Chicago Blackhawks 2025-26 NHL Season Preview | The Steve Dangle Podcast

Jesse Plake picked this team to make the Stanley Cup playoffs last year. And I was hoping everybody forgot. Swing and a miss on this one. The Chicago Blackhawks had 601 points for last in the division last year. Um they are according to the bet MGM odds, this is surprising, they have them at 67 and a half. Do you take the over or the under on 67 and a half? Oh, hard to be that bad. Hard to see how they improve that much. But there are some reasons to hope and we’ll get into them. I hate how good they are at this. That’s why Yeah. Put like uh 80 and a half. I mean, whoa. Well, the whole point is that’d be so much easier. They’re trying to be good at this. That’s the thing. I hate to do this. I’m gonna say under. Under. Yeah. Wow. Okay. Hey, Jesse Blake, where do you have the almost playoffmaking Chicago Black? Hey, is Chicago under? Under. Oh, wow. We’re going the other way this year. Screw you. Let’s start with uh the with Jesse Blake then with the Chicago Blackhawks. And I want to start net out cuz that’s the biggest change. Um they have had goalenders. Now, Laura Bruis, it was it was uh as of today’s recording, and this is going to come out a couple of days later, but this won’t have changed. It’s looking like he’s not going to play at all this year. What uh if not, you know, or it’s going to be late in the season. He has not played a single game uh uh with the Chicago Blackhawks since signing there. He tweaked his hip um uh last summer. Uh well, yeah, last summer after signing the deal in Chicago, did not play last year. Is out longterm according to Scott Powers uh for the regular season this this year. But you do have young a young man named Spencer Knight who has a big fat extension. He makes four and a half this year and 5.83 the following three years. That’s a good start, is it not? Yeah, you’re given a lot of responsibility to a guy who’s never been anything close to a starter at the NHL level. Um, unless you count like the very end of the season with the Blackhawks and that’s really a cup of coffee in the role. Um I listen it it it early returns are it seems like a good bet but it is far from a guarantee. Jesse if we’re yeah if we’re starting with goalending this is this is I think a it’s a good bet to make in in Spencer Knight cuz that’s what the Blackhawks got to be at this point. It’s guys who are youngish you know 24 who’s coming into their own and we’re going to make a bet for $4.5 million that we can lock up a starting goalender at that number. somebody who’s had a decent little NHL tenure and now we can give him the reigns and see if in a couple years he is that guy. Arvid Soderblum is their backup and he is making $2.75 million roughly equivalent to what Anthony Sters makes with the Leafs. 898 save percentage this past year, 880 the year before. Is that him or are the Blackhawks just really bad and it’s hard for a goalie to look that good? Absolutely. Okay. Okay. So, it’s a little call him a little call him B. Yeah. No, he’s a young goalie and I Well, he’s 26, man. How much younger How how much longer do we call him young? Uh, goalies are younger longer. Okay. So, but like this is this is a very important year for him. Like there’s I don’t think this is going to happen, but there’s a world where he takes starts from Spencer Knight. Okay. I’m not I was going to say becomes the starter. That’s maybe a bridge too far on account of they just gave Knight almost $6 million a year, but um he he needs to be big if they want a shot at winning games. And speaking of big, Alex Blic, who was one of the attendees of Team USA’s um Olympic camp, don’t doesn’t expect to make the team particularly this time because that roster is stacked, but that’s quite the uh uh that’s quite the thing. And and he’s, you know, he stops zone entries. He’s paired with Connor Murphy. Uh they’ve got Kaiser, Levchinoff, Delmro, and Renzel who are probably names a lot of people have not heard outside of the draft that are kind of fans are all over them. And Matt Grizzlick is in on a PTO and as of this recording has not signed, but did have 40 points last year. Right. So what you have with the Blackhawks, it they basically didn’t really make additions. I mean Spencer Knight, but that was last season. uh if they are going to improve, it’s going to have to be from their prospect pool. And uh that’s just harder to evaluate and please forgive me for saying under on 67 and a half if they end up being halfway decent. It’s just cuz we don’t know these players as well. Jesse, what do you think on on defense there? Like it’s it’s that’s a lot of young and rookieish names. Not usually a recipe for success at the NHL level. No, it’s the exact same thing with the forward group that it is with the defense. It’s the Yeah, we have a bunch of young guys and we’re taking bets and we’re seeing what our prospects can be and that’s going to be the season as a whole. I I’ve been I’ve been championing this narrative ever since I picked them to make the playoffs and that fell flat on its face. But their rebuild is still in the early stages. is this isn’t a team that I look at like Detroit where I I’ve expected you to make the playoffs even though I did last year but disregard that where they they’ve been in that for so long like I should have been looking at the Blackhawks as they’re just getting into this thing. They have so many young guys like that bottom four pairing that they could be running out could have a combined age of like 80. Yeah. You know like four I don’t think you’re far off. Yeah. Like it’s not off of 80 combined. Not it’s not over 90. That’s for sure. Exactly. And like you have to give those kids time. They’re not going to be good right now. There are executives in the NHL who are older than the Blackhawks bottom four combined. His name is Fletcher. And I’m and I don’t hate that Kyle Davidson has gone the nuclear route of the rebuild and that’s what he’s truly done. And that’s going to take a little bit. Kane and Taves aren’t far away from being on this team. It was it was less than five years ago. So if you’re stripping it down that far and recently you had your big stars and that big habit. Now we’re into the depths of it and we’re slowly trying to get to we’re at the bottom. We’re slowly coming up that hill, but it’s going to take some time. But what we don’t want to see out of the young guys on their decor is a repeat of what has happened with Connor Baddard. And that brings us to the forward group. Connor Bdard, you guys remember that picture of him sitting in the press or the press box, the uh penalty box uh during one of the games in the regular season and it was literally it went viral and everybody’s like please help this man. Uh he will be joined by Donado Burkovski maybe Terra Vinan Berusi McKev is still there. Lava, Felino, Dickinson, lot of veteran guys and Frank Nazar obviously I was going to say Nazar is a big part of uh if they’re going to get better this season he’s a big part of that right but but so but it really does kind of circle around Badar does it not yeah but there’s a reason Nazar got all that money a wild amount of money that’s right for those who don’t know I’m just pulling it up here because I can’t remember the right off the top it was uh $6.5 million for seven seasons how many career NFC 56. They like him. 27 points, 56 games, 13 goals, 14 assists. And that is the first round draft pick. Uh 13th overall in the 22 draft. Yeah. The big expectations for the kid. Yeah. And that’s that’s their lineup. Like I look at I look at a guy like Doc and I look not the not the Kirby one. Colton Colton. Uh Slagert and um who else? Like Nazar as well and Baddard and that’s what they have. Maybe Lucas Reichel. Maybe. Yeah, it’s a collection of like third, second, and first round picks and it’s like, okay, some of these guys could be really big hits and they got a bunch of guys in junior team. We hype up that San Jose team and cuz they’re kind of a little ahead of it and we’ve seen what Will Smith can be. We see what Celibbrini can be, but the Blackhawks prospect pool is just as good with like se guys who have super high ceilings. We don’t know what their floor is yet, but like the ceiling for these guys could be through the moon. So, I’m excited to see what these kids develop into. The Sharks guys are almost farther along. Exactly. Though you you know what I mean? Like, and it just Bard does sometimes feel like he’s on an island. Mhm. But it’s a different curve curve. Sorry. Uh than like everybody else. Like the Sharks are on one kind of path, the Blackouts on another. Bard’s kind of ahead of it, but he needs the rest of it to catch up. I’m giving a lot of leeway to this rebuild. And I think it’s just a wait andsee process. Yeah, you want to see more wins just because like you’re not waiting for the young guys. Like a lot of them are they’re there, right? So it it’d be great to get some better results. What is success look like for the Blackhawks this year then? Is it it like you know a wins improvement? You know their over under is 67 and a half as we mentioned at the top. They had 61 points. Like I don’t think you’re judging it based on points. Are you a bit a bit Yeah. you want to win more games, score more goals, score more points, allow fewer goals. Like, uh, I I think they need to take steps in all facets. Like, it’s at some point you get, you know, I I think some fan bases have patience for finishing last one year, but it it’s a really hard sell. Yeah. Um, doing that much losing. Well, and they were bottom seven in goals scored and uh second worst in goals against. So they’re gonna you would expect the goals against to go down. You would expect the goals for to go up just with some of these younger guys getting better. Yeah. And if both those things come up, it’s difficult to see them being as bad, right? But but still not great. Okay. But the thing about the points thing is the San Jose Sharks had the best vibes of a 52point team ever. Remember they finished below the Blackhawks, but the Blackhawks vibes were much worse than Chicago. So, I feel like even if Chicago has a 60point season, they can turn these vibes around to make it look like, okay, we’re making some progress. San Jose to go back to them. Their last time they picked up two points before uh the end of the season was the game we saw against the Leafs. That’s crazy. That was in March. That was they from that game we saw in March, they did not win a game uh and collect two points for the rest of the year. And you would say like, “Oh my god, San Jose’s great, but it was terrible on the it was terrible from like a wins loss perspective.” And Chicago can get to that point if they turn around the narrative on the rebuild and people recognize more of the prospects they have and that things are going in the right direction. I I think it the expectations were different for Chicago cuz Bedard so much was expected of him. He was the first overall pick in 23, which is getting further and further into the past. and they signed all these guys who I mean I really thought I I didn’t have them finishing very high last year but when you pled your case for why they’d make the playoffs by the end of it I was like are they might make the playoffs I thought because they they kind of jumped ahead those guys could hit and it was all nothing everyone was below expectation everyone anyway sorry I ran long all right no it’s fine well listen the question really is I mean this is a debate of who’s going to finished lower in the division. Is it San Jose or is it Chicago? Potentially Nashville in there as well, depending. Different division. Oh, sorry, different division. Conference. Conference, I mean. Sorry, excuse me. I don’t know why I said that. Um, so where where do you have them in the division? Um, eighth. Let’s not beat around the bush. Okay. Under an eighth. Yeah. I also have them in eighth. And it’s I do though have them over. I do think they’re going to get like 68 65 points. Is that fair? They need better marketing. Yeah. Great marketing. Exactly. Exactly. I’m rooting for you, Chicago.

Steve Dangle, Adam Wylde, and Jesse Blake preview the upcoming season for the Chicago Blackhawks and predict where they will finish in the Central Division.

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16 comments

  1. I can almost sense Bedard wanting out of this team if they don't even make it out of the bottom 5 again this season. His career won't be lauded but ridiculed if he continues playing there.

    Guaranteed that if again there is no improvement, when his entry level contract ends, he won't sign a new one.

  3. Winning the Bedard lottery was actually bad timing for the Hawks. It started a timer running just as the rebuild was starting. You need to have your defense and 2nd 3rd line guys "cooking" a bit before you bottom out and try to get your franchise forwards.

  4. The biggest names to watch for the Hawks this year at the NHL level are far and away Rinzel and Levshunov. Bedard and Nazar are established, Frondell is going to be another major add next season, and there's still a chance for Moore to make a major name for himself this year. But those two can make or break the vibe of the Blackhawks this year at the blue line.

  13. That was a refreshing take. It's nice to hear a generally realistic assessment of the Hawks' rebuild situation from outside of the local Chicago media, for a change. That being said, I'm glad they had "bad vibes" last season. It was a sign that losing isn't acceptable, and things shouldn't be fun. As for Bedard looking miserable, it's because he was in the effin' penalty box! Of course he was unhappy! Sheesh.

  15. As a ticketseason holder, the Hawks rebuild is not just starting. Its in about Phase III. Its been ten years since the last cup win, and we've made the playoffs once since then. There is some signs of hope this year and the hope is our young "new core" of players start paying out like Toews, Kane, Keith, and Seabrook did. I think they will hit the over in points and hopefully take some strides forward.

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