2025 Fantasy Hockey Team Previews | Chicago Blackhawks
[Music] Welcome to the DFO Fantasy Show team preview series. I’m managing fantasy editor of dailyfaceoff.com, Brock Segan, and today we will be covering the Chicago Blackhawks. In 2024-25, the Blackhawks had the second worst record in the NHL, failing to reach 30 wins for the fifth consecutive season. Entering 2526, not much is expected to change according to the sports books. Chicago is projected to finish with the worst record in hockey at 69 points, which would actually be their best season since 2020. Last year, they had a top 10 power play, but were a bottom 10 team at 55. Overall, their offense ranked 26, and they’re probably not going to score many more goals this year this season. Certainly not going to be a haven for fantasy production. They hired head coach Jeff Blashel this summer, but during his tenure in Detroit, the Red Wings were the third worst points percentage in the NHL and were the lowest scoring team in the league when he was there from 2016 to 2022. As far as fantasy assets go, all eyes will be on Connor Baddard this season. Baddard ended up being a fantasy bust last season, compiling just 67 points with 23 goals and 44 assists in 82 games as a late fourth early fifth round pick. However, he does look like a strong bounceback candidate this season. When you look at his 5v5 play, he had just three secondary assists, something that should normalize itself this season, even on a bad offense. He also saw a massive drop in IP from 91.9% to 68.6%. That’s more normalizing an un unsustainable rate than regression. But if he can get back somewhere in the 75% range this year, he’ll be in for a nice bounceback. The key factor for Bard will be his shot volume. He averages or he averaged 9.2 shots on goal per 60 in his rookie year and just 7.03 shots per 60 last year. If his shot volume and IP climbed closer to his rookie year, it’s conceivable that Baddard will be a 30 plus goal, 50 plus assist player in 2526. The problem, however, is he’s still going to the fifth round this season around other 30 goal, 50 assist players. So, it feels like you’re kind of drafting Baddard at his ceiling when players like Martin Netas and Mark Shley are going around the same ADP and have a much better shot of reaching those marks. The Daily Face Off consensus rankings view Bard as more of a sixthround pick than a fifth round pick. The only other forwards worth considering with a late round pick are Frank Nazar and Ryan Donado. Donado is an obvious regression candidate, having blown away his careerhigh with a 17% shooting percentage last year. And when you pile that on top of a 14.1 on ice shooting percentage and a 85.4 IP, there are red flags everywhere with Donado. Luckily, the fantasy community is obviously aware of this, which is why he’s dropping to the 16th round in drafts. He’ll probably be end up being back on the fantasy hockey waiverwire before long, but he’s a name worth monitoring because we obviously know that he can get super hot. After all, he finished with 40 points, 20 goals, 20 assists in his final 41 games last season. Nazar, on the other hand, was the 13th overall pick in 2022 and has breakout potential in his first full season in the NHL. He was a great player in the AHL last season, posting 24 points in 21 games. That’s an NHL E of 20 goals and 24 assists. Now, that’s nearly identical to the pace that he was on during his 53 games with the Blackhawks. But it was his finish to 2025 that showed off his true breakout potential this year. In his final 11 games, he averaged 18 minutes and 33 seconds time on ice per game and racked up six goals, four assists during that time. The playing time in the Shave were extremely encouraging. He was on pace for 216 shots per 82 games, a rate that could allow him to be a 30 goal scorer this season. He has legit 3030 upside this year and cost you absolutely nothing on draft day. On the blue line, there are a lot of young options, but Samron Zel is the only one that I’m targeting in fantasy this year and the Blackhawks defenseman that I’m the highest on. In nine games with the Blackhawks last season, he had five assists, 22 shots on goal, 12 hits, while averaging 23 minutes, and 22 seconds time on ice per game. The University of Minnesota product has great sneaky upside as your number four fantasy defenseman that could climb up the depth chart throughout the season. Between the pipes, Spencer Knight is going undrafted in fantasy. I think he could make for a decent number three fantasy goalie with your last pick in the draft, but you’ll have to be extremely choosy with your matchups, which is why he’ll probably end up becoming more of a seasonl long streaming target. Uh, but he did have some outstanding games after the trade to Chicago last year, and after a full off season, he could be a true workhorse with the Blackhawks this year, but he still only projects for 22 wins. Fantasy goalies, after all, are more of a product of the team in front of them. And Knight is in a very difficult situation, and not one that I’m overly excited to be targeting. I am now joined by Ben Pope of Chicago Sun Times. Ben, thanks so much for joining me. Yep. Thanks for having me. No problem at all. We got the hockey season coming up quick, but before we get into the the deep stuff here for the fantasy hockey season. I just want to know who is your breakout candidate from the Chicago Blackhawks this season. Well, um the fact that he just signed a seven-year extension uh last week maybe gives it away, but I think it’s got to be Frank Nazar. Um, I mean, you look at his his raw point totals, he had 23 points in 53 games last year. So, um, doesn’t really jump off the page, but, um, just in terms of the talent he has and his his age and the way he improved throughout last season, I think the expectations are are really high for him this year. Um, he had eight points in his last nine games. uh actually I think it’s nine points in his last eight games um in April um to finish the year and then he had 12 points in 10 games in the World Championships to help the USA uh win the gold medal. He outproduced Ta Thompson and Clayton Keller on that team. Um and if you look even deeper, I mean he was probably the the Hawk’s biggest offensive driver um throughout the second half of the season, even though he wasn’t finishing a lot of those chances until April. um from March 13th on he had 53 individual scoring chances which is 13 more than anyone else on the Hawks and I think 25th in the league. Um so he was really doing a lot last year that that in Chicago we were seeing and maybe just wasn’t getting a lot of attention leaguewide because it was such a poor team um and he wasn’t putting up those gaudy totals. But I think this year um he has a real chance to to to really push that and and go for 50 points or so. I think that’s definitely within the realm of possibility. He’s kind of pencled in as the second line center behind Connor Baddard right now. And um my best guess is that maybe we’ll see guys like Tabo Tervine and Tyler Batuzi on his wings. He he played with them a good amount towards the end of last year. So um definitely a guy to keep an eye on. He finished the season like you said on a nice hot streak playing over 17 minutes a night. Is that kind of where you pencil a man 17 18 minutes a night this year? Yeah, most likely. Um maybe even a minute or two higher than that. Um he he plays in the power play and he plays in the penalty kill. So um he’s getting extra time from that. Uh he was one of the Hawks best penalty killers last year and um found his groove on the power play especially late in the year. Um and then on even strength I think he’ll be getting those second line minutes. I think it’s even possible we could see him with Bard um from time to time if the team is trying to mix things up. Um both of them kind of struggle a little bit on faceoffs. So that’s another thing that they have to keep in mind. But um yeah, I think I think he’ll be in line for a pretty big role. You spoke about Conor Bard. What can we expect from him in year three? Can last year simply be chocked up to a bit of a sophomore slump? Obviously, the team around him wasn’t great. He really just didn’t take that expected step forward that everyone was expecting in year two. Can we expect him to get back to, you know, potentially being a 30 goal point per game guy this season in year three? Well, I think that’s certainly possible and certainly what he’s hoping for. Um uh it’s hard to say, you know, with certainty, but um I know he’s put in a lot of work this summer to try to get back on track. Um he talked about how maybe even though he had the right intentions in his previous summers, um he maybe just didn’t go about it in the right way in terms of his training. So I think he’s changed some things up um with that um his speed numbers decreased last year, which was a little odd. Um, so I think that’s been a big focus of his is to increase his speed, um, and get that back on where it was his rookie year. Um, and also creating more separation the offensive zone. That’s a big thing that new coach Jeff Blill um, has talked to him and about him about already. Um, and then he’s also changed his stick flex up from a 70 to a 75. That’s still really whippy by NHL standards, but um, should help him a little bit with puck battles and maintaining possession when he’s getting checked. Um, so those are little adjustments he’s made, but it’ll really come down to him just uh, you know, showing it on the ice. Um, certainly as you get older, he’s now going to be 20 years old. Um, you get more experience, you learn what works and what doesn’t, um, at this level. And, and that’s been a big thing for him is figuring out how to adjust after he was basically able to do everything he wanted in the WHL. So, um, if he can stay healthy, I think it’s definitely a reasonable expectation for him to be a point per game. Um it’s still very unclear who his wingers are going to be. If it’s not Terrain and Bertusi, um new audition Andre Burkovski if he can kind of rediscover his old form is a possibility there. And then Ryan Donado as well. And we even saw Ilia McKay up with him a little bit just bringing some speed. But obviously these aren’t really firstline caliber wingers on a lot of teams. So that’s still going to be, you know, a bit of a hindrance on him that he’s not going to have the greatest support. Um but uh as he gets older, I think it’s reasonable to expect that he would take a big step forward. And yeah, finished the season strong last year too, right? Uh 15 points, six goals, nine assists in his last 15 games. That was a 33 goal, 82 point pace. So uh shown he can do it in in small stretches to see if he can put it together for a full season. You just mentioned Ryan Donado. Obviously just an insane year last year. Was basically the best fantasy pickup uh around. Now that he’s gotten paid, what do you expect from him this year? is last year just kind of that classic contract year where he explodes try to get the money or can he be a 30 goal guy again? Like he the shooting percentage looks largely unsustainable, but he was on a 4040 pace in the second half of the season. So even a little bit of regression and he could still possibly be a 30 goal guy. What are your thoughts now that he’s been paid? Yeah, I I’m not sure you can reasonably count on him being 30 goals again, but I think certainly 20 um is a reasonable expectation. I mean, he’s always had the work ethic and he’s always kind of had a sneaky finishing skill. You know, like even his first season in Chicago, the year before last, um, he did get to the net a lot, um, and was able to put in some dirty goals around there, which is a bit of a lacking thing on this team in general. Um, and there is reason to believe that last year was, you know, a new form of him, not just a fluke, and that he really worked on his skating. um last summer. Um that had previously been kind of a big weakness of his that he was one of the slower skaters in the league and he was basically able to get up to league average in that category. Like he did take a very substantial step forward. I know he was planning to do more of that this summer. Um he’s he’s based in Boston this summer, but he goes down to Florida for that. Um, and I think there’s reason to believe that if he can maintain that speed that he will be able to still be kind of a higher caliber player that he showed last year than sort of the journeyman bottom six guy that he had previously been. Um, so maybe 30 and 30 isn’t likely again. Um, but I think 20 and 20 is definitely possible, especially if he sticks on the first line with Bedard and and keeps getting those top power play minutes. Yeah, he obviously earned the trust of the coaching staff last year. going to have to do it with a new coaching staff this year. But I mean, after the Four Nations face off, he was playing nearly 20 minutes a night, which is obviously a drastic increase from what we’d seen him previously do in his career. Uh, let’s talk about the blue line a little bit. There are a lot of talented young defenseman in Chicago, but who do you expect to be the best point producer among that group? I think Sanzel last year was a guy that came up from the NCAA and looked really, really comfortable right away. Is it him? Is it somebody else? Who do you think? Yeah, I think Renzel is probably the safest bet to be the top defensive point producer. Um he was extremely impressive um to the fact that even though it was only a nine-game sample size, uh he’s pretty much been penciled in by everybody, myself included, on the first pairing um this year. That’s how good he looked. Um he had four assists, I think, and he could have easily had more. He hit some posts. Uh he’s very comfortable moving the puck. There’s some impressive highlights where he he gathers the puck in the defensive zone and basically leads the breakout entirely by himself. Um he’s just that smooth of a skater and has that good a vision. Um and I think he’s he’s in line to to have a huge role in this team. I mean um I could see him playing 23 24 minutes if all goes well. Um that’s what he was doing immediately when he came in from college last spring. Um and I think also he’s probably the most likely bet to get the top power play quarterback role too. Um with Seth Jones gone. He was doing some of that in the spring. It was kind of a rotation with him, with Alex Blic, with Ardam Levinov. Levanov and Kevin Kchinsky are both kind of projected as future power play guys, but I think there’s a decent chance that both of them or at least one of them starts the year in the AHL. Um, Lebanon just has a long way to go in terms of his decision- making and um his defensive play and and Kinsky also defensively and and more building up strength. Um, so they still have a bit more development to do, whereas Renzel is a little bit more polished at this point. Uh, certainly he’s not going to be perfect. Um, I think over an 82 game sample, we’re going to see a little bit more warts just inevitably than we saw in nine games. But I think he’s the most likely bet to be that power play quarterback and he should be uh getting power first pairing minutes at five on five. So another guy, I mean, if you’re looking for breakout candidates, uh, he’s definitely in that c that category as well. I think the thing that stuck out the most with Renzel was averaged over 5.6 shot attempts per game. Got two two and a half over two and a half shots per game on the net. So, not a a player that was afraid to shoot the puck at all playing massive minutes. So, when you get that many pucks towards the net, good things are going to happen for sure. Final question here for you, Ben, is between the pipes. Do you have any insight on the Blackhawks plans for Spencer Knight this season? Is he a goalie that they plan to give say 55 plus starts this season, you know, a true workhorse that we don’t really see much more uh much of anymore in the NHL? He was on that pace after the trade last year. Do you see him being kind of the 5560 start guy this year? I think at least 50. Um 55 definitely reasonable too. Um they they definitely see him as their probable franchise goalie long term. Um he’s up for a contract extension. Um and I think that’s going to be a big topic. Um, Bedari as well, probably even bigger topic, but uh, they definitely are are ready to commit to him long term. I know that he’s been working this summer and preparing for that big workload of 55 starts or so. Obviously, not something he ever experienced in Florida working behind Babski. So, he’s been working on his stamina and conditioning to prepare himself for that workload. He said he he really enjoyed it in the spring. I think he started 15 of the Hawks last 22 games. and um kind of when you’re playing every other night like that, he said he was able to just think less and um not dwell on each start as much. So, he sounds prepared for for that kind of workload. And Solder Bloom obviously was resigned for two years and he’ll be the backup, but I I think the team sees him as more of a a permanent backup. I don’t know if they um think that he’s going to challenge Knight for that starting role. Um so, if his health holds up, I I think that should be a fair expectation. And um really I mean if he’s probably the biggest X factor on this team like if he if he can take a step and be an above average strong NHL starting goalie um that would make a huge difference in helping the Hawks maybe take a step above expectations maybe get a little bit out of the basement of the league um because he has the talent to do it. I mean we saw some games where he looked unstoppable um and he also we also saw some games where he was a little bit vulnerable particularly up high. So, um, if he can kind of, you know, round out his weaknesses, um, and and become one of those, you know, top young goalies in the league, I think that could help the team a lot. And, uh, so they’ve invested a lot and they’re counting a lot on him. And, um, it would definitely be, you know, a fair expectation that they’ll be in the net most of the time. Yeah, some of those games, as you mentioned, just lights out, some struggles, but I think that’s going to come with playing behind a team that struggled as much defensively as Chicago did. According to hockeyreerence.com, 53% of his starts with the Blackhawks were quality starts. So, uh, definitely a strong goalie that could build on what he did last year. Thank you so much for your time, Ben, and good luck with all of the Blackhawks and NHL games to cover this season. Yep. Thanks for having me. Hey hockey fans, if you enjoyed that video, then make sure you hit the subscribe button right here on the Daily Face Off YouTube. We have you covered for everything you need. Exclusive interviews on the sheet with Jeff Merrick. All the latest hockey news on Daily Faceoff Live. And you can always get your morning started with Johnny Lazarus and Colobby Con on Morning Cup of Hockey. Don’t miss a minute. Hit that subscribe button.
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Brock Seguin takes a deep dive into the Chicago Blackhawk breaking down the 2025 Daily Faceoff Fantasy Projections and analyzing which player you should target and who to avoid in Fantasy this season. He’s joined by Ben Pope to talk about who could break out, Connor Bedard & MORE!
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1 comment
1st.overall.pick.goes.chicago.blackhawks.big.deal.