It’s Wednesday, which means hockey still feels just close enough to touch. And with the offseason rolling on, the early read on Blackhawks fans is pretty clear: the rebuild hasn’t shaken their belief.
The Athletic’s Blackhawks fan survey is out, and the response from the fan base was mostly steady support, with a good dose of optimism mixed in. That lines up with the bigger conversation around the team right now, as Jeff Maroon is already looking ahead to next season and the five Blackhawks who are likely to carry the offense over 84 games.
That survey has already been a topic of conversation on yesterday’s CHGO Blackhawks podcast, and today’s episode should draw even more attention. General manager Kyle Davidson is scheduled to join at 3 pm.
There’s also a familiar bit of summer hockey business to track around the league. We’re about six weeks from the start of training camps, and several notable names are still sitting without teams.
Patrik Laine, Eeli Tolvanen, Vladimir Tarasenko, John Klingberg, Logan Stanley, and Cam Talbot are all still available, along with former Blackhawks Philipp Kurashev and Matt Grzelcyk. The next step for some of those players could be a PTO if they need to earn a roster spot.
Another NHL angle worth watching is the future of radio broadcasts. Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reported on that issue yesterday, with five teams choosing to simulcast their TV broadcasts this season.
There was also trade chatter involving a young defenseman in Montreal. According to Herb Zurkowsky of The Montreal Gazette, the Calgary Flames had interest in Canadiens defenseman Arber Xhekaj before the March deadline. Xhekaj remains unsigned as a restricted free agent, though other reports say Montreal does not want to move him despite the attention.
A former Blackhawks organization player also landed a new deal. Defenseman D.J.
King, the son of former Blackhawks coach Derek King, signed a one-year AHL contract with the Utica Comets. King spent the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons in the Blackhawks organization, mostly with the Indy Fuel in the ECHL, and appeared in six games for the Rockford IceHogs.
On this date in 2020, the Blackhawks were in the middle of a memorable comeback win over Edmonton. Chicago beat the Oilers 4-3 to go up 2-1 in their best-of-five Qualifying Round series.
Olli Maatta and Jonathan Toews scored in the first period, but the Hawks entered the third trailing 3-2 after Leon Draisaitl scored twice and Connor McDavid added one. Matthew Highmore then scored his first career playoff goal to tie it, and Toews finished it with 1:16 left in regulation.
And for the birthday roll call: Cy Thomas, Jack Norris, Mark Bell, Dale Weise, and Anders Bjork.
In Other News...
Blackhawks Season Plans Are Finally Starting To Take Shape
The Blackhawks are beginning to put some structure around the coming season, and one of the clearest signs so far is the clubs newly released promotion schedule. For a team still trying to re-establish momentum with its fan base, those dates are part of the broader picture now, giving a better sense of what the organization wants this season to look and feel like on and off the ice.
Around the league, front offices are already settling into their next phase of work, from the Islanders bringing in Evan Gold as assistant general manager to handle duties tied to their new AHL affiliate, to the Maple Leafs adding Andy OBrien as vice president of sport performance. The Wild have also been active with several hires and a promotion for Alex Goligoski, a reminder that while training camps are still ahead, the business of shaping a season is well underway everywhere. [Read more 🡒]
Blackhawks Still Have Two Blue Line Decisions Left After Bedard Deal
Connor Bedards five-year extension took care of the biggest item on Chicagos offseason to-do list, and the Blackhawks also locked up goaltender Drew Commesso for the next two years. Even after those moves, there is still work left on the blue line before the organization can close the book on this stretch of roster business, with a pair of young restricted free agents still waiting on their next contracts as the team looks ahead to the 2026-27 season.
The remaining decisions sit with two defensemen at different points in their development, each trying to carve out a longer-term role in Chicago. Their next deals are expected to be relatively straightforward compared with the Bedard contract, but they matter all the same for a rebuilding club trying to keep its young core aligned and its depth organized for the seasons ahead. [Read more 🡒]
Blackhawks Scoring Race Could Look Very Different Than Fans Expect
The Blackhawks internal scoring picture for 2025-26 may not line up with the one most fans would sketch in their heads. The team is coming off a recent look at point totals and individual projections that puts Connor Bedard, Frank Nazar, Patrick Kane, Tyler Bertuzzi and Bowen Byram at the center of the conversation, with the young core and veteran help all expected to shape the offense in different ways.
Connor Bedard still looms as the obvious headline name, but his offseason shoulder injury changes the early-season math and forces Chicago to navigate the opening stretch without its most explosive scorer. From there, the intrigue shifts to how the new arrivals fit in, especially the way Patrick Kane and Bowen Byram could tilt the top offensive and power-play roles, which might leave the Blackhawks scoring race looking a lot different from the usual assumption. [Read more 🡒]