3 Blackhawks with the most to prove before the season ends

Most Chicago Blackhawks fans are focused on a select number of players right now. Many want to see if the Olympic break provided Connor Bedard enough rest to recapture his dominant form. Others are eager to see what top trade chips Connor Murphy and Jason Dickinson can fetch at the March 6 trade deadline. Another segment of the fanbase is eager to see if Teuvo Teravainen can parlay an Olympic bronze medal into increased point production.

But Bedard and Teravainen will assuredly be on Chicago’s roster next season, and Murphy and Dickinson will likely be battling for a Stanley Cup this spring. Their situations are actually not as dire as some of their teammates', whose play over the next 24 games could dramatically shape their future.

Here are the three Blackhawks with the most to prove over the rest of the 2025-2026 season:

Landon Slaggert

Landon Slaggert provided some much-needed speed and compete to the Blackhawks’ lineup after he concluded his senior season at Notre Dame in 2024. The 23-year-old’s tenacity has not wavered over the past two years; he has not flashed any of the offensive potential he showcased in college. Granted, no one expected Slaggert to be an offensive dynamo at the pro level, but five goals and 15 points in 80 career NHL games are easily replaceable. 

Furthermore, he has yet to make a believer out of coach Jeff Blashill, as he is currently averaging the least ice time of his career. With Oliver Moore, Nick Lardis, and Ryan Greene already joining the Blackhawks’ forward corps this season and top prospects Anton Frondell and Roman Kanterov expected to make their NHL debuts in the near future, there is a good chance Slaggert will be out of a roster spot next season.

Arvid Soderblom 

After a horrific first two seasons of his NHL career, Arvid Soderblom appeared to turn a corner in his development last season. The 3.18 goals-against average (GAA) and .898 save percentage (SV%) he posted in 2024-2025 don’t appear particularly impressive, but behind one of the worst defenses in the NHL, those numbers were respectable. 

The Blackhawks felt solid with a young, up-and-coming goalie tandem of Spencer Knight and Soderblom heading into this season, but the Swede’s play has regressed. Though Soderblom is owed $2.75 million this season and next, the Blackhawks will have no problem finding a better backup in free agency, or they can promote one of Drew Commesso or Stanislav Berezhnoy to backup Knight in 2026-2027. 

Kevin Korchinski 

Despite the fact that Kevin Korchinski is in just his third season of professional hockey, it feels like it is his fifth. Blackhawks fans (and possibly management) have grown frustrated waiting for the 21-year-old to show why the team selected him seventh overall in 2022. The Saskatchewan native has already been jumped in the organizational depth chart by Artyom Levshunov, Sam Rinzel, Wyatt Kaiser, and Louis Crevier.

Is it fair to expect Korchinski to be a dominant top-four defenseman at just 21? No, but when you play a full NHL season at 19, expectations become unfair. Korchinski has a lot riding on the rest of this season, and, if things don’t go well, he may find himself on the trade block as a perfect “change-of-scenery” candidate.