ST. LOUIS — The national narrative around the Chicago Blackhawks would have been much different if they had played like they did against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday rather than how they did in the Winter Classic.
That narrative might have been the Blackhawks were wildly inconsistent rather than outright terrible, which isn’t exactly a huge improvement, but it would have been more accurate. While the Blackhawks have been more down than up throughout this season, they have shown more signs of competitiveness than in previous years. That was the case under Luke Richardson for the first part of this season and Anders Sorensen since taking over.
The Blackhawks’ last four games are a perfect example of their range of play. They were toasted by the Florida Panthers, then largely outplayed the Edmonton Oilers only to lose in overtime, played one of their best games to date in a win over the Nashville Predators and followed that up with a terrific first period, horrendous second period and good enough third period in what ended with a Blues’ shootout victory.
Four points in four games don’t equate to success in the NHL, but for the Blackhawks, it’s improvement. The Blackhawks would have been in an even better mood if they had won Saturday and carried a winning streak into the 4 Nations Face-Off break.
“Florida was a serious wake-up call of how embarrassed we can be when we don’t play the way we need to play,” Blackhawks captain Nick Foligno said. “Everyone’s really grabbed a hold of themselves. (Today’s second) period reminded me a lot of Florida, and that’s disappointing. As much as you have a good taste in your mouth — and I’m really proud of the progression that we’ve had out of that Florida game — it sucks because it would’ve been nice to just get this one and play the right way all 60 minutes, or 65, 70 minutes. We just didn’t get it done. I hope it leaves a little taste in our mouths coming back and having a really strong last break.”
The Blackhawks will take the next week off before starting up practice again leading into their next game on Feb. 22. Here are 10 thoughts on the Blackhawks as begin the break:
1. Anders Sorensen has had his own ups and downs since taking over as coach. The Blackhawks have gone 9-15-4 in his 28 games as coach. The Blackhawks were 8-16-2 under Richardson before he was fired.
There are positives Sorensen can point to in his time, especially Connor Bedard’s play, but you would think he’ll have to take the Blackhawks to another level if he’s going to be a legitimate candidate for the permanent position.
Sorensen will have to use this break to his advantage for that to happen. While his players are resting and resetting, he has to figure out what changes are realistic to make and implement them when the Blackhawks reassemble. He has 27 more games to make his case to be the head coach going forward.
“We’ll definitely evaluate that,” Sorensen said of possible changes after the break. “I think there’s some things we can tweak and help. We’ll have three practices before the next game and only Teuvo (Teräväinen) would be missing at this point. It’ll be good to get back to ground zero so to speak, but also add some things. I think along the way the guys have been really good (at) things that we try to adjust, so that’s been really positive. But some twinkles in the system.”
2. It’ll be interesting to see what the Blackhawks do with Ryan Donato after the break. Teams can make trades during the break, but no one is expecting them to happen. If Donato is dealt, it would likely happen closer to the deadline.
Donato has been on fire lately. He had eight shot attempts, six shots on net and one goal in Saturday’s shootout loss. In his last 15 games, he has had eight goals and seven assists. He’s also played well with Bedard.
RYAN DONATO DOES IT AGAIN 💥
He’s now on a four-game point streak! #NHLStats: https://t.co/T2hmvmmacO pic.twitter.com/0VXLWGrM4r
— NHL (@NHL) February 9, 2025
I don’t believe the Blackhawks move Donato unless it really makes sense. He’s too valuable with the Blackhawks right now than shipping him away for a third-round pick or later. If the offer is for a higher pick, then it’s a different story.
Donato is still the most likely player to be traded. The Blackhawks don’t expect Pat Maroon or Alec Martinez to ask to be traded. Connor Murphy and Seth Jones were on Chris Johnston’s latest trade board, but they’re still longshots.
3. One of the areas that Bedard has noticeably improved lately has been putting himself in positions to shoot off the pass. I wrote about in October how it’s the path for Bedard to become a 50-goal scorer. It was something Darryl Belfry said back in 2023 about Bedard, too.
Bedard has been doing that more and more in recent weeks. He playing more give-and-go hockey. He’s passing, moving, finding a better position to shoot and then waiting for his teammates to get him the puck for a one-timer. He and Donato have especially been effective at it lately. They had a few chances with that again on Saturday.
4. Landon Slaggert and the Blackhawks have to be ecstatic about his play since being called up. He hasn’t been perfect, but he’s used his speed, been a pest on the forecheck and found a way to be useful to Bedard’s line.
The fact the Blackhawks have outscored opponents 5-3 with Slaggert on the ice in five-on-five play in his first eight games is significant. If he can continue to play well on the penalty kill, find a bit more offense to his game and do what he’s doing overall, he’s someone the Blackhawks can expect to have in their lineup in the coming years.
5. It’s harder to say Ethan Del Mastro is definitely part of the Blackhawks’ future, but his play since coming up from Rockford has to also be encouraging for the Blackhawks. In his six games, he has a 54.69 expected goal percentage and the Blackhawks have only been outscored 4-3 in five-on-five with him on the ice.
A few concerns the Blackhawks have had with Del Mastro were how quickly he moved the puck and whether he was mobile enough to defend the rush. He worked on those things in Rockford, and it’s been translating to the NHL so far. There is probably more offense to his game too, but that should come as he gets more comfortable.
6. It would help the Blackhawks if Tyler Bertuzzi could return to form when he gets back. There might not be a more hot/cold player in the league.
Saturday marked his eighth consecutive game without a goal. Prior to that, he scored eight goals in 14 games. Before that, he was cold. The Blackhawks would benefit if he could find another hot streak in him.
7. Teräväinen is the one Blackhawks player who won’t get a break next week. He’s off to play for Finland.
Teräväinen has been playing well lately. Saturday marked his third consecutive game with multiple points.
“I feel like body feels good, confidence feels pretty good,” Teräväinen said. “Just got to play my game or whatever role it will be. I feel like I can pretty much do anything. Yeah, I feel pretty good.”
8. This break does come at a perfect time for the Blackhawks to have Jason Dickinson rest his ankle injury and potentially have him back after only missing a handful of actual games.
It’s been promising for the Blackhawks to have Bedard and his line play go up against tougher matchups, but Dickinson’s return would be key for the entire lineup. He has to feel so fortunate that his injury wasn’t worse considering how it looked.
9. The Alec Martinez-Seth Jones pairing is one the Blackhawks had hoped would perform better today. While they have been on the ice for some goals for, they’re usually on for just as many against and they’re not driving enough offense forward.
For example in the last 10 games, Jones and Martinez have both been on the ice for 10 goals for and 10 goals against, but their expected goals percentage is lower than 40 percent. The Blackhawks need more puck possession considering how much they play.
10. The Blackhawks are expected to welcome some college prospects to the team at some point after returning from the break. It’ll depend on how far teams go in the NCAA tournament, but Boston University’s Ryan Greene and Minnesota’s Oliver Moore and Sam Rinzel are the most likely candidates.
Greene seems close to a lock. With Moore and Rinzel, it may depend on who has a more convincing argument between Minnesota and the Blackhawks. The Blackhawks believe they’re ready for pro hockey, even if that means next season in Rockford.
(Photo: Jeff Curry / USA Today)
