6 Blackhawks prospects with virtually no shot of making the NHL Opening Night roster

Training camp is just around the corner for the Chicago Blackhawks.

There will be battles for spots on the third and fourth lines, along with some young defensemen looking for spots among the team's three pairings.

Veterans Alex Vlasic and Connor Murphy feel like they are the only players guaranteed a spot on the blue line. Otherwise, promising youngsters like Artyom Levshunov, Sam Rinzel, Kevin Korchinski, Ethen Del Mastro, Nolan Allan, Louis Crevier, and Wyatt Kaiser (once he signs his qualifying offer) will battle it out to avoid being sent to Rockford.

Youngsters Landon Slaggert, Colton Dach, Lukas Reichel, Oliver Moore, Ryan Greene, A.J. Spellacy and Aidan Thompson will compete for two open forward spots on the Hawks' first 23-man active roster

Goalie seems to be the only position set in stone with Spencer Knight as the No. 1 netminder and Arvid Soderblom backing him up. Laurent Brossoit could hypothetically compete with Soderblom for the backup goalie spot. Who knows if he will be healthy enough to play after missing all of last season with a knee issue that required two surgeries (one before the season and one in-season). Not many updates have been made regarding his status, and it feels like he is a myth at this point.

That leaves a couple of prospects with virtually no hope of cracking the Hawks' Opening Night roster.

Drew Commesso

If he makes the team's roster for the Hawks' first regular-season game against the Florida Panthers, it means Knight or Soderblom suffered an injury during the preseason.

Injuries at the goalie position are the only reason Commesso finally made his NHL debut last season. He did all right in two games with a 3.36 GAA.

NHL goalies take time to develop, and the Blackhawks are not going to rush Commesso. It helps that the club does not have a pressing need for his services, since Soderblom recently signed a two-year deal. Knight is in the final year of his deal, but he will still be a restricted free agent per PuckPedia. Unless he falters, the Hawks will likely work out another contract with Knight.

Commesso still must work on developing into a potential capable NHL goalie in case the team does have to let Soderblom go after his current contract expires. Commesso's entry-level deal expires after this season. He probably will get another bridge deal, considering the Hawks' overall organizational depth is thin at goaltender. The organization had to go sign Stanislav Berezhnoy just to back up Commesso in Rockford.

Plus, he has not shown anything in Rockford that would give the Hawks front office the idea of giving up on him.

Commesso showed some improvement with the IceHogs, going from a .906 save percentage in 2023-24 to .911 last season.

Taige Harding

The young defenseman signed a two-year entry-level contract toward the end of last season. Harding provides organizational depth on the blue line.

It is really hard to see him beating out more talented young defenseman like Levshunov, Rinzel, Kaiser Korchinski, or Del Mastro.

At best, maybe he leaves an impression during camp to give the front office some thought of giving him a call-up over Allan or Crevier as an injury replacement.

Marek Vanacker

The former first-round pick is slated to return to the OHL Brantford Bulldogs this season. The team could entertain giving him a nine-game look in the NHL before sending him back to the juniors.

Considering the Blackhawks have a ton of young forwards and prefer to be patient with a prospect's development, he will play for Brantford.

Nick Lardis

Lardis was Vanacker's teammate last year in Brantford. He set the OHL on fire with 71 goals last season.

That lethal ability to score goals gives him a shot to make the Opening Night roster. However, the Hawks have set a pretty high bar for talented young forwards to clear to make the initial active roster out of training camp.

The most likely case is that he goes to Rockford to refine his game. If he produces like Frank Nazar did for the IceHogs last season, he could get a call-up in December or January.

Martin Misiak and Paul Ludwinski

Misiak had a great playoff run for the OHL's Erie Otters. He probably will get sent down to Rockford to continue his development. It is difficult to see him pass Dach, Slaggert, or Reichel at this point

Ludwinski was disappointing during his first pro season with just 12 points for the IceHogs. The former second-round pick has the potential to be a solid fourth-line forward, but the Hawks have better options to go with on their bottom nine right now.