5 negative takeaways from the Blackhawks season

After writing about 5 positive takeaways from the Blackhawks this season, I figured it’s only appropriate to talk about 5 negatives. Although there were plenty of bright spots over the course of the year, there were also a lot of areas that need work, players who need to find new levels to their game’s, and questionable roster management decisions. The post-trade deadline Blackhawks had an average age of 24, by far the youngest in the NHL. Combine that inexperience with a roster full of players who have never played 82 games in a season and you’re going to get an inconsistent, often tough to watch product. However, the future is bright. With that being said, here are 5 negative takeaways from the 2025-2026 season.

I. Finishing 31st in league standings

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The Blackhawks finish another season outside of the playoff picture and find themselves praying on the lottery balls for the 6th consecutive year. While there is an improvement in points for the team, the league result stays the same, another bottom 5 finish. Yes, the future looks bright, but fans are getting impatient. If you take away the 2020 playoff berth where the Blackhawks won the play in round vs Edmonton (Blackhawks were not in a playoff spot when the the season paused) then this is the 9th consecutive year without playoffs. To put that into perspective, the Detroit Red Wings currently hold the longest drought at 10 years. Both GM Kyle Davidson and the Blackhawks players are aware of the long drought and the amount of patience fans have had throughout the rebuild. ”Going into next season it’s, you know, playoffs is the expectation, uh we’re not here to do this again” - Alex Vlasic at end of season media availability.

GM Kyle Davidson hasn’t really felt much pressure on him during his tenure so far, both the front office and the fans (for the most part) have understood the intent behind finishing at the bottom of the league standings. Now we reach a point in the rebuild where the Blackhawks have had 11 first round picks including a #1, #2, and #3 overall pick. With the bulk of the young core having arrived, Davidson’s focus now shifts to fitting all the puzzle pieces correctly in order to construct a winning team. This offseason is the first one where there is pressure to add.

II. Andre Burakovsky forgot how to play hockey

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In the summer leading into the 2025-2026 season, the Blackhawks acquired forward Andre Burakovsky from the Seattle Kraken in exchange for forward Joe Veleno. Burakovsky had 2 years left at $5,500,000 AAV. At the time the trade seemed like a good deal for the Blackhawks. They get a player who helps them reach the cap floor, a player who has been a key contributor on 2 Stanley Cup Championship teams. The risk with Burakovsky was that he had been coming off multiple injuries and as a result he could never quite get back to form. However, to end the 2024-2025 season with the Kraken, Burakovsky had 13 points in the final 14 games. Then he picked up right where he left off to start the season, Andre Burakovsky was nearly a point per game player. He was playing top line minutes with Connor Bedard, top unit powerplay, and saw OT minutes. Throughout the first 26 games of the season he put up 21 points, had the skill, speed, and high IQ to mesh with his top end elite centermen, but then Connor Bedard got injured. By the time Bedard came back, Burakovsky was a shell of his former self. Ending the year by notching 4 points in 37 games.

Not only did Andre Burakovsky disappear on the score sheet, but he started to hurt the team just by having the puck. His ability to control and move the puck was seemingly gone, as was his ability to make smart decisions/reads. Whether it was a zone entry, breakout, or a pass to an open man in the offensive zone, it was never on the tape, often in the feet and sometimes off target by a lot. The effort was still there, but the execution was absolutely not.

Many fans are calling for him to be bought out for next season. Burakovsky is entering his last year making 5.5 million per season, and if the Blackhawks decide to buyout Burakovsky prior to the 2026-2027 season it wouldn’t cost them very much. They would end up saving $2,500,000 in 26-27 but would have to pay Burakovsky $1,250,000 in 2027-2028.

III. The powerplay needs significant work

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The Blackhawks powerplay had periods of time this season where it looked serviceable, but the majority of this season it was not. Finishing the year with the 29th ranked powerplay in the NHL, the Blackhawks only converted on 16.9% of their man advantages. With the personnel that the Blackhawks have up front, you’d think they would have been more successful. There are a few factors that play into the lack of results — but I think the biggest reason was the inconsistent personnel on the top unit. Throughout the season the Blackhawks had 3 different D-men run the powerplay (Levshunov, Rinzel, and Grzelcyk). With Levshunov and Rinzel, they both have their strengths and weaknesses on the man advantage but they are also both very inexperienced and have clear gaps in their abilities, at least at this point in their careers. With Grzelcyk, yes he is a veteran and he makes the smart play; but let’s be honest, he is not a number 1 powerplay quarterback. Consistency on the powerplay starts with having a skilled offensive D-man who can be effective on the entry and be consistent.

Over the course of the season the biggest frustration was the break-in. Assistant Coach Mike Vellucci was in charge of the powerplay this season and he coached his team to use the “push back” entry. The push back can work, lots of teams do it, but the Blackhawks couldn’t execute it. They would either stop up too early inside the blueline, stickhandle themselves offside, or turn the puck over by overpassing in the neutral zone. In the back half of the season they started doing a double drop back entry which worked better, but still wasn’t very effective.

The only month where the Blackhawks powerplay was not at the bottom of the league was November where they had 12 powerplay goals on 38 attempts — 31.6%, 2nd in the NHL during that month. The top unit was Levshunov, Bedard, Teravainen, Bertuzzi, and Burakovsky. When the powerplay was it’s most effective, so was Levshunov. In my opinion, the powerplay looked its best when two things were happening. First being when Artyom Levshunov was playing his best hockey. When Levshunov was on, he was fast, decisive, and had a nose or the net. The second factor was how often the Blackhawks attempted to shoot the puck. The Blackhawks had the second least shots on goal on the man advantage in the league at 265 (Florida led with 379). Shooting the puck wasn’t just an issue on the powerplay, but everywhere. The Blackhawks averaged the least amount of shots on goal per game in the NHL with 24.6.

With the amount of skill the Blackhawks have I expect a better powerplay next season, perhaps a 20-23% conversion rate. Connor Bedard, Frank Nazar, Anton Frondell, Nick Lardis, Tyler Bertuzzi, Oliver Moore, Artyom Levshunov, Sam Rinzel, and even Kevin Korchinski are all players who have the skill sets to play on a top unit powerplay. As they develop I think the powerplay will be a strength for this team.

IV. Top talent can’t stay healthy

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First of all, I’m not ready to call anybody injury prone — but some key pieces keep going down. The 2 biggest injuries this year were obviously Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar.

In his rookie year, Connor Bedard suffered a broken jaw and he missed 14 games as a result. He was healthy and played all 82 in his sophomore year but would get injured again this season. Bedard would suffer a right shoulder injury in the final 0.8 seconds of a game in St. Louis on December 12, 2025. As a result he would miss 13 games and still wouldn’t be near 100% after returning. That is 2 significant injuries in his first 3 seasons in the NHL.

Perhaps the most eye opening injury history is that of Frank Nazar. At only 22 years old he already has quite the history. In 2022 Nazar would need lower-body surgery which would result in him missing most of the season at Michigan. Fast forward to this past season and Nazar would sustain 3 separate injuries. A broken jaw, an abdominal strain, and another puck to the face resulting in the loss of two of his front teeth. One of the reasons I am not calling him injury prone is because two separate pucks to the face in the same season is so unlikely and unlucky. But it’s something to keep an eye on. When you lose both your #1 and #2 centers at the same time for over a month each, it’s gonna hurt. Whether it’s a cup contender or a rebuilder.

Not only did Bedard and Nazar get injured but so did former captain Nick Foligno, which had a much greater impact than people realize. Foligno would block a shot which resulted in a fractured hand — he missed 19 games and in that span the Blackhawks went 5-12-2. Before the Foligno injury they were 8-5-4.

A key component to the Blackhawks success next season is their ability to stay healthy.

V. Questionable line combinations

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Let me start by saying that I enjoyed the job Jeff Blashill did this year for the most part. However, some of the roster decisions were questionable. The most obvious blunder was Andre Burakovsky on the top line for pretty much the entire season. But there were other decisions made that I would challenge.

The first one being Frank Nazar not getting any time with Connor Bedard. For the majority of the season, Bedard and Nazar were the 1-2 punch down the middle. But when things got tough, putting them together was never tried — this is frustrating because we know they play well together. Now you could argue the lack of center depth if those two play together but the season was done for a while for the Blackhawks, might as well try. With Nazar having a particularly inconsistent year, this could have really helped him.

Another lineup decision I found head scratching was the hesitancy to put the best players with Connor Bedard. It is baffling how rare it was for players like Frank Nazar, Tyler Bertuzzi, and even Teuvo Teravainen (early season Teravainen) to be on the top line with Bedard. Don’t get me wrong, Ryan Greene played great with Bedard, but Ryan Greene isn’t a top line talent in the NHL. Then you have the arrival on Anton Frondell, the highly anticipated linemate for Bedard who was bumped down to line 2 after 2 games (pushing Nazar to the third line)

Ending the season, Sacha Boisvert signed with the Blackhawks. He made his NHL debut on March 26th vs the Flyers. Boisvert was available to play in 11 games with the Blackhawks but was only dressed for 7. Scratching a young player is standard amongst the NHL but sitting for 4 of 11 seemed a bit excessive.

There are many little decisions to critique but those are my big ones.