The Chicago Blackhawks have stumbled into the season in brutal fashion, sitting at 4-13-1 through 18 games and looking every bit like a team trapped in its own mess. The record is ugly enough on its own, but the bigger problem is how little has changed around it. Jeff Blashill is leaning on “internal numbers,” Kyle Davidson still hasn’t pushed the rebuild forward, and the whole operation feels stuck.
That’s a long way from the offseason optimism the organization tried to sell. On June 24, two days before the first round of the 2026 NHL Draft in Buffalo, the Blackhawks sent the fourth overall pick, the 45th pick and Louis Crevier to the Sabres for Bowen Byram and Jordan Greenway. It was a steep price from the jump, and taking on Greenway’s contract only made it harder to justify.
A week later, Davidson doubled down by giving Byram a six-year extension worth $12.5 million annually. At the time, the deal drew mixed reactions because the cap was rising, but the early returns have only sharpened the criticism.
Free agency didn’t do much to calm things down either. The one move that stood out was a one-year, $4 million deal for veteran defenseman Ian Cole on July 1.
Beyond that, the Blackhawks weren’t in the mix for the top names on the market, which only underscored where the rebuild stands in Year 7, however you want to count it. They weren’t even tied to the biggest free agents, and that said plenty about the state of the franchise.
Then came the hit that changed the outlook on the season before it really began. Just one day after free agency opened, Connor Bedard injured his shoulder while training in Vancouver.
A week later, he had surgery and was ruled out for approximately four months. That left Chicago staring at a stretch against nine playoff teams from last season to open the 2026-27 campaign.
There was at least a brief burst of good news when Patrick Kane returned to Chicago on July 23. Davidson gave the greatest American player of all time a two-year contract with an AAV of $8 million. The reaction outside the fanbase was mixed, but Kane was always going to matter for a young roster like this one.
On Sept. 15, the Blackhawks gave their fans another reason to feel something when Bedard was named captain. The way the team handled that moment gave supporters something positive to hold onto before the season turned sour.
Once the games started, though, the whole thing unraveled fast. Chicago opened in Vegas and got steamrolled by the Golden Knights, losing 5-2 while being outshot 37-26. Kane’s first goal back in red, black and white was the only real bright spot.
Since then, the results have piled up in the wrong direction. Through 18 games, the Blackhawks have just four wins and a league-worst minus-37 goal differential. Even with the kind of season Vancouver is having, nobody has been fired and nobody has been moved.
Blashill’s postgame comments after a 5-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche only added fuel to the frustration. He said the Blackhawks had more scoring chances by their internal metrics and offered this assessment: “They scored on some tips; we didn’t as much.
We competed hard. They’re a good team; they competed hard.
They won the game, but it was a game that I think - if you take the emotion or the score out from clouding your vision - it’s a pretty even game and we lose it.”
Blashill said the Blackhawks' metrics gave them a 17-16 advantage in scoring chances.
"They scored on some tips; we didn’t as much. We competed hard.
They’re a good team; they competed hard. They won the game, but it was a game that I think - if you take the emotion or the…
- Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) November 3, 2026
Former NHL goaltender Stephen Valiquette pushed back on that view with his own internal model, saying the Blackhawks had been getting outclassed 439-324 in scoring chances this season.
That’s the issue with in-house scoring chances. Only doing Chances for “your” team with extreme bias.
We @csahockey had chances at 16-10 COL. #Blackhawks after 15 games. pic.twitter.com/K2qPha3h8Z
- Stephen Valiquette (@VallysView) November 3, 2026
Valiquette’s numbers line up far better with what the eye test has shown than the internal figures Blashill and the organization keep citing.
And the response on the ice after Blashill’s quote made things look even worse. Chicago dropped the next three games, including a 9-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in which the team looked disinterested.
After Davidson spoke on Monday, Nov. 9, the message around the organization seemed clear enough: nobody is losing their job, no matter how badly things go. For a franchise already wasting the early years of Bedard’s career and slowing his development, that’s a hard place to defend.
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