Chicago Blackhawks 2025-26 Centennial Season

[Hot Sauce]

[jersey cubs fan]

Korchinski sent to Rockford. Slightly disappointing but not particularly surprising. He’s really in a weird spot with Rinzel seemingly leapfrogging him in the system and Levshunov also prioritized with draft status and usage

 

theres still time for Korchinski, but it’s hard to find a spot for him, especially if Rinzel and Levshunov are the PP1/PP2 guys running the top 4 with more defensive minded partners in 5 on 5. With Murphy still around for most of the season, that is the most likely way for Korchinski to slot into the roster 

[Hot Sauce]

2 hours ago, jersey cubs fan said:

Korchinski sent to Rockford. Slightly disappointing but not particularly surprising. He’s really in a weird spot with Rinzel seemingly leapfrogging him in the system and Levshunov also prioritized with draft status and usage

 

theres still time for Korchinski, but it’s hard to find a spot for him, especially if Rinzel and Levshunov are the PP1/PP2 guys running the top 4 with more defensive minded partners in 5 on 5. With Murphy still around for most of the season, that is the most likely way for Korchinski to slot into the roster 

Korch looked good in the preseason. This is probably more about wanting to get him 20+ minutes a night.

[Hot Sauce]

Per Frank Seravalli, Lukas Reichel will likely be moved before the start of the regular season. I am honestly shocked he's lasted this long with the team.

[jersey cubs fan]

21 minutes ago, Hot Sauce said:

Per Frank Seravalli, Lukas Reichel will likely be moved before the start of the regular season. I am honestly shocked he's lasted this long with the team.

Wonder if there’s a way to move him to devils since they need to make room for Hughes’ new contract, take back a Dawson Mercer who hasn’t lived up to early promise but has more upside than Reichel. 

[Hot Sauce]

14 minutes ago, jersey cubs fan said:

Wonder if there’s a way to move him to devils since they need to make room for Hughes’ new contract, take back a Dawson Mercer who hasn’t lived up to early promise but has more upside than Reichel. 

Maybe a Dawson Mercer autographed 8x10 and the Hawks would have to pay for the postage.

[jersey cubs fan]

27 minutes ago, Hot Sauce said:

Maybe a Dawson Mercer autographed 8x10 and the Hawks would have to pay for the postage.

Done!

[Hot Sauce]

Former Blackhawks Isaak Phillips, Matthew Highmore, and Josiah Slavin have all been placed on waivers.

[BigbadB]

Nice draw in game one. On the road against the lowly Florida Panthers. At least Fla will be without a couple of their stars.

[Hot Sauce]

Our old friend David Kampf is the latest former Hawk to be placed on waivers.

[Tryptamine]

So exactly when can we expect the Blackhawks not to be terrible? We're on year 3 of Bedard and I'm not sure they're much closer then they were in year 1. 

[Hot Sauce]

35 minutes ago, Tryptamine said:

So exactly when can we expect the Blackhawks not to be terrible? We're on year 3 of Bedard and I'm not sure they're much closer then they were in year 1. 

Just my opinion. It isn’t happening this year, but this needs to be the final year of evaluating these guys before taking the next step of bringing in now players to help them make playoff appearances, whether that be through trade or spending aggressively next summer. 

[jersey cubs fan]

6 hours ago, Tryptamine said:

So exactly when can we expect the Blackhawks not to be terrible? We're on year 3 of Bedard and I'm not sure they're much closer then they were in year 1. 

They have a slight chance of not being terrible this year. More likely than not they will be bottom 5. But this year will be with young players being exciting and dangerous but mistake prone, rather than a roster full of 2-5 million dollar garbage vets. The kids should start filling the roster and by the following season they should threaten a playoff run. 
 

there should be ~5 talented guys making their debut between now and 12 months from now along with the ~10 very young guys already in the mix. 

[jersey cubs fan]

Kind of annoyed that Grzelcyk signed. A mediocre offensive minded LHD doesn’t rally do anything for this group. 

[Hot Sauce]

21 hours ago, jersey cubs fan said:

Kind of annoyed that Grzelcyk signed. A mediocre offensive minded LHD doesn’t rally do anything for this group. 

I don’t mind it seeing as Murphy is the only other defenseman over the age of 24. 

[Hot Sauce]

86/91/59 line is clicking early. Nazar looks really good! 

[jersey cubs fan]

Last year they give up an empty net goal there. This year, they actually kind of have a chance to score. 
 

baby steps 

[gflore34]

Think I've irrational hatred of Bertuzzi, most especially after watching videos of him wasting Bedards brilliant feeds and setups.  Someone with more hockey knowledge please explain Bertuzzi' utility.

[Hot Sauce]

3 hours ago, gflore34 said:

Think I've irrational hatred of Bertuzzi, most especially after watching videos of him wasting Bedards brilliant feeds and setups.  Someone with more hockey knowledge please explain Bertuzzi' utility.

Bertuzzi’s ideal role would be in the middle-6. Unfortunately, he’s been elevated to the top-6 for a lot of his time with the Hawks. He’s incredibly useful around the net. He isn’t a pure goal scorer, but he scores the ugly goals. I have always liked him and every roster needs players like that. He’s essentially Andrew Shaw but on a much worse roster, at an older age than we had Shaw, and with rumored back issues.

[gflore34]

2 minutes ago, Hot Sauce said:

Bertuzzi’s ideal role would be in the middle-6. Unfortunately, he’s been elevated to the top-6 for a lot of his time with the Hawks. He’s incredibly useful around the net. He isn’t a pure goal scorer, but he scores the ugly goals. I have always liked him and every roster needs players like that. He’s essentially Andrew Shaw but on a much worse roster, at an older age than we had Shaw, and with rumored back issues.

Thanks.

[jersey cubs fan]

He is a useful goal scorer that shouldn’t be on an NHL rosters top line. But he’s not blocking anybody now and isn’t really tradable with his inflated cap number. Ideally one of Badards running mates is a high flying kid in the near future, and another player bumps him down to third line duty by next year. He’ll be gone after the 27/28 season. Maybe before if a contender needs secondary scoring (they all do) and hawks eat money. 

[Hot Sauce]

32 minutes ago, jersey cubs fan said:

He is a useful goal scorer that shouldn’t be on an NHL rosters top line. But he’s not blocking anybody now and isn’t really tradable with his inflated cap number. Ideally one of Badards running mates is a high flying kid in the near future, and another player bumps him down to third line duty by next year. He’ll be gone after the 27/28 season. Maybe before if a contender needs secondary scoring (they all do) and hawks eat money. 

Islanders won the 1st overall pick with a 3.5% chance. Hawks will have better odds than that. Hopefully said high flying kid is his cousin-by-marriage.

[gflore34]

17 hours ago, jersey cubs fan said:

He is a useful goal scorer that shouldn’t be on an NHL rosters top line. But he’s not blocking anybody now and isn’t really tradable with his inflated cap number. Ideally one of Badards running mates is a high flying kid in the near future, and another player bumps him down to third line duty by next year. He’ll be gone after the 27/28 season. Maybe before if a contender needs secondary scoring (they all do) and hawks eat money. 

Thanks

[jersey cubs fan]

Sounds like Dach is moving up to Bedards line. He’s more of a physical presence than Donato, who’s going to the third line with Dickinson and Mikheyev, two of the best defensive forwards on the team.  

[Tim]

18 hours ago, Hot Sauce said:

Islanders won the 1st overall pick with a 3.5% chance. Hawks will have better odds than that. Hopefully said high flying kid is his cousin-by-marriage.

It wouldn't suck to add McKenna and Frondell to to the top line next season. That probably wouldn't help them win games next year, but it sure would help going forward.