3 players the Blackhawks need to be all-in on as relentless rebuild continues

The media’s relentless criticism of Connor Bedard these days should go ignored if you ask me. Regardless of what they say or what they want you to believe, the Blackhawks invested their entire future in him and no, while Bedard isn’t a great player yet, he’s still the best the Hawks have. 

It’s a given that Bedard will be in Chicago for a long time regardless of what he does for the rest of the season, something that we can chalk up as a learning experience for him. Beyond that, Bedard isn’t the only player the Hawks will, or should, stay all-in with. 

There are three players who also fit that mold and no, I’m not talking about a bunch of youngsters, even if the top name on this list is still in his early 20s. Instead, I wanted to recognize a couple of seasoned vets who also need to stick around in the Windy City. 

1 - Arvid Soderblom

Oh yes, one of the more polarizing players out there among the Blackhawks faithful and one I’ve had a lot of faith in myself since Arvid Soderblom enjoyed a hot start. No, Soderblom’s numbers haven’t rested among the league’s upper-echelon of netminders, or No. 2 netminders, since that start, but he’s been facing a lot of heat lately. 

In Soderblom’s last five starts, he’s just 1-1-3, but he’s faced an average of 36.2 shots on goal per game. His save percentage in that span has been an incredible 0.923, and given how many shots the Hawks have given up, credit Soderblom for keeping them in games. 

Yeah, his NHL career looked over a mere 12 months ago when all he did was basically prove he didn’t belong anywhere near an NHL rink. But times have changed since then, and Soderblom has more than earned his stay.  

2 - Nick Foligno

Ordinarily, I wouldn’t want aging veterans in Chicago, given the current circumstances. But someone with hordes of experience must oversee this rebuild, and Nick Foligno is the one man in the room who can do the job. 

While Foligno’s ice time should recede if he stayed with the Blackhawks, he’s someone who could also factor in as a decent depth scorer and points producer when this team starts finding remote success. It doesn’t look that way this season as Foligno has just 11 goals, but he’s finding the net roughly 1 in every 6 shots on goal with a 16.7 shooting percentage. 

He’s still bringing physical play and reliability at the faceoff dot. If he wants to accept this challenge and stick around in the Windy City, the Hawks and their fans should welcome him with open arms. 

3 - Seth Jones

While Seth Jones isn’t a youngster, he’s also not aging like Nick Foligno. Still, players like him often circulate the trade rumor mill, and given his iffy performances lately, there’s always a chance the Blackhawks could opt to give Jones a change of scenery regardless if those struggles continue. 

While it wouldn’t surprise me if the Blackhawks traded the imposing blueliner, Jones has been more than serviceable throughout his 36 contests, posting five goals and 24 points. He’s also in just his age-30 season so, while he’s on the older end like Nick Foligno, Jones is still young enough to see this painful rebuild through. 

Another, albeit underrated metric of Jones’ game that has jumped out at me is that the Blackhawks have had some luck finding twine when he’s in the game at even strength. So far, they’re scoring 10.7 percent of the time when Jones is out there at even strength.