Chicago Blackhawks SEASON PREDICTIONS for 2025-26 | Blackhawks Breakaway

Chicago Blackhawks SEASON PREDICTIONS for 2025-26 | Blackhawks Breakaway

Welcome to the Blackhawks Breakaway podcast presented by Toyota. Toyota has more all-wheel drive and four-wheel drive vehicles than any other brand. Find yours. Shine on Toyota. Let’s go places with Charlie Romelotus who’s in Fort Lauderdale. I am Pat Bole. Charlie, how you doing? Hockey season is upon us. Yes, it feels good to be here in Florida and start talking about some meaningful games in about 24 hours from now. So, uh it’s uh good. Oh, yeah. We flew we flew out here a day early, so we’re getting some extra sun here, but uh we’re going to be ready to go by tomorrow. Yeah, we’ll get more into kind of a team bonding experience that the boys had last night in a little bit. But let’s talk about uh let’s talk about injuries. First of all, Alex Flassic, the laceration uh to the back of his leg. Uh we heard from him on Monday. He said he could barely walk the first couple of days. Skated today full practice. He was worried originally about it it being his Achilles. Thankfully, it was not that. But bring us up to speed the latest on Vic and whether or not he’s going to play in the opener against the Panthers. Yeah, hearing him talk about the scariness of the injury because in real time it didn’t look, you know, I thought maybe it was just a graze or whatever, but the way he reacted made it seem like it was more alarming. And even he acknowledged that too, like there was a little bit of panic when he saw that there was gushing blood, which was pro which probably scared him even more because he had a cut resistant cloth uh or sock on his on his leg. I think he said he has like a grade five one that is he’s probably going to increase that uh moving forward just to prevent something like that again. But I thought two things. One, it was encouraging that he was on the ice for practice, but two, it sounds unlikely that he’s going to play on Tuesday in Florida. And I think that’s the right call cuz I I don’t know if you want to rush him into the the first week if he’s not totally healthy. They’re we’ll get to this in a little bit, but the Hawks are carrying eight defenseman like we talked about on the last podcast about how that could be a possibility signing Matt Grizzlick. And so it sounds like Grizzlick is going to be on that first pairing with Samanzel and it would just buy some time for Alex Vic to get 100% uh healthy and then likely Crevier would be the the healthy scratch. U all right. So that’s uh you know that’s it’s encouraging that it wasn’t worse, right? Um because it it could have been I mean like he said he he thought it could have been Achilles related and you know who knows what goes on from that point but um I think it’s smart too you know like there’s no reason to push the envelope here game one and game two. Uh when he’s ready he’s ready. So, um, it doesn’t look like Vic will play in the season opener. And, uh, let’s get the latest on Landon Slagger. He did not make the trip with the team. He’s out with, um, a lower body injury. Is it the same muscle pull area that he had in training camp that caused him to miss a couple of weeks? Yeah, I’m not sure because I looked at the video of his last shift. He only took one shift in the third period of the finale. and it didn’t it kind of looked harmless and so I’m not exactly sure what happened there. Um I know when originally he Blasio was asked about an update. He said it’s just going to be dayto-day and he didn’t think it was anything serious. The fact that he’s not not on the trip doesn’t necessarily indicate that it’s a a longer term injury, but it is, you know, kind of demoralizing because he is going to play, I feel like, an important role on that third line checking role with Dickinson and McKay. And we haven’t been able to see the three of them together yet for for camp. Like, it’s been very sporadic, but Slagert’s been hurt. Then Dickensson, Mave, they get into, you know, the get into a preseason game where they’re not playing. And so it’s been it’s been challenging. And so I’m I’m curious to see how the three of them are going to look when they are together. But unfortunately, Slagard is not going to play the first two games. And I imagine he’s going to miss the home opener as well because it Friday is an off day. So there will there won’t be an opportunity for him to practice in full. Yeah, Bla Bl didn’t give it the full uh he won’t play against Montreal, but it didn’t sound like it’d be much longer than the first couple of games. Maybe that third game that he would miss. It sounds like he he should be back uh relatively quickly. The one thing that surprised me uh the call up to take Landon Slagert’s roster spot uh went to Ryan Green and we thought that you know probably Ryan Green and Oliver Moore were battling it out for probably the the final the final roster spot and both got sent down. Uh Riel’s still with the team, assuming Slagger was was ready to go. Obviously, he’s injured. Were you surprised that they went the green route over Oliver Moore a little bit? I thought because because Moore’s speed resembles Slagert, it would be an easy plug to just put him on put Moore on the left wing with Dickinson McKay and that would be a really fast line as with McKay and more on the wings. But I think Chicago is probably playing the long game with Oliver for Moore where theoretically he could have been the callup and he could step into that role. But I think Chicago is looking at this and saying we just want him to go to Rockford just start the year off strong there. Play the first line, play top power play units with Green called up. He’s going to be slotted into a fourth line role. So he’s probably going to be playing 8 n minutes a night and it’s not going to be I you don’t want more playing those kinds of minutes in the NHL out of the gate. And so and depending on how Slagert’s how long Slagger is going to be out for it it would if Moore was the callup then he’s for sure going to miss the start of the season in Rockford. And so I don’t know if they wanted to yo-yo him up and down. Not saying I necessarily agree with it, but I think that’s more so the thinking like let’s get na let’s get more on the nazar plan from last year not impede on that and that way he can when he gets called up midseason or whenever that might be then he’ll be ready to go to play a top six top nine role. Yeah, you know if it went by who played better in the uh training camp and the preeason I thought Moore was more consistent than Green. Uh, when you talk about playing the long game, I think you’re you’re talking about playing the long game with both. Um, when you’re looking at Oliver, I think you’re probably looking at more of a middle sixth role right now. And I think you could, like you said, live with Green being the fourthline center and getting eight minutes. So, if you’re looking for overall development and it’s only a couple of games because that’s what you think a Slagger’s going to be out for, uh, then then yeah, maybe that makes more sense going the Ryan Green route and let Oliver uh start things off probably on the number one line and uh, you know, let him play in all situations. I just thought also too on the PK like what he brings to the PK. I thought that was another u little bit of a reason why he might edge out Green. Yeah, I think with Ryan Green though too because he’s he played a full extra year in college. He might be more pro ready to just step in when the Hawks are in a bind versus more like you don’t want him to overthink things early on and then he’s getting off to a late start in Rockford because maybe if you know he has a couple bad games against Florida or Boston or whatever, you don’t want that to sit with him. And so, um, I see both sides honestly. So, the lines will be basically what we saw in the second to last preseason game. Donado, Baddard, Burkovski is your top line. Tabot Terrain and Frankie Nazar and Tyler Bertusi the second line. Then you have Doc Dickinson in McKay. Your fourth line is Felino Green and Sam Laferty. You also already mentioned that Grizzlick, who just signed the uh the $1 million contract, he will take uh Vassic spot on the top pairing. He’ll be on the left side. Renzel will be on the right. It’ll be Kaiser and Arty Lev. And then Delmastro and Murphy. So, uh, right now, Krevier would be the odd man out and Riel the odd man out from the forward situation. We’ve been talking about Lucas Reichel and rightfully so quite a bit on this podcast. Uh, do you think right now they’re playing the poker game of trying to get the best uh, return they can get for Lucas Reichel and kind of have a mutual parting of the ways? the old change of scenery deal. And we’re probably going to see him in this uh healthy scratch, maybe gets a little bit of run depending on availability and health issues in a third or fourth line role. Yeah, it’s probably the body of work with Lucas Reicho is big enough where you know what he is and has been for them. Now, can he still be the player that he thinks and the the team thinks he can be? Sure. Do I think it’s going to be here? It’s looking unlikely. And so, I think the Hawks are at a point now where they want to give other guys a look. And that’s why they called up Ryan Green. Like, they didn’t call up Ryan Green to put him as the 13th forward and watch. I think it’s going to be a situation where Reicho gets in kind of gets spot started, you know, if there any nothing is comes to fruition over the next like week or two. And so it’s going to be hard because as a young player psychologically, you have to stay engaged. And Jeff Blash, he talked about that today, saying he didn’t want to look at last year’s Riel and start drawing conclusions on what he could be as a player because Jeff was saying, “I don’t think that’s fair for me to get off on the wrong foot with that player where every every player should get a clean slate.” Having said that, organizationally, they also have to make difficult decisions and they have to start giving some of the other younger players a look. So, um, it’s going to be hard. Lucas has to for sure stay ready when his opportunity does come. So, we’ll uh we’ll see how that story develops. Uh some subplots to tomorrow night’s game. Spencer Knight returns. Uh you guys spoke to Spencer after the workout today. It had to be I I I talked to him last week about what it was like watching his good friends and and and former teammates go for their second straight cup. and he kind of had a real um refreshing take on it where he felt great for them and he felt like he was a passenger for the cup that that he won and he goes at the end of the day players want to play and they don’t want to be passengers and and that’s where he’s looking at this opportunity in Chicago as obviously being the bellcow uh being the 1A and uh you know seeing how his career can develop at age 24 for sure. Like especially when you’re when you’re a backup goalender there there might be playoffs where you’re literally not seeing any time. If you’re a fourthline guy, you’re at least still getting minutes and you’re contributing in some way. But with with Knight, he wasn’t getting that time with the Florida Panthers. And so when they won that Stanley Cup for the first time when he was there, he maybe again felt like he was a passenger. Even though he did play regular season games, he didn’t help them in the playoffs. And so I think when he got to Chicago, he sees opportunity to be a number one goalender here and opportunity to grow with this young team and be the number one goalender for a potential Stanley Cup winner years down the road. And I I think that is appealing. Like we even heard Peter Morazzic when he was here for with Chicago for a couple years. He was just excited to play like a veteran like him where like wouldn’t you want to go cup chase or whatever and he’s like I’m just happy playing you know cuz there were moments in his career where he was injured or he was the backup or whatever the case might be. So players want to play and they want to be contributing factors to contending teams. And and to point out, and it I think it it it’s worth mentioning, he would have been leaned on quite a bit in the regular season, especially with a condensed NHL schedule uh because of the Olympics, but again, he’s played in two playoff games. So, you know, at the end of the day, players tend to judge and value themselves on, you know, where the team is at as far as winning and losing, your role on that team, and the success you have in the playoffs. Uh, and they would really need a good a good backup for Babski this year because I I think their road to get back to the playoffs is going to be hard without Kachchuck for the foreseeable future and without Barov for probably the whole season, right? Like especially without those two players, you’re going to need Sergey Babroski to be healthy come playoff time. And if that if that means lessening his regular season load to make sure that he is well rested for the playoffs, there definitely does seem to be a path where Florida might have to take a little bit of the load off of Babrosky’s plate. Having said that, if they get off to a slow start in the regular season without their two horses, you know, the the flip side is they might have to lean a little bit more heavily on Babrosski in the regular season to get them to the the playoffs, which shouldn’t be a problem. But if they hit a wall earlier than they than usual because of their, you know, three consecutive Stanley Cup uh final appearances, you know, that that could be tough. Getting to the postseason and playing meaningful hockey was the catalyst to Seth Jones saying what he did uh before the trade deadline uh last year and really was the the impetus to getting a deal done. I think the kind of the tone he took and I know a lot lot of some of the media were asking you know he was a really good teammate and uh you know I at the end of the day he made a business decision and felt it was in the his best right to say you know I may not fit in right now with the ultimate end of the rebuild and let’s be honest knowing how strong the blue line looks organizationally for this team. The depth that they have, it was really a blessing that Seth moved on and gave Levino more time and gave Renzel uh ample time so that, you know, we could all see that they were worthy of where they were taken and the promise that they have as a young player. Both sides got exactly what they needed out of the trade. Seth got his opportunity to go win a Stanley Cup. He did that. The Hawks create the roster spot, but also the financial flexibility and they got a first round pick this year and a number one goalender and Spencer Knight. So, this is I know it’s some some trades you want there to be a winner and a loser, but this honestly does feel like it was a win-win for both sides because Florida got what they wanted out of Seth. Chicago got what they needed out of Seth just to be that transition guy to, you know, he also helped the the last couple years. Seth Jones just prevent the Hawks from potentially calling up defenseman prospects sooner than they were ready because maybe they didn’t didn’t have anyone. But Seth was able to do that. And we talked to Alex Vlic today and he said it it was not a distraction in our locker room because Seth was a great teammate. And so they understood the decision for for for Seth to want to do that. It it I I think um I saw this story too uh Laz and Powers from The Athletic. talked to Nick Felino and Seth Jones and Seth said he saw Nick’s comments from last year and he was taken back by them, but the two of them were able to speak on it and there was zero animosity between the two of them and so it was water under the bridge there. So I don’t expect any carryover into the game uh on Tuesday. Yeah. And and just as we said, you know, Spencer Knight uh is looking at this as an opportunity to play versus being a passenger. Sometimes when you’re moved to a better team, like in Seth’s case, you play less minutes than you were here in Chicago, uh, and you’re not on the top D pairing, and you’re not on the number one power play unit, and you’re slotted into the second pairing, uh, behind Ekblad, and everything falls into place a little bit better for you because you’re not taking on the top line of the opposing team necessarily and you’re not logging 28 minutes or 27 minutes and you know so in in Seth’s case we saw production from Seth that was greater than here at a higher level because he was asked to do less and it was a perfect situation for Seth too because he was stepping into a culture that was already founded and so he just kind of had to assimilate into that culture and in Chicago he had an A on his sweater. So when there are a lot of tough losses that he had to go out there face the media because he was one of the leaders on the team with Florida. Not only was he perfectly suited in the role that he played on the ice, but he didn’t have to be the center of, you know, it’s it’s Barov, it’s Kachchuck, it’s Reinhardt, it’s Ecklad, it’s Babroski. Those are the leaders on that team. so he could just really focus on playing his game and not have to worry about all the extracurricular stuff off the ice. I think the Hawks have a chance to win this opener for a couple of reasons. Uh, one, it’s been a weird training campree for the two-time defending champs. They played Tampa in three consecutive games and like slapshot broke out in basically all of them and uh there’s some bad blood. Hegel got injured and um you know it it was a personal situation between those two teams. I don’t think that is any way how they plan to to attack the the the Blackhawks on opening night. I thought that was a two teams, two rivals in the same state where forever it was Tampa that was the gold standard. Uh not only in the state but the league and the Florida Panthers had to figure out how to beat Big Brother. They did. They beat him pretty bad and they’ve won consecutive cups trying to win three straight. So, you put all that together and uh it created uh quite a bit of uh physicality and I’ll say it hatred. Uh of all places a pre-season game, their last preseason game was like three hours and 10 minutes long. There I think I saw John Cooper’s postgame media availability and he joked he’s like at one point we had more coaches on the bench than players. that that’s how much the penalty minutes started to rack up and guys were getting thrown out and there were like seven players in the penalty box at one point from Tampa Bay. So, I don’t know what exactly happened there, especially with especially for two teams that they’ve been in deep playoff runs and so they know let’s just not exert ourselves in the preseason. Like, let’s just get to the regular season and just kind of coast. I mean, they sure did not do so. And so I I think it speaks to the rivalry and how the positions have changed over the last few years. I really think there’s a lot a lot of the proud players in both uh locker rooms and uh you know both have some animosity about what has transpired in meaningful games. I’m with you why they decided to pick. But the other thing too is don’t put two rivals together for three consecutive preseason games. you’re ask even though you’re putting different line different lineups out there and playing your AHL guys sometimes and whatnot, some of your regular guys are going to play and you’re you’re asking for trouble, right? Yeah, they’re probably going to revisit that uh moving forward. But um yeah, you mentioned Florida potentially being on upset alert. I honestly don’t disagree with you because one, it’s the banner raising ceremony for Florida and sometimes when when you have that moment sometimes it doesn’t go well for the home team cuz you’re you’re you’re caught up in the moment. You’re you have one eye on last year and then you have to flip the switch immediately whereas like the Hawks are going to come in. They’re just like can we just drop the puck already cuz we’re ready to play some hockey. And you talk about the the motivation that Spencer Knight’s going to play with, but also I think the team is going to play so hard for Jeff Blaso in his first game. It just feels like you always get that new coach bump early on. The systems might look a little disorganized, but I think at that point you’re you’re just feeding off of adrenaline and you’re feeding off this is the first game of the season. No one’s giving us a chance to win this game. Everyone thinks it’s going to be a blowout. and almost it it might favor you as like the the the severe underdog to just go in there and and shock the world. It’s a a phrase we’ve used on this podcast, you’ve used it a lot, is when you don’t have your A game, can you win with your B or C? I think the Hawks this year are going to play more games where they’re at a B level and that that effort is going to catch a team that came to Chicago and said we’re going to take the night off against these guys and we’re going to go have some fun on Rush Street. We’re going to have a nice meal and we’re not going to worry about uh taking them seriously. I think this year where the the Hawks I think are better than they have been the last couple years. And I think the energy and effort that they give uh will see results in the win and loss in the in the win column and subsequently in the points. Yeah. Like their floor is slowly starting to get elevated a little bit. the the ceiling obviously is still going to be a work in progress, but I think when you get a a head coach like Jeff Blill and you get this influx of youth that had a taste of last year’s action and they’re going to hopefully take the next step you with Nazar, Renzel, Lechenoff, a full season of Spencer Knight, you feel like the floor of the team could start to get elevated and that could like you mentioned catch some teams off guard. All right, big news in the National Hockey League. Conor McDavid, who was entering the final year of his contract, re-uped for two more years. So, he’s under contract with Edmonton for three more seasons. Uh, he stayed right at the same AAV that he’s at now, 12 a.5 million. So, a week after Carill Caprio signs an eight-year, $17 million a year contract, uh Conor McDavid takes a a much less uh market value and basically puts Stan Bowman and the Oilers on notice that look, we need to up the talent level on this roster. And you’re not going to have my contract as the excuse that we can’t do it because with the where the the salary cap is right now at 95 million and going up to 104 next year and some are even saying it may may go to 107 next season. Um, these are significant upgrades in in the salary cap and you can add, do the math, you can add an 112 million player uh or spread that money out over a couple of players uh if you need to increase the talent level on your roster. Right. I I was I was surprised and I wasn’t when I saw it because Conor McDavid’s big thing with potentially signing in Edmonton or not signing in Edmonton was he wants to see what the vision is not just in the short term but the long term. And so no surprise for me that he decided on a shorter term. But when I saw the 12.5, I’m like, his buddy Leon just got 14 and he’s making he’s gonna make a million and a half. And you want to know what this reminded me of? This is Crosby. Sydney Crosby $8.7 million. He was he’s been on for his essentially his entire career since the entry level contract. Doesn’t care like he he doesn’t care about what other people say about how much money he should make. Is the NHL PA going to be upset because he didn’t reset the market? It’s okay. Carell Capri off did that for others. Yeah. McDavid’s like, I don’t care about anything else except winning. And it’s an admirable approach and I’m curious to see from Edmonton’s p perspective how they’re going to fill how they’re going to use th that money to surround him with the talent and whether not to get too far ahead of oursel, but whether by the end of McDavid’s contract, where is that going to leave him as well? Like is that going to be, you know, it it’s there going to be a lot of teams are going to be are we gonna be in on him like should we be carving out $20 million for McDavid if if that’s going to be the end of the road because he easily could have said you know what I just want to be an Edmonton lifer give me a seven seven-year contract let’s let me ride it out with a Leon but he did not do that and so these next two three years are going to be really interesting for Edmonton to me he wanted to hear their game plan of how they were going to improve the roster he heard it he was good with it enough that he was going to sign up for a couple of more years. And he eventually said, “Here’s how much I believe and want to win here. I’m going to take below market value. I’m going to keep my AAV flat and I’m going to take less than Leon Dryidle on this team and take much less than Capri Capri off when I deserve to be the highest paid player in the league. Um, to me, like you said, it’s admirable, but it’s also I think it it puts management on notice, like, hey, I pushed my chips in, so to speak, took less chips so that you could have more chips to play with, so to speak. Yeah, for sure. That that’s exactly what he’s showing to them. And I like that McDavid was able to get this deal done before the regular season started because it it would I know it probably wouldn’t have been a distraction for McDavid because he he would probably be putting up three four nights on a nightly basis regardless, but the constant questions could have to his teammates potentially could have been a distraction for a team that’s trying to just focus on getting back to another Stanley Cup and winning it. And so it it it was nice for Edmonton to get this out of the way with before the regular season starts so that way they can, you know, just kick the can down the road and not have to answer these questions until the third year. All right, let’s uh finish things up with some uh predictions for this upcoming season. And let’s let’s try to remember these predictions and uh tell you if we were right or we failed miserably on them. I’ll kick things off. All right. I think Connor Baddard is going to have a big third year in the National Hockey League. I love what he did in the off season. I love that he worked with Kent Johnson’s trainer and saw the bump that that Kent took and uh saw the fashion and way that he worked out and uh streamlined his workouts to be similar to that. I love what he did tweaking his stick. Um, I’ve seen the jump in his game. Uh, I think Blashel is going to be a great fit for him. I think he’s going to tell him things that Cucharov has done and he’s going to make comparisons to players he had over the last 10 years and has coached. And I think that’s going to be a good relationship. I think that Connor Baddard is going to finish in the top 15 in points this year and is going to end up somewhere around 88 or 89 points scoring over 30 goals and that would put him over 50 uh assists. I love it. you’re bolder than I am, but I’m going to echo what you what you said about Connor and everything he’s the offseason training, the maturity to skip the Worlds and say, “Nope, I don’t want to interrupt my offseason training because I want to be ready to go for Chicago’s training camp. He looks fantastic in the preseason.” I was going to say this is the year that he cracks a point per game like I’m so I’m going to say if he finishes with 82 points and where that’s going to sit when it when it comes to the final NHL total I’m not sure. I think I saw so like most oddsmakers have him at like 64 or 74 75 and a half. So we’re hitting the over. Yeah, we’re hitting the over on that. Um so I I got Connor at 82 points this year. I said this on one of our recent podcasts. I’ll just echo it. I think Frankie Nazar is going to lead the league in shorthanded markers. And I put that at six. All right. That’s a that’s a really that’s a great prediction because I it’s not a prediction that other members around the league would make. Maybe because they don’t know how dangerous and how many opportunities shorthanded that Frank Nazar had last year that he didn’t bury. And so I wouldn’t be surprised if if Frank is like in the four like I I’ll say four four short-handed goals for for Frank Nazar is awesome. Um six is definitely is definitely bold and so I I appreciate your boldness with that one. All right. Um you had one about Renzel. You might as well Yeah. reiterate that one. Yes. I my bold prediction for this season is that Sam Renzel will not only be a Calder Trophy finalist, but he will win the Calder Trophy for the top rookie in the NHL. And I just saw enough from him last year in the nine games where he was averaging like 24 25 minutes a night. And I think if you projected that over the course of an 82 game season, he would have led the NHL among rookies in ice time. And so he’s going to be the power play quarterback on the first unit this year. He’s going to be the top bearing defenseman. So if I have him between 45 to 50 points, like I don’t even know if I’m selling if that’s too low, if that’s too high. I’m not I don’t know. When Brock Faber went head-to-head with Connor Baddard, I believe he had 47 points in 82 games. So I think that is absolutely reachable for Sam Renzel. And um I I don’t we not worry that Matthew Schaefer is going to have something to say about that? I don’t because I think it’s Matthew Schaefer, he missed so much time last year that not only is he going to try to get acclimated to the NHL, he’s doing so at 17 years of age. He missed all of almost all of last season. So there’s just going to be a catching up process with him. I will say the one challenge that it’s going to be for Renzel is that typically m maybe maybe not. Maybe this is gonna this is going to fall short, but typically the the award members favor rookies that are on playoff type teams. So if like Ivan Demidov has a good year or whatever other rookies that are going to be in that range where their teams are going to be competing for playoffs, I feel like if it comes down if it’s close, they’re going to lean towards the teams with the that are in the playoffs. And so Renzel is going to really have to make an impression to play his way onto the radar early on, but um I I genuinely believe Renzel will be a Calder Trophy finalist and I think he will win it as well. Wow. All right. Well, let’s let’s hope that that comes to fruition. Uh we’ve talked about, you know, where is this team going to end up in the standings? So last year they had 61 points. I don’t know the exact number. I’m trying to kind of remember, but it I want to say the the most points that the Blackhawks have jumped in say the last 25 years is 21 points from one year to the next. I think that that is the case in that ballpark. It’s in that ballpark and it’s a significant number. I think that the Blackhawks will increase their point total by at least 18 points this year. I’m not going to jump out and say it’s 21 22 and it’s going to be the most in franchise history. Uh but I think they’re going to make a significant jump. I’m going to say 18 points at least. And uh you know that takes them still much below that threshold of of being a wildcard team, but I think it gives us a lot more uh fun games and entertaining uh contests to break down on WGN radio and CHSN. Yeah, I like it. I I’m going to have them at 73 points, so it would be a 12 point increase. But that’s I mean, if you break it down, that’s six more wins, you know? So that’s that’s pretty that’s a pretty significant um increase. But I think where we’re going to see even if the the point total isn’t a significant increase, I think where we’re going to see the growth is they will be in they will be in more competitive games for longer. So the games aren’t aren’t going to be over by the second period. They might get to the third period, Hawks are down a goal and they just can’t find that extra goal, right? And so I think you’re going to see less of the 5-1 4-1 losses this year and it’s going to be more 32 4-2 with an empty netter. And so I think that if we saw that or just pushing games to overtime, I think that would be an improvement for for Chicago. So I’ll say I’ll put them my official predictions at 73 points. All right, I’ll take that. Uh, if I had one concern, one concern heading into the season, it would be kind of just where they’re at picking up the systems. And I’ll start with the PK, which was really strong last year. The power play was strong. Um, when Jeff Lashel was in Tampa, the first month that Tampa took over his his PK system, they struggled and I think they were 22nd in the league. From that point on, they were the number one penalty kill in the National Hockey League. So, do not judge this PK by the first month of the season. Uh they they’ve had a lot thrown at them uh both uh on the forch check on power play, PK, how they want to handle things that I think there’s going to be some some growing pains in in month number one. But, uh, that would be my concern, like how big those growing pains are and like I’m looking at the PK certainly early on as one of the areas that that could prove to be a bit of a rough ride. Yeah, it it has definitely struggled in the um in training camp, like specifically the power play too, watching them, it’s been a little disorganized. I wonder how much of it is the the players know what system that the pkers are going to try to do. So they’re or vice versa. Like I think I don’t know how to articulate this properly, but when you’re trying to get the system yourself and then also trying to prevent what the other system is doing, it could maybe just add to like a psychological factor versus when you’re playing in an actual game, you’re studying an opponent on what they do and they don’t know exactly what you’re doing. So I like outside of like currently they don’t have any tape on what Jeff Blill’s Blackhawks are going to look like, right? outside of the pre the the limited preseason. And so I think it’s going to be one of those things that I think PK like like you mentioned, I don’t know where the percentage is going to finish this season, but it it does feel like they’re going to get some short-handed opportunities to score some shorties. Um, with the power play, I I feel good about where the Hawks are going to be power playwise. Even if the percentage is worse than it was last year because it was in the upper echelon for most of the most of last season, I think we’re going to see more consistency from it because it’s the Hawks have a true penalt or a power play quarterback now in San Renzelle and Frank Nazar the way he performed at Worlds in the bumper spot and just getting that confidence. I think he’s going to be a different player and so I I’m I’m excited to see where the power play is going to go. So, I’m not going to be too married at the results unless they’re getting consistent. It’s it’s getting more consistent than it was last year. Blackhawks do a cool thing. Uh they went down a day early. Uh they tend to do that for the uh the season openers and in this case, the players got a special treat, a a uh a boat ride and and dinner together. Uh tell us a little bit about the the bonding experience. Yeah, it was great. The the vibes are really are really different this year around Chicago and it feels like the the younger players are all starting to bond together. Like in in the past few years, you know how you like have different clicks like the veterans, the middle guys, the young players. The the the big herd is like all the young guys and they’re all like follow they all move together which is awesome because that’s how it was in the early years with the Blackhawks when Kane and Taves were breaking in as teenagers. like they all did stuff together. And so the boat was the boat was an awesome time and it’s been it’s been cool to see all of the guys bonding and interacting with each other as a team. Like that’s that’s the way it should be. And so it was a great it was a great um it was a great night. And I also want to I got to mention this. So we were we were on the boat for maybe three and a half hours or so. We went like up and down Fort Lau whatever. There were two Blackhawks fans that were sitting in on their porch and they saw our boat coming and they started playing Chelsea Dagger from their porch and they said go Hawks and I thought for some I thought it was coming from our boat but I was like wait a second. I was like that sounds like it’s coming from there. And so if those two fans are listening uh we saw you on the boat and uh that that was an incredible thing because I they had a big Blackhawks flag on our boat so that’s how they realized that it was us. Did the players all realize it? I I think they realized it like as we were leaving like all the we were in different sections. Um there was I think there were players sitting up top so I think they might have seen them. But um that I thought that was really cool. Like these Blackhawks fans just just saw saw. They’re everywhere. They’re everywhere. Yeah. Uh well let’s hope we have a uh a fun season. Uh a lot lot of different things going on certainly with the new coaching staff. Uh it’s been a an intense training camp and uh a lot of young players vying for spots. So, let’s see. And then let’s see how the the veterans, let’s see how they handle. Like I think Dickinson’s going to have a big year. I think Bratusi uh looks like he’s poised to have a better start to his season than we’ve seen in years past. So, uh, you know, I know we’re going to talk a lot about the 24 and under guys, but, uh, you know, we know we’re going to hear from, uh, the veterans as well. Yeah. And I’m I’m just looking forward to seeing the Blackhawks play games that matter where where it’s it’s real measuring sticks. like even in the preseason the final dress rehearsal on Friday which was theirs against Minnesota like that was a fun game to watch because they were they were down it was like the final minute they were into it. It’s like I want to see more of that translate over into the regular season where the Hawks are into the into those games and and competing in the final minute and a half where they’re calling timeouts and trying to use the extra attacker. And so I’m I’m I’m ready for these games to count. All right. Me, too. That’s going to do it for the Blackhawks Breakaway podcast. For Charlie Romelotus, I’m Pat Bole. Thank you for watching and listening. Hawk season is here. They open up in Florida on Tuesday and then they will continue to Boston and the home opener is Saturday against Montreal at the United Center. We’ll talk to you later.

On this episode of the Blackhawks Breakaway Podcast, Pat Boyle and Charlie Roumeliotis break down Chicago’s Opening Night roster for the 2025-26 season. They share injury updates on Landon Slaggert and Alex Vlasic, discuss Ryan Greene’s call-up over Oliver Moore, revisit the Seth Jones trade, and react to Connor McDavid’s two-year extension with Edmonton. Plus, Pat and Charlie make their season predictions, including how many points they think Connor Bedard will put up.

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