3 keys to the Blackhawks success in 2026-27

Despite the horrendous end to the regular season in April, the 2025-2026 season was still a step in the right direction. A lot went right for the Blackhawks this season - Connor Bedard progressing into a point-per-game player, Spencer Knight showing he can play 55+ games, and depth pieces like Ryan Greene and Nick Lardis showing they can be effective in the NHL earlier than expected. As a result, expectations from within the locker room, front office, and fan base are significantly higher for next season. If the young Blackhawks are going to be successful, they need more things to go their way.

Development

Perhaps I am starting with the most obvious key, but the development of the young core is what the success of this rebuild relies on. Over the course of last season, we saw significant strides forward from most of the young core. Regardless of whether they add a big fish this summer, individual development is the main driver of this team's success.

Artyom Levshunov is arguably the most important piece to the rebuild right now, and it is crucial we see steps forward next season. Levshunov is one of the three cornerstone pieces to this rebuild, along with Bedard, who has proven himself to be a superstar, and Anton Frondell, who looks like the real deal after a short 12-game stint at the end of the year. Levshunov is projected to be the Blackhawks No. 1 defenseman who can play 20 minutes a night, play a role on the penalty kill, and run a top power play. So far, his development has been filled with ups and downs. He will have a stretch of games where he plays 20 minutes a night and is effective in all three zones, and then he will play a stretch of hockey where he looks lost and has no confidence.

The most important thing we need to see from Levshunov next season is consistency. Defensemen naturally take longer to reach their prime, so no one is expecting Levshunov to be a top-10 defenseman in the NHL at the age of 21, but we do need to see a big step forward from the second overall pick. Seeing him play with less extreme valleys and more consistent peaks is imperative to the team's success next season.

Strides forward from the middle of the lineup, pieces like Oliver Moore, Greene, Lardis, Sam Rinzel, and Kevin Korchinski could also help significantly in seeing improvement in the overall league standings.

Staying healthy

You can certainly make the argument that the Blackhawks were already falling off after a hot start to the season before Bedard and Frank Nazar went down with injury, but it is hard not to imagine how this season could have played out if those injuries had never happened.

The Blackhawks were 13-12-6 when Bedard went down with a shoulder injury that not only sidelined him for 13 games but also kept him from taking faceoffs after he returned. The same injury is also keeping him from playing for Team Canada at the 2026 World Championships this summer.

Bedard had 44 points in 31 games and was top-five in the NHL before the injury, with early talk of the Hart Trophy if the Blackhawks could stay hot and get into the playoffs. Combine losing a player like that with losing the second-line center and the captain, all around the same time, and the train is bound to fall off the tracks. The fact that the Blackhawks are so young only makes those losses tougher to overcome.

Nazar battled with injury all year - taking two pucks to the face, leading to a broken jaw and missing teeth, as well as a midsection injury from a crosscheck by Calgary Flames' forward Joel Farabee that lingered for much of the season.

Rebuilding team or cup contender: If you lose your top two centers for over a month each, the team's ability to win games will suffer. This is especially true for the youngest team in the NHL.

Trimming the edges

The Blackhawks are entering a new phase of the rebuild. As they transition from stockpiling picks and prospects to putting together a full roster that can win, they need to start using their assets strategically.

The Blackhawks have an abundance of talent arriving in the forward core. Some players who have already proven they are NHL-ready, like Moore, Lardis, Nazar, Frondell, and Greene. As well as players who are on the cusp of, or have already turned pro in North America, such as Roman Kantserov, Sacha Boisvert, Marek Vanacker, Jack Pridham, and even more first-round selections in the pipeline. All these forwards project to be top-nine players at the very least in the NHL, and the Blackhawks simply do not have enough space to give everybody a spot within the next couple of years.

The 2026 draft could potentially add to this logjam as well. With the Blackhawks having a guaranteed top-four pick, there is a high chance they walk away with a forward such as Gavin McKenna, Ivar Stenberg, or Caleb Malhotra. All 3 of these forwards would likely already be top-six players as soon as next season. Even if they end up with a defenseman like Chase Ried or Carson Carels, they still likely run into a similar issue on the back end.

Combine the logjam up front with the fact that the Blackhawks are ready to start the climb up out of the basement, and it only makes sense to use some of these pieces to acquire players who can fill out the roster and help the young core win.

If the rumors are true and the Blackhawks really do plan to make one or two big swings this summer, it is likely that numerous young players are going to get dealt to make room for what will be the core going forward.

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