The Chicago Blackhawks are heading into Tuesday night’s season opener with a few fresh wrinkles in the lineup, and the biggest one may be Roman Kantserov sliding into the middle.
That possibility had been floating around late in the offseason after Kantserov spent his 2025-26 KHL season at center and led the league in goals. Plenty of people expected him to stick on the wing once he arrived in North America, mostly because of his scoring touch. But the Blackhawks clearly want to see what he can do down the middle.
At the start of camp, Kantserov was on the wing with Frank Nazar centering and Patrick Kane on the other side. With Connor Bedard unavailable, that group still looked dangerous. But when Nazar was out for the final preseason game, Jeff Blashill shifted Kantserov to center, and that look appears to have stuck.
On Monday, the Blackhawks’ last practice in Chicago before flying to Vegas, Kantserov skated between Oliver Moore and Patrick Kane. It’s a fast, creative trio that can push the pace and get pucks to the net in a hurry.
The rest of the center picture stayed interesting too. Nazar, Anton Frondell, and Ryan Greene remained listed at center, while Moore moved to the wing - the spot Kantserov had taken over. The full practice alignment looked like this:
Moore-Kantserov-Kane
Donato-Nazar-Lardis
Bertuzzi-Frondell-Mangiapane
Smith-Greene-Greenway
Teravainen*
Vlasic-Byram
Kaiser-Levshunov
Cole-Rinzel
Korchinski-Del Mastro*
Knight
Soderblom
One notable takeaway from practice: Teuvo Teravainen looked like the 13th forward, which would leave him out of the lineup for the opener in favor of Andrew Mangiapane. Mangiapane was on the third line with Tyler Bertuzzi and Anton Frondell.
The blue line also appears to be crowded. Chicago seems set to carry eight defensemen, and Kevin Korchinski and Ethan Del Mastro have earned a look, even if practice suggested they may still have to wait for their regular-season chance.
That could still shift before Tuesday night. There’s still the morning skate, then warmups, and Blashill can always change his mind. But the signs point to a lineup that looks different from the one the Blackhawks used in the preseason, with Blashill leaning toward whatever gives his team the best chance to win once the games start counting.
As for Bedard, the latest update remains that his initial timeline pointed to a November return. He’s been skating and practicing on his own for weeks, which naturally led to speculation that he might be back earlier.
On Monday, Blashill said Bedard would travel with the team on the road trip, but he is not cleared by doctors to practice with the group and is not expected to clear during the trip. When the team gets back home, that could change.
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Jeff Blashill has already framed the early days as a learning curve, and that part of the job will not get any easier if the final roster picture keeps shifting. The Blackhawks want to arrive in Vegas organized and prepared, but there is still one more decision hanging over the group before the season officially begins, a reminder that even after camp closes, the roster can still be in motion. [Read more 🡒]
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For Slaggert, the timing stings because he had been in the mix for one of the final openings, but the path now appears to be narrowing fast. Defenseman Ethan Del Mastro looks set to take the last NHL spot, leaving the Blackhawks to sort out the rest of their depth picture as opening night gets closer and the final roster decisions start to settle into place. [Read more 🡒]
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The Blackhawks head toward 2026-27 with the spotlight where it has been for much of the rebuild, only now the questions feel a little more immediate. Connor Bedards shoulder situation hangs over everything, while Patrick Kanes expected return brings both on-ice intrigue and the kind of off-ice presence a young roster still needs. Add in Bowen Byram as a candidate to anchor the blue line and there is a sense this group is trying to turn promise into something sturdier, even before a puck is dropped.
Chicago also has a cluster of younger names that could shape how quickly that happens. Anton Frondell and Roman Kantserov are in the mix for Calder Trophy attention, Nick Lardis brings real scoring upside, and the organization is sorting out how close Artyom Levshunov, Sam Rinzel and Kevin Korchinski are to handling NHL jobs. The preseason hinted at a pecking order among the defense prospects, but the bigger issue remains how all of these pieces fit if Bedards path back stays unclear. [Read more 🡒]