Blackhawks 2026/27 season

[jersey cubs fan]

Connor is the official captain. Kane and Bertuzzi will wear the A. Bedard has been skating and there’s some chatter he will be ready before the initial 4-month prognosis. Three months would be in time for the 4th game of the year in Long Island. Split the difference and he could be facing Montreal at home the week before Halloween, missing 9 games.
 

Ethan Del Mastro signed a 2 year deal with a 950K cap hit, and is the likely 8th Dman who will spend a lot of the time in a suite on game day. He and Korchinski are no longer waiver exempt and won’t see time in Rockford. They have a crowded and heavily LH blue line. 

there’s not much expectations for this team but people are giving them some props for potential breakouts by Frondell and Kantserov. Nobody is expecting much from Byram, Arty or Rinzel. I didn’t like the Byram deal but do think the potential for a breakout from him is being undersold. It’s not outside the realm to think he could be a better than average #1 Dman. He’s not gonna be a star but the 10th highest scoring D had 61 points last year and that’s on the table. Byram was 19 points behind that as a 2nd pairing guy not getting PP time with Bedard or Kane. One of the 3 dynamic D men might actually click this year and that would go a long way to making this team reasonably competitive.