The Blackhawks have already shown their ceiling under Jeff Blashill, and it’s not a comfortable one.
Chicago’s best showing of the season still ended in disappointment on Halloween, when the Blackhawks led the Boston Bruins 4-2 with eight minutes left in the third period before losing 5-4 in overtime. Anton Frondell scored twice, Connor Bedard added a highlight-reel goal for insurance, and it still wasn’t enough against a Bruins team that’s top-five in the NHL. The result fit an all-too-familiar pattern for Chicago: a lead, a collapse, and another loss.
That same script kept playing out over the next few games. Two nights later at the United Center, Wyatt Kaiser and Roman Kantserov gave the Blackhawks a 2-0 lead just a little over seven minutes into the first period against the Colorado Avalanche.
Colorado answered with five straight goals and won 5-2. On Nov. 5 against the Florida Panthers, Chicago tried to claw back but fell 5-3.
Then on Nov. 6 against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Blackhawks were beaten 4-1. Their road mark sits at 0-7-1, and they’re still winless away from home 17 games into the season.
That’s why the conversation around this team has turned to bigger fixes.
Blashill’s future is front and center because his system has not meshed with the roster. The Blackhawks are using a 1-3-1 setup in the neutral zone, but the personnel doesn’t seem to fit it.
The defense is losing puck battles, opponents are dumping the puck in without fear, and Chicago keeps getting pinned back in its own end. That pressure is forcing Spencer Knight or Arvid Soderblom to absorb wave after wave of shots, and eventually that kind of sequence turns into goals against.
The alternative, as laid out here, is a more aggressive, speed-based approach. Frank Nazar, Moore, and others have the kind of pace that could be used better if the Blackhawks weren’t backing up so often. There would be some breakaways and some loose ends, but that already exists in the current setup.
There’s also the issue of buy-in. The players don’t appear fully committed to what the coaches are asking them to do, and the disconnect is hard to miss.
The offense hasn’t been much better, either. Chicago’s best chances mostly come off breakaways or rushes, and even when the Blackhawks do spend time in the zone, it tends to be brief and unproductive.
A few shots here and there, maybe a goal, but not enough sustained pressure to win.
After the Bruins game, Blashill, for the first time this season, didn’t have many positives to point to. Then came the Avalanche loss, and his explanation only added to the frustration.
He said the internal metrics favored the Blackhawks 17 to 16 in scoring chances, even though Chicago was outshot 29 to 23. Natural Stat Trick had Colorado ahead in Corsi-For, Shots-For, Scoring Chances-For, High-Danger Chances, and Expected Goals-For.
That leaves Kyle Davidson squarely in the spotlight, too. He hired Blashill, drafted and signed the players, and built the roster around his own vision.
But the coaching track record is already drawing scrutiny. Luke Richardson didn’t last two full years, and Blashill’s tenure is off to a rough start.
If Davidson moves on, the next hire has to hit. Bruce Cassidy, Jay Woodcroft, Gerald Gallant - names like those are being floated as better fits than what Chicago has now.
There’s also a warning against making a panic move on the roster just to avoid putting Blashill in the crosshairs. The feeling here is that the team is more than one piece away, and Davidson should resist forcing a trade simply to create motion.
The next natural window would come after the Nov. 7 game against the Carolina Hurricanes, with a four-day break afterward. If nothing changes by then, the All-Star break would be the next realistic checkpoint, though that’s still a long way off.
There is still some belief that this group has something in it. The issue is that the pieces have only flashed individually, never as a functioning unit.
At this point, the blame stretches in too many directions to pin on just one problem. But the message is clear: what the Blackhawks are doing now is not working.
In Other News...
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Steven Stamkos finished it for Nashville on a four-on-three power play, and the result nudged Colorado to 9-6-2 while adding another reminder that the issues are bigger than one close loss. For a team trying to find its footing, the concern is not just the standings, but the way these tight games keep slipping away when the Avalanche need a cleaner finish. [Read more 🡒]
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It has become one of the more frustrating threads in the Avalanche's season, not just because of the individual damage, but because the pattern keeps resurfacing. Every time Colorado seems ready to move past it, another ex-Avalanche skates in and makes a noticeable impact, leaving the team to deal with a problem that feels as much about memory as matchup. [Read more 🡒]
Avalanche Injury Picture Is Starting To Get Complicated Fast
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Zach LHeureux remains on long-term injured reserve after suffering an upper-body injury on Oct. 23, and he still has not begun rehab skating. The good news for Colorado is that Nic Roy and Logan OConnor are back in the lineup after missing time earlier in the season, giving the Avalanche some help as they navigate the injury pileup. Even so, the bigger question now is how long the group can keep patching things together before the schedule and the injuries start to demand a tougher answer. [Read more 🡒]