The Blackhawks’ rough start to the 2026-27 season took another hit Thursday night, and Tampa Bay made sure it stayed ugly. Chicago fell 4-1 to the Lightning, with the game tilting early and never really coming back.
Victor Hedman put Tampa in front just a little more than four minutes into the night, jumping into the play and beating Arvid Soderblom through the five-hole. Chicago settled in some after that, but the first period still ended with the Lightning up 2-0 after a soft goal by Soderblom opened the door for Ilya Mikheyev to cash in.
Tampa didn’t need much more, but it added two in the third anyway. Ryan McDonagh made it 3-0, with Jake Guentzel and Brayden Point picking up the assists, and Mikheyev struck again for his second goal of the night. The Blackhawks finally broke Andrei Vasilevskiy’s shutout bid late when Roman Kantserov scored.
The loss only deepened the frustration around a team that has looked badly out of sorts for much of the season. The sense around the club, as laid out after the game, is that personnel changes at the end of this road trip now feel inevitable. The hope is that those changes can spark some on-ice progress and make the team easier to watch than it has been.
Even with the mood as bleak as it is, there’s still a belief that this rebuild is far from finished. Connor Bedard is still nowhere near his ceiling.
Anton Frondell might be something. Roman Kantserov has already adjusted quickly to the NHL.
Frank Nazar and Oliver Moore still come with questions, but both appear to be NHL players at minimum. Ryan Greene should settle in as a solid bottom-six forward.
The blue line remains very young, with No. 2 pick Artyom Levshunov at the front of that group. And there’s still hope that the next coach will actually fucking play Kevin Korchinski.
Spencer Knight has had his struggles this season, but he still looks capable of being a No. 1 for a decade. The pipeline may not be loaded with elite talent anymore, but there are still several prospects with NHL futures, including Vaclav Nestrasil.
There’s also plenty of draft capital in the mix, especially in 2027, when Chicago owns three first-round picks and two each in the second and third rounds. That gives the organization real ammunition for a major trade, one that could bring in a proven NHL star and shake up the top of the lineup.
Whether Kyle Davidson is the one to make that call is a fair question, and one that’s shared. But the possibility remains that someone else in charge could be willing to move a player such as Nazar, Moore, Rinzel or another piece in a package strong enough to land a difference-maker.
If that kind of move comes together, and if a new bench boss can coax more from the roster, the Blackhawks could start to look more like an actual NHL team. That doesn’t mean a playoff push is suddenly around the corner, but it could at least point toward a future where that goal feels realistic. None of it is happening overnight, and a trade like that may still be months away, which means more nights like this one are probably coming.
Still, the project isn’t dead. It’s incomplete, and right now it feels like it’s drifting toward disaster, but the pieces are still there.
The Blackhawks still have enough players and prospects to build something worth watching 82 times a year. The schedule to get there is just running late.
That should feel familiar to anyone in this area.
The Blackhawks wrap up the road trip Saturday night against the Carolina Hurricanes at 6 p.m.
In Other News...
Blackhawks Skid Is Putting Kyle Davidson Under Real Pressure
The Blackhawks rough start has gone from a bad stretch to a real source of pressure, with a 4-12-1 record and a five-game losing streak leaving the front office searching for answers. Players have already voiced disappointment with how things are going, and the sense around the team is that help may need to come from outside the room if the slide is going to stop anytime soon.
Insider chatter has pointed toward trade exploration as the first place Chicago looks, with general manager Kyle Davidson working the phones and checking on possible reinforcements. The market hasnt produced much traction yet, which only adds to the uncertainty around how quickly the Blackhawks can find a spark and whether the next move will be enough to ease the pressure building around the organization. [Read more 🡒]
Blackhawks May Already Have Bedards Long Term Scoring Help
Roman Kantserov has wasted little time making himself part of the Blackhawks long-term conversation. The rookie forward has been one of the early bright spots in Chicagos lineup, bringing the kind of finishing touch the team has been searching for and earning a regular role alongside Connor Bedard on the top line. For a club still building around its young core, that kind of instant chemistry is hard to ignore.
Kantserovs track record suggests this is more than a hot start. A second-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, he already arrived with a reputation as a scorer after leading the KHL in goals, and he has carried that touch into the NHL with one of the leagues best rookie scoring runs. The bigger question for Chicago is how far this partnership can go, and whether Bedard may already have found a winger who can grow with him for the long haul. [Read more 🡒]
Blackhawks Deadline Plans May Hinge On One Offensive Fit
The Blackhawks recent slide has only sharpened the need for help up front, with the club having lost 12 of its last 16 games and looking for a way to add more punch before the deadline. In that kind of market, even a player who is not on Chicagos roster can matter, because any movement around the league can shift the price and timing for the kind of offensive upgrade the Blackhawks are chasing.
One name drawing attention elsewhere is Detroit restricted free agent defenseman Simon Edvinsson, who has been skating in Nashville while the Predators have reportedly shown interest. The Sharks have also been linked to him, though talks with Detroit have not gotten far and his agency has not commented on any trade chatter, leaving the broader deadline picture unsettled as Chicago waits to see whether the market opens in a way that fits its needs. [Read more 🡒]