Chicago Blackhawks: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not

A breakdown of the Chicago Blackhawks players who are currently hot and the players who are not.

The best time of the year is finally here, hockey season. Put on your favorite player’s sweater and grab a seat in front of the nearest tv. The new season is still young, but some interesting trends are developing.

While hockey is probably the most team-oriented sport in existence, every team has its star players who need to perform if their respective teams are to have any shot at the postseason. The Chicago Blackhawks are no exception to this blanket statement.

We are officially four games into the 2019-20 NHL season and some Blackhawks have shot out of the starting gate while others tripped and fell a few times. As a unit so far, the Chicago Blackhawks are currently underachieving on offense and have actually been one of the better teams defensively.

I know what you’re thinking right now, and there’s no possible way this can be true, but it is. Let’s take a closer look at the team as a whole, and then, the individual players.

Chicago Blackhawks Team Stats

The Chicago Blackhawks currently own a 1-2-1 record which is far from ideal, but there are some positives if you look a little closer. The team has been struggling to score goals which is the exact opposite of last season. So far, the Blackhawks have only scored 12 goals (T-28th) through 4 games.

On the other hand, the Blackhawks have only allowed 13 goals (T-6th). Crazy, right? While the goals allowed are surprisingly at a respectable number, Corey Crawford is responsible for a whopping 10 of those. However, Crawford did turn in a vintage performance on Monday against the Oilers while only allowing 1 power-play goal.

The Blackhawks’ special teams have been hit or miss to start the 2019-20 season. The power-play unit is currently in the middle of the pack with a 22.2 PP% (T-15th). The penalty kill isn’t killing much of anything, besides the team’s momentum in games. The Blackhawks have a 61.5 PK% (28th) which is embarrassing, but they did score an impressive shorthanded goal against the Jets.

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This is a great spot to transition into the individual players’ portion of this article, so let’s get to it. First, we will focus on the currently hot players.