What does a successful offseason look like for the Blackhawks?
The Blackhawks have a long to-do list this summer — from signing RFA’s, UFA’s, trading, and more, I am going to discuss what I think would make this offseason a success for the Blackhawks.
Photo by: Chicago Blackhawks
With the 2025-2026 season ending on an all season low and with expectations rising next season, the Blackhawks need to make some changes and start to fill out the roster to give them the best chance of winning. The shift from “rebuilding” to “trying to win” is happening now. So what is the bar for success? The goal for this offseason is to make the Blackhawks more competitive then they were last season. They started off last season 10-5-4 with hope of making a push for a wildcard spot. So the expectation is to build on that, and be competitive for longer. If they can bring in the pieces this offseason to do that, I would consider it a success.
There are a few in house tasks the Blackhawks need to get done this offseason. The most important being getting RFA Connor Bedard locked up long-term at a reasonable cap hit (for cap projections read my previous article projecting Bedard’s contract). They have a few other RFA’s to sign as well — Kevin Korchinski, Ethan Del Mastro, as well as Drew Commesso, Dmitri Kuzman, and Ryan Mast. They also have to figure out the plan for the UFA’s such as Ilya Mikheyev, Sam Lafferty, and Matt Grzelcyk. I have already outlined in previous articles why I think the Blackhawks can move on from Sam Lafferty and Matt Grzelcyk, but I do believe it is important to get Mikheyev back for between 1 and 3 more seasons.
There are a few different reasons the Blackhawks might see more success next season, the most talked about method is by adding established NHL talent to the already existing group. The rumors tying the Blackhawks to players like Matthew Knies, Jason Robertson, and Alex Tuch have been around all season, and the Blackhawks certainly have the pieces to get it done. It’s just a matter how available these players are, and if the two teams can agree on a fair exchange. The state of the market is something not in the Blackhawks control, and the right move might not be there. However, one thing they have more control over is the development of their own players. A less talked about aspect of this team improving next season is the individual steps in development taken by the young core. We saw what Connor Bedard did this past offseason, choosing to miss the World Championships to go back home to Vancouver and train. The result was the largest step forward we have seen from him thus far in his career.
If the rest of the young core, or even a majority make significant strides this offseason, that can have a great impact on how the 2026-2027 season goes. The Blackhawks are looking for major strides from Artyom Levshunov, who they view as their future #1 defensemen. If he can clean up his game and be more consistent, that alone can have a major impact. Seeing improvement from the depth players as well such as Oliver Moore, Ryan Greene, Nick Lardis, Sam Rinzel, and Kevin Korchinski can have a larger overall impact. Not to mention a full year of Anton Frondell. If Anton Frondell can handle top 6 minutes in his first full year, then that gives the Blackhawks a valuable weapon they didn’t have last year outside of the final 12 games of the season. Frank Nazar will be another year older and more experienced. If he cant find consistency as a top 6 forward, he will be a huge piece of the puzzle.
So all in all, if the Blackhawks do not make a big swing this offseason, as disappointing as it would be, they might still see success in 2026-2027 just based off in house strides.
