playoffs with what he currently has on the roster. Overall, I think this off-season was pretty rough for them. The Georgiev trade is questionable, and the signings they made, while good, don’t really improve the team by any margin significant enough to be meaningful. That being said, Chicago has roughly 25-30M coming off the books in the next couple years, and with that cap space in addition to the 4M they have free right now, the Blackhawks will be in a very nice spot to make big moves in the next couple of off-seasons and should be able to rise up in the league standings.

Projected Lineup: 

Oshie - Kempe - Bunting

Kuraly - Sissons - Gagne

Kunin - Cizikas - Colton

Connoly - Nosek - Barabanov

-

Skjei - Edler

Stralman - Carlo

Holden - Nemeth

-

Grubauer

Georgiev

Quote from the GM:

GM Chris Jacobus was asked about the state of the Blackhawks going into the 2022-23 season and said: “no one is giving the Blackhawks any shot but why not us? We missed the playoffs last year by a regulation win and our goal is to make the playoffs and anything can happen”

Season Expectations: Rebuilding

It’s truly baffling to me just how well Chicago did last season. Their leading scorers were Brady Skjei, Alexander Edler, and Colton Sissons, and yet they were one point off from making the playoffs all while a team like the Coyotes, with 2 of the top 5 league-leading scorers, was 10 points below the Blackhawks. So why do I have them as a rebuilding team despite where they finished and the fact that they’re trying to compete? For future reference, the “Rebuild” category is just teams that I believe will be at the bottom of the league rather than teams that are necessarily rebuilding, though I believe in this case, Chicago probably should have done some kind of soft rebuild til they free up their cap space in the next couple years. The Central division is definitely the closest division top to bottom, with any of the top 6 teams realistically being in the conversation for the playoffs, and then Chicago and Nashville below the other 6. I have a hard time counting either out, as Nashville is solid and Chicago overperformed last season and almost snuck their way in, so who’s to say they can’t do that again? That being said, I don’t predict Chicago another miracle season. I don’t want to say it’s impossible, they’ve added Oshie who is better than any forward they’ve had last season, and players like Kempe and Bunting have improved. However, I think every other team in the Central has gotten better too. Chicago may have made improvements in certain areas, but I don’t think it’s enough of an improvement to the point where they have an edge in the playoff race against the other teams in the division. But hey, no one thought Chicago would be as close to where they finished last year either, so you never really know. Time will tell, but I personally think Chicago is the weakest in the Central and their chances of repeating their success from last season are very slim

Tomorrow, we’ll be taking a look at the Colorado Avalanche. Thank you for reading, and have a wonderful day!

Previous entries:

Anaheim Ducks: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-anaheim-ducks

Arizona Coyotes: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-sesaon-preview-arizona-coyotes

Boston Bruins: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-boston-bruins

Buffalo Sabres: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-buffalo-sabres

Calgary Flames: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-calgary-flames

Carolina Hurricanes: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-carolina-hurricanes