3 biggest improvements the Blackhawks need to make down the stretch

The Chicago Blackhawks are preparing to get back to action after the extended Olympic break. Their final 25-game stretch of the 2025-26 season starts Thursday night in Music City against the Nashville Predators.

While overall results from the first 57 games of the season are encouraging, when viewed in the big picture, there are plenty of areas that need improvement down the stretch. They are currently 10 points out of a playoff spot, so postseason games are a long shot this spring. However, it is important to build momentum heading into the offseason. With so many young players viewed as foundational pieces on the roster, getting them to play the right way and win games to close out the season will go a long way toward next year.

If the Blackhawks want some sustained success over the final 25 games, they will need to improve the power play, allow fewer high-danger scoring chances, and take more shots.

Need More Power on the Man Advantage

The Blackhawks currently have the 19th-ranked power-play unit with a 19.1% conversion rate and 31 goals. They are just below the league average, which isn’t awful when you consider they were missing Connor Bedard for a month.

But when you zoom in, the power has been a liability of late. They had a top-10 unit not that long ago. During a seven-game stretch from Dec. 30 until Jan. 10, the Blackhawks went 9-for-21 and had the most power-play goals in the NHL during that span. They followed that up by going 0-for-26 over the next 10 games, and were the only team in the NHL without a power-play goal between Jan. 12 and Jan. 30.

Zone entries have been the biggest detriment to power-play success. If the Blackhawks don’t win the initial faceoff, it feels like they spend the first minute just trying to get the puck into the zone. As you could imagine, they spent a lot of time working on zone entries during their recent practices. They’ve worked on their standard slingshot drop pass, a double drop pass zone entry, and just a straight-ahead attack.

“We kind of went through the first part of the year with basically one look, and I would say, for a long time, it did pretty good,” head coach Jeff Blashill said. “But what happens, even in games, if you’re struggling with that, then there’s frustration that sets in. I think when that frustration sets in, it’s important to have a different look, both for the ability to get in and to fight through the frustration.

“If teams are going to stand hard at the blue line, it gets really difficult to get in with possession. But because they’re standing so hard, you should be able to get it in on a rim or even on an end-wall play or a self-chip. So you have to balance those two things.”

Another way to get the power play working is to get Tyler Bertuzzi going again. He leads the team with nine power-play goals, but he has just one in his last 16 games. He’s had most of his success by getting to the side of the crease and banking home a pass. When you’re spending most of your time just trying to get the puck into the offensive zone, it leads to less time getting into those scoring areas. More puck possession will lead to more chances for Bertuzzi.

Limit the Chances

A team as young as the Blackhawks, especially on the blue line, is going to struggle defensively. That has been the case for much of the season, as the scoring chance differential is not pretty. Goaltenders Spencer Knught and Arvid Soderblom have had to face a ton of prime scoring chances this season.

Through the first 57 games of the season, the Blackhawks have allowed 1,336 scoring chances, the sixth-most in the league. The 604 high-danger scoring chances given up are tied with the New York Islanders for the most in the NHL. Asking your goaltenders to face 10.5 high-danger chances a night is not ideal.

Blashill took advantage of the extra practice time during the Olympic break to implement some changes to his defensive zone coverage. He is trying to take some elements from his NHL-leading penalty kill and add them to the 5-on-5 structure. He wants to see more pressure on the puck and a more aggressive mindset.

“The thing with pressure for me is if you can dictate where the puck is going, you can pressure,” he said. “If you can’t dictate where the puck is going, then you can’t pressure. On the penalty kill, we’ve done a good job of dictating pressure points. And we’ve known when to reset and protect the middle. Those are two things that are going to be important for us in the D-zone, as well.”

Don’t Be Afraid to Shoot

The Blackhawks have struggled to shoot the puck over the past few seasons. Even as the roster has improved up front, they still find themselves making an extra pass instead of taking the shot. This will happen for teams struggling to score goals. Instead of simplifying things, they look to make the perfect play because they think that’s the only way to score.

When you look back at the 5-1-1 stretch they had coming out of the holiday break, they played simple and effective hockey. They had one of their best runs of the season with both Bedard and Frank Nazar out of the lineup. Over the last couple of weeks before the Olympics, they moved away from that north/south style of hockey, and the results were minimal.

The Blackhawks have the fourth-fewest shot attempts in the league, with 2,370. They are 31st in both scoring chances (1,075) and high-danger scoring chances (434). They are giving up too many chances and not producing enough of their own. You won’t win many hockey games if you consistently lose the scoring chance battle.

Now, playing better defense will help close the gap in the scoring chance differential column. You can’t produce scoring chances when you’re in your own end of the rink most of the night. If Blashill’s defensive tweaks work, the Blackhawks should have more puck possession. It is still up to them to be more aggressive in shooting rather than looking to pass, but having the puck more is a good start.