3 Chicago Blackhawks players to be thankful for this Thanksgiving

On the surface, there might not be a lot to be thankful for regarding the Chicago Blackhawks. They are still near the top of the Tankathon standings when the hope was the team would be more competitive.

Improved lottery odds are nice, but this was supposed to be the season where you wanted the Blackhawks to land the top pick in the draft because the stars aligned to jump the pack, not because they had the most ping-pong balls in the hopper.

Oh well, this team is still in the midst of an extensive rebuild. Despite the record not being great, the team still has players that fans should be thankful that are on the roster.

The Chicago Blackhawks still have Connor Bedard despite a sophomore scoring slump.

You must wonder if head coach Luke Richardson is ruining Bedard. The constant shuffling of new linemates has starting to affect Bedard's offensive production.

He has already reached double-digit assists at the quarter-point of the season, but the hope would be he would also have double-digit goals. Instead, he dealt with a scoring drought that left him frustrated.

Thankfully, he snapped his goal-scoring drought against the Dallas Stars last night.

Still, he is 19 and won the Calder Trophy after bursting onto the scene as a rookie. Sometimes we forget that Bedard is still two years away from the legal drinking age in the States. Plus, his offensive talent is so immense that a cold spell does not mean his career will fall short of the Hall of Fame.

He is the ideal foundational piece for this team to be rebuilt around and should be counted on to help lead the Blackhawks back to the promised land.

Alex Vlasic continues to develop into a No. 1 defenseman.

Seth Jones' contract makes it hard to appreciate all the little things he does for the Hawks' blue line. The fear is after he was placed on IR that the defensive group would have a tough time covering all that he does.

There is no need to worry, as Vlasic has stepped up nicely in Jones' absence.

This is a valuable experience for him to get as he continues to ascend into a bonafide No. 1 defender. He was projected to be nothing more than a third-pair defender to possibly never making it to the NHL.

Now he is proving those doubters wrong with his ability to play well on the defensive end and hopefully continues to grow in assisting the offensive attack.

Petr Mrazek has kept the Blackhawks in most games when he is in goal.

Mrazek continues to be a solid goalie. He keeps doing his part to keep the Hawks in pretty much every game he has started.

The problem is the offense is not mustering many goals. That means Mrazek must play at Vezina Trophy-winning levels every night.

While, he is capable of doing that every now and again, his strength is doing just enough to make sure the game does not get out of hand. There is nothing wrong with him giving up three goals a night. It would just be nice if the Hawks could score four.

At least he is good enough to keep the Blackhawks from getting run out of the building. It helps he is also good enough to do just enough to give the Hawks a chance to get a victory.