Hidden Stat 2.0: The Penguins have points in 17 of their 23 games against Western Conference Opponents this season (11-6-6), courtesy of Pens PR.<\/p>\n
Getting to know the Blackhawks<\/p>\n
Frank Nazar – Connor Bedard – Teuvo Teravainen<\/p>\n
Ryan Greene – Oliver Moore – Andre Burakovsky<\/p>\n
Tyler Bertuzzi – Jason Dickinson – Ilya Mikheyev<\/p>\n
Ryan Donato – Nick Foligno – Landon Slaggert<\/p>\n
Alex Vlasic \/ Louis Crevier<\/p>\n
Wyatt Kaiser \/ Artyom Levshunov<\/p>\n
Matt Grzelcyk \/ Connor Murphy<\/p>\n
Goalies: Spencer Knight and Arvid Soderblom<\/p>\n
Potential scratches: Sam Lafferty, Colton Dach<\/p>\n
Injured Reserve: Shea Weber, Ryan Ellis<\/p>\n
Chicago plays again tomorrow night at home against Columbus, they might have a decision to make in net accordingly. Knight has started six of their last eight games.The Blackhawks certainly qualify as one of the youngest teams, 11 of the 22 players on the active roster are under 25 years old, including the majority of their current top-six forwards, the entirety of their top-4 defenders and a budding starting goalie. Foligno and Murphy are the only 31+ players around, and they don\u2019t have huge on ice roles.Always a chuckle to see an actual Hall of Famer still on a team\u2019s payroll as the contract winds out. This is the final season of Weber\u2019s massive 14-year contract that Philadelphia tried to sign him to in 2012 but was matched by Nashville. Key to the game: Pittsburgh taking advantage of Chicago\u2019s 5v5 struggles<\/p>\n Chicago has managed to paper over some bad results lately to the tun of a decent 7-5-2 record in calendar 2026 despite a horrible process ranking them at the bottom of the NHL in the new year. That record was boosted winning five of six games towards the beginning of January, including impressive wins over Dallas and Vegas and later some results with a victory over Carolina (shootout) and a shootout loss to Tampa. Chicago is living proof that in today\u2019s NHL a team can truly get any result on any given night, illustrated by the Hawks also losing to Calgary this month.<\/p>\n The stingy PK mentioned above is a big factor in how Chicago has been able to string together some results despite a terrible 5v5 goal share and process behind it since the turn of the year. This should play into the Pens\u2019 hands, Pittsburgh is out-scoring the opposition by a combined 50-26 at even strength since Christmas. The table should be set for them to keep that train rolling around against an opponent that is exceptionally weak in that area.<\/p>\n One other positive takeaway from that graphic about the Penguins is that their recent play doesn\u2019t feature an unsustainable PDO-aided turn (which fellow 2026 standouts like Buffalo, Utah, Boston and Detroit can\u2019t say as easily).<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/chi.jpg\"\/)
<\/a>Bertuzzi is having an interesting season. It stands out in memory how much he was goal hanging and playing behind the defense looking for breakaways against the Penguins last month. His defensive impact is among the worst in the league, his finishing and scoring is near the very top. It might not be his intention but he looked like a guy just trying to pad his own personal stats. Might be something to keep an eye on tonight, at the very least Bertuzzi is cheating a lot to generate offense, which I guess you get some leeway with when a lot of goals are going in.Is Kevin Korchinski the next Ty Smith? Both made the NHL super early, then didn\u2019t stick. In a perfect world and for Chicago\u2019s development they would need former first round picks like Korchinski and Sam Rinzel to start becoming NHL regulars now in their draft+4 seasons. A rebuild will struggle to launch without pieces like that growing. On the plus side, 2024 second overall pick Artyom Levshunov has lived up to his draft placement so far.The trade of Seth Jones for Knight and a 2026 first rounder looks mighty good for the Blackhawks these days (didn\u2019t work out so poorly for Florida, either) with the Panthers dabbling around the middle of the standings so far this season. The best part for Chicago is Knight running with the opportunity to be a quality option in net, the Blackhawks will eat a $2.5 million penalty for retaining a piece of Jones\u2019s cap hit but that looks well worth it at this point.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/weqgto2y5k9xkaqtsp5q.jpg\"\/)
<\/a><\/p>\n