The Blackhawks can’t hide behind a narrow win over the Kings anymore.
Chicago edged Los Angeles 2-1 on Oct. 25, a result that barely moved the needle on how this team actually looks. The Hawks were decent for most of the night and carried a solid effort for about 55 minutes, but the matchup still left plenty of doubt.
Even after beating a team they should be able to handle, the deserve to win o’meter only tilted 50.4 percent toward Chicago. That’s not exactly a reassuring number, especially when the rest of the league is waiting on the other side.
What makes the start even harder to defend is where the Blackhawks sit now: 30th in the NHL after 12 games. Connor Bedard missing six games because of surgery on his left shoulder over the summer in Vancouver mattered, sure, but it doesn’t erase everything.
That stretch from September into mid-October was rough, and this group has already moved past the “let’s wait and see” phase. The questions are here.
Jeff Blashill is at the center of them.
His time behind the bench has not gone well, and the biggest issues are easy to spot: the system and the power play. Chicago’s structure is built around a 1-3-1 setup that leans heavily on the neutral zone, which is exactly where the Blackhawks have struggled the most.
Teams have figured out the easiest response - dump the puck in - and the Hawks keep looking a step behind. Whether it’s getting to the puck first or getting out of their own end, the whole thing keeps breaking down.
The power play has been just as ugly. Chicago sits 31st in the league at 10.3 percent, and the last two examples were brutal.
Against the Canadiens on Oct. 23, the Blackhawks went 0-for-5. Against the Panthers, they were even worse, finishing 0-for-7 and wasting nearly a minute and a half of 5-on-3 time.
That’s a bad look no matter who’s on the ice, and it looks especially bad with Bedard, Roman Kantserov, Patrick Kane, and eventually Bowen Byram available in the mix.
Byram is out right now, so Blashill and assistant coach Mike Vellucci have turned to Teuvo Teravainen as the quarterback of the top power-play unit. That decision has gone badly.
Teravainen was fighting for a roster spot earlier this summer and was in and out of the lineup at the start of the season, and his role on the man advantage isn’t fooling anyone. Penalty killers don’t have to respect him as a shooting threat from the point, and the setup isn’t working.
The coaching staff has done a disastrous job over these first 12 games.
At this point, the cleanest answer is to move on from Blashill. He hasn’t shown he can get this team ready for the league’s better clubs, whether that’s Carolina, Florida, Montreal, or anyone else at the top. If the Blackhawks are serious about eventually becoming a contender, he hasn’t shown he’s the right coach to lead that next phase.
The wrinkle is that Blashill and general manager Kyle Davidson appear to share the same vision for how the Blackhawks should play, which makes any change more complicated. Still, if Davidson does make a move, there are names already sitting out there.
Bruce Cassidy and Jay Woodcroft are available and would be strong options, and Chicago needs to stop overthinking the coaching hire. The organization already went down that road with Luke Richardson as a first-time head coach, then Blashill after his Detroit run ended in 2022.
It’s time for someone established.
Of course, the coaching isn’t the only problem. The roster has real flaws.
Chicago keeps getting pushed around and losing puck battles, and Jordan Greenway is the only obvious tough presence on the team, leading it with 23 hits. The offense also lacks a true top scorer beyond Bedard, while Kantserov and Anton Frondell are still trying to find their footing just 12 games into their NHL careers.
Davidson’s roster construction is under the microscope, too. Trading the fourth overall pick for Byram is looking shaky for now, especially with Daxon Rudolph playing well in the NCAA.
Byram has only played seven games, so there’s still time for him to settle in and become what Davidson envisioned when he signed him to $12.5 million per year. Even so, the lack of scoring and offensive help on the blue line has led to belief that the pick should have been used on Matthew Knies or Kiril Marchenko, who were both involved in the blockbuster trade that sent Knies to Columbus and Marchenko to Toronto.
For now, though, Davidson’s job security isn’t the issue. Ownership is still behind him, and Owner/CEO Danny Wirtz just gave him a five-year contract extension. Wirtz appears aligned with Davidson and Blashill on the direction of the team, even if the results haven’t come close to matching the plan.
The Blackhawks promised improvement and talked about playoff ambitions this season. So far, none of it has shown up.
They’re supposed to be in the entertainment business, and right now they’re not delivering much of anything. The time for tough calls is here.
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