{"id":506678,"date":"2026-03-16T20:25:52","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T20:25:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/506678\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T20:25:52","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T20:25:52","slug":"chicago-blackhawks-week-ahead-schedule-storylines-boisvert-arrives-folignos-homecoming-and-more-the-hockey-writers-chicago-blackhawks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/506678\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Blackhawks Week Ahead: Schedule & Storylines – Boisvert Arrives, Foligno’s Homecoming and More – The Hockey Writers – Chicago Blackhawks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here is a breakdown of the key stories surrounding the Chicago Blackhawks right now, along with their schedule for the week of March 16-23, 2026, including the anticipation around new prospects and the bittersweet feeling of a former captain returning to town.<\/p>\n

The Arrival of Sacha Boisvert<\/p>\n

The Blackhawks\u2019 2024 first-round draft pick (18th overall) saw his college season<\/a> with Boston University end last week. He signed his entry-level NHL contract on Monday morning. Fans are eagerly awaiting his NHL debut, though he first has to sort out his visa process since he is Canadian.<\/p>\n

Nick Foligno\u2019s Homecoming<\/p>\n

Tuesday night will be an emotional one at the United Center. Former Blackhawks captain Nick Foligno, who was traded to the Minnesota Wild at the recent trade deadline, is returning to Chicago<\/a> for the first time. <\/p>\n

Connor Bedard even joked with reporters that Foligno better \u201ckeep his head up\u201d against his former teammates.<\/p>\n

2026 NHL Global Series Announcement<\/p>\n

The NHL officially announced on Friday that the Blackhawks will be heading to D\u00fcsseldorf, Germany, next season<\/a>. They will play two regular-season games against the Ottawa Senators on Dec. 18 and 20, 2026.<\/p>\n

Young Grit <\/p>\n

The team is coming off a rough 4-0 shutout loss to the Vegas Golden Knights over the weekend, but their physical pushback is making headlines. Bedard got into a skirmish<\/a> with Kaedan Korczak, and Ethan Del Mastro took a 10-minute misconduct for defending Bedard. Head coach Jeff Blashill praised the young team\u2019s willingness to sacrifice and stand up for one another.<\/p>\n

Life After the Trade Deadline<\/p>\n

Chicago is currently navigating the final quarter of the 2025-26 season after completely overhauling their veteran leadership. With Foligno, Jason Dickinson, and Connor Murphy all traded away, the team is relying on young stars like Bedard, Frank Nazar, and Artyom Levshunov to set the tone for the rebuild.<\/p>\n

Blackhawks Upcoming Schedule<\/p>\n

The Blackhawks face a challenging week entirely within the Central Division. They open with a gritty home-and-home series against the Minnesota Wild, which will test their physical play. Following that, they face a grueling back-to-back weekend starting with the powerhouse Colorado Avalanche on Friday night and wrapping up with a Sunday matinee against the Nashville Predators. Goaltender Spencer Knight, who has had a heavy workload recently, will be put to the test against these aggressive divisional opponents.<\/p>\n

DateOpponentLocationTime (EDT)Tuesday, Mar. 17Minnesota WildUnited Center (Home)7:30 PMThursday, Mar. 19Minnesota WildGrand Casino Arena (Away)7:30 PMFriday, Mar. 20Colorado AvalancheUnited Center (Home)8:30 PMSunday, Mar. 22Nashville PredatorsUnited Center (Home)3:00 PM<\/p>\n

AI tools were used to support the creation or distribution of this content, however, it has been carefully edited and fact-checked by a member of The Hockey Writers editorial team. For more information on our use of AI, please visit our Editorial Standards<\/a> page.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here is a breakdown of the key stories surrounding the Chicago Blackhawks right now, along with their schedule…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":506679,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5115],"tags":[521,37,96,5263,508,5,4,5851,856],"class_list":{"0":"post-506678","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-blackhawks","8":"tag-blackhawks","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-chicago-blackhawks","11":"tag-chicagoblackhawks","12":"tag-connor-bedard","13":"tag-hockey","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-nick-foligno","16":"tag-sacha-boisvert"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116240738754844011","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}