The Blackhawks are heading into training camp with a depth-forward puzzle that could turn into one of the team’s biggest decisions.
Andrew Mangiapane, Cole Smith and Jordan Greenway are all in the mix for limited spots, and at the moment it looks like Chicago has room for two of them. That picture changes once Connor Bedard comes back from injury, which is expected to happen sometime in the first two or three months of the season. When that happens, there may only be one forward spot left for the three veterans.
That makes camp especially important for each of them. The Blackhawks also aren’t eager to push one of their young forwards off the roster just to create room. Ryan Greene, Oliver Moore and Anton Frondell are all players the organization wants to keep developing, so the preference would be to send them to the AHL only if it becomes necessary, not simply to clear space for a veteran.
Still, that could shift if one of the younger players has a rough camp. Chicago will have to do what’s best for each player’s development, and time in the AHL wouldn’t automatically be a setback. But the expectation is that the Blackhawks want to see what their young talent can do.
The three veterans all bring something different. Mangiapane has the NHL experience and the kind of bottom-six know-how teams value.
Greenway adds size and physical play. Smith has already shown he can provide energy and defensive work.
The gap between what they offer isn’t huge, which should make this a real competition.
There’s also the bigger-picture issue of what the lineup looks like once Bedard is back. A player who earns a spot out of camp could still end up on the outside later in the season simply because the numbers no longer work. For Chicago, that’s the kind of problem a team wants.
It also reflects where the Blackhawks are in their rebuild. A few years ago, they were trying to find bodies to fill NHL roles.
Now they’re sorting through actual competition for jobs. For Mangiapane, Smith and Greenway, the answer may come down to who has the best camp, because there just won’t be room for everybody once Bedard returns.
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