Despite spending a ton of money in free agency last summer – $56.3 million combined for Laurent Brossoit, TJ Brodie, Alec Martinez, Teuvo Teravainen and Tyler Bertuzzi – the Blackhawks netted just two more wins than the previous season. What hurt more, though, was watching the Sharks and Ducks leapfrog them in their respective rebuilds even though the Hawks had arguably the best franchise building block in Connor Bedard. (We can debate Bedard vs. Celebrini another time).
Bedard played all 82 games but didn’t show the big leap everyone expected him to make a la Connor McDavid, who was likewise injured in his rookie season but exploded in his sophomore season to win his first Art Ross as the league’s top scorer with 100 points. Instead, Bedard, finished with 67 points, dropping his PPG average to 0.82 from 0.90, and finished tied-54th in league scoring. What was supposed to be another promising breakout season, led by Bedard with a stronger (read: expensive) and experienced supporting cast, ended up having arguably the most disappointing season in the post-Toews/Kane era.
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Offensively, Bedard carried the Hawks to a top-10 power play, but their 5-on-5 play was extremely poor. Their desire to grind out wins rather than swapping scoring chances –perhaps a better strategy with talented young forwards in hindsight – often backfired with an inconsistent defense, inexperienced forwards and poor goaltending. It ultimately cost Luke Richardson his job, and interim head coach Anders Sorensen returned to his assistant role after Jeff Blashill was hired in late May.
The Red Wings under Blashill, by the way, had a league-worst 2.49 goals for per game in seven seasons behind the bench, so it remains to be seen what he can coax out of this lineup. The general prognosis right now, however, isn’t good considering the only notable addition has been a middle-six, supplementary playmaker in Andre Burakovsky. THN Yearbook & Fantasy Guide projects Burakovsky to finish with a paltry 36 points, sixth among Blackhawks forwards.
Fantasy managers were burned if they reached for Bedard, especially those who looked for big early returns in dynasty leagues, and the rest of the roster lived on the waiver wire for much of the season. Ryan Donato was the lone bright spot but still only tied-75th in league scoring and was one of 46 players who scored 30 goals. It’s not exactly headlining material, but he ended up being one of the best waiver-wire pickups of the season, and his 60-point, 200-shot, 100-hit potential makes him a solid mid-round fantasy option for this coming season.
Beyond that, it’s hoping Frank Nazar lives up to the hype after signing a big seven-year extension, and that top prospect Oliver Moore somehow battles his way to second-line and PP2 minutes in a lineup sorely in need of offense.
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Prediction:
Spencer Knight starts off strong but gets overwhelmed by the workload and ends up with close to a 50-50 split with Arvid Soderblom, disappointing fantasy managers hoping for extreme volume in Knight’s first full season as a starter. The Hawks struggle again but bumble along in the right direction as Bedard and Nazar develop and more promising young players join the lineup.
Donato falls just short of a second consecutive 30-goal season while Bedard leads the team in scoring with 80-plus points. Rinzel flies under the radar but by the end of the season ends up being rostered in more than 50 percent of all Yahoo leagues thanks to his role as PP1 QB, leapfrogging Artyom Levshunov and Alex Vlasic easily in fantasy value. For what it’s worth, THN Yearbook & Fantasy Guide projects Bedard to finish with 82 points and Rinzel with 41, leading Hawks forwards and defensemen in scoring, respectively.
All stats courtesy of naturalstattrick.com, moneypuck.com, hockeyviz.com, allthreezones.com, hockey-reference.com, eliteprospects.com unless otherwise noted.