The Blackhawks’ rough opening to the 2026-2027 season has a little bit of everything in it: system issues, special teams trouble, uneven play from the young core and a schedule that has already taken a toll. Through 12 games, Chicago sits at 4-8-0, a far cry from the playoff push this group had in mind when the season began.
One of the clearest problems has been the gap between the system Jeff Blashill’s staff wants to play and the way the roster has handled it. Chicago has been asked to play a style meant to resemble some of the NHL’s best teams, including the Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers, but the execution has not been there.
That leaves a simple question with no clean answer: is the system a poor fit for these players, or did Kyle Davidson build a roster that doesn’t match what the coaching staff wants? From the outside, it looks like both sides may be part of the problem.
Special teams have only made the early hole deeper. The power play ranks 31st in the league at 10.3%, which is hard to defend when the unit includes Connor Bedard and Patrick Kane on the flanks.
Bowen Byram’s recent absence at the point has not helped, and Chicago has leaned on a five-forward PP1 group that hasn’t produced. The penalty kill has been better at 78.4%, good for 17th in the NHL, but that still falls well short of the elite standard the team set for long stretches last season.
The frustration goes beyond coaching and structure, though. The players themselves have not made the jump this season the organization was hoping for.
Nick Lardis entered the year as a breakout candidate and is now with the Rockford IceHogs. Oliver Moore signed a five-year contract extension before the season and then found himself a healthy scratch this past weekend.
Kane leads the team with just eight points in 12 games, while Bedard is tied for second with six points despite missing the first six games of the season. The depth scoring Chicago expected has simply not shown up.
Some of that can also be traced to what the Blackhawks lost, not just what they added. Much of the offseason buzz centered on Byram and Kane, but several departures have been felt right away.
Ilya Mikheyev was a key penalty killer and a reliable defensive forward who could chip in offensively. Louis Crevier’s absence has thinned the right side of the blue line.
Jason Dickinson and Connor Murphy were moved at last year’s trade deadline, taking away veterans who understood their roles. Colton Dach and Nick Foligno were also dealt at the deadline, and both brought a physical presence this team is missing now.
Those aren’t the names that drive excitement, but they mattered. They were the kinds of players who could fit a structure and help keep things organized. In their place, Chicago has more inexperienced players still learning how to handle that responsibility.
The schedule has not offered much relief either. Eight of the first 12 games have come against teams that made the playoffs last season, and the other four opponents were all at or above .500.
One of those was the Florida Panthers, a team that has won multiple Stanley Cups in the past three years. And the road ahead does not get softer anytime soon.
The start of November brings Colorado, Florida, Tampa Bay and Carolina in quick succession.
There is also the lingering issue that Chicago still has not played a game with the full group intact. Bedard missed the first six games, and the Blackhawks went 1-5-0 in that stretch.
Since his return, the team has gone 3-3 with Bedard back in the lineup. But the lineup still has not fully settled, because once Bedard returned and Frank Nazar came back from suspension, Byram went down with an injury.
He has missed the last five games, with a return on the upcoming road trip still the hope.
So while there are plenty of reasons for the slow start, the biggest answer is that it has been a little of everything. The system hasn’t clicked, the special teams have lagged, the young players haven’t taken the expected step, the roster has lost useful structural pieces, and the schedule has been unforgiving.
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