Blackhawks Q&A: offseason plans, defensive prospects, future leaders & more

While the Winter Olympics hockey tournaments are winding down, the Chicago Blackhawks are getting back to the ice today. They still have nine days until their next game, so this was the perfect time to answer some of your most pressing questions.

This edition of Blackhawks Q&A tackles the remainder of this season, what the team might look like next season, future leaders, young defensemen, and more. Let’s get to your questions!

The Home Stretch & Future Leaders

We’ll start with Calvin Herion, who asked the following on X:

“Looking at the rest of the schedule, where do you think the Blackhawks finish in the standings?”

The Blackhawks have 53 points, placing them fifth in the Central Division. They are 12th in the Western Conference and only four points ahead of the 15th-place St. Louis Blues. If the Draft Lottery were held today, they’d have the sixth-best chance at the number one overall pick.

I find it hard to believe that any of the five teams below the Blackhawks in the NHL standings will pass them up. The Winnipeg Jets, Calgary Flames, New York Rangers, Blues, and Vancouver Canucks will likely all be major sellers at the trade deadline. The Blackhawks will trade away a couple of veterans, but their roster won’t lose any of its top players.

Moving up might be a challenge. The three closest teams, the New Jersey Devils (58 pts), San Jose Sharks (58 pts), and Nashville Predators (59 pts), are in strange spots. They may not have made final decisions on whether to be buyers or sellers by the deadline. The Sharks have already added Kiefer Sherwood. The Devils should look to retool instead of giving up assets to make a run at erasing an 11-point deficit for a playoff spot. The Predators were rumored to be ready to sell off veterans a few weeks ago, but they have played well of late and have themselves four points out of a Wild Card spot.

The Blackhawks have a tough schedule to close out the season. Out of their 25 remaining games, 14 are against teams currently in the playoffs. They also have 15 road games left to play. Granted, they’ve played better on the road than at the United Center, but that is still a tough ask.

So, to answer the question, I think the Blackhawks will stay where they are. If they play .500 hockey to close out the season, they will finish with 77 points. That would be a 16-point improvement from last season, which I think all Blackhawks fans would have taken coming out of training camp.

Next, we got to Brad N. on X:

“Curious who you think is going to step up into the Nick Foligno role next year. What I mean by that is the person who's going to hold everybody accountable going forward. The person in the locker room who's going to call out players for not playing hard.”

Honestly, I don’t think that role will be on the shoulders of just one person. Likely having an all-new leadership group next season will be an interesting transition. Some of the young guys will step up. Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar are lead-by-example guys who have a big influence on the room. Alex Vlasic has grown as a leader and is not afraid to speak up. Tyler Betuzzi is a major part of the room. He is adored by his teammates, and when he speaks, they listen.

In a healthy, winning locker room, it’s not just one player who holds the team accountable. It’s done by every player. Each guy takes his turn to step up and pick up his teammates. The Blackhawks' young roster is full of high-character guys who, despite the recent results, hate to lose. There will be plenty of leaders on and off the ice for years to come.

Let’s Talk About Kyle from Chicago

A lot of you are curious about what general manager Kyle Davidson’s plan for the summer is, so we’ll start with Atrocitus from Bluesky:

“With the amount of draft capital Kyle has, which RFAs would you target in the offseason to help this team? Any UFAs worth targeting? IMO, I don't think we are there yet in the rebuild.”

As we’ve seen, Davidson is incredibly patient. With the likelihood of Anton Frondell and Roman Kantserov being here next season, and another crop of prospects turning pro, this isn’t the summer to go after a big free agent prize.

The rest of the league has pretty much taken any temptation Davidson might have had to swing for the fences away from him. So many of the top unrestricted free agents have already signed contract extensions, so the market won’t be great on July 1.

As of now, Nick Schmaltz and Alex Tuch are the best two forwards on expiring contracts. I’d be surprised if Tuch actually hits the market. Beyond that, there are plenty of veterans at the end of their careers you could bring in on a short-term deal to hold a place for a prospect. If Davidson is going to bring in an elite player to put this team over the top, it will likely come via a trade.

There are plenty of intriguing restricted free agents this summer, but it is so hard to gauge if any are truly available. If the Dallas Stars are ready to move on from Jason Robertson, you make them an offer they can’t refuse. I just don’t think they are headed down that path. There are a lot of good young players on the RFA list, but Davidson has to be patient and see which ones become available on the trade market. An offer sheet is always an option, but it’s a weapon that is rarely used these days.

Joseph on Bluesky also wanted to know what this offseason might look like:

“Is this the off-season Davidson tries to add to the team, or is he rolling next year with more kids just learning?”

As I alluded to in the previous answer, I think the market is making the decision for Davidson. There just isn’t an unrestricted free agent out there that makes sense for the Blackhawks right now. Now, that doesn’t mean a trade presents itself before next fall, but the additions will come from within. If there are any significant signings, it will likely be a veteran defenseman.

Next season will feature a lot of young players, but that doesn’t mean it will be bad. Frondell and Kantserov will make the offensive attacker considerably more dangerous. They will be two options to take the scoring burden off of Bedard’s shoulders.

Hopefully, you’ll see upticks in production from the likes of Frank Nazar and Oliver Moore. Nick Lardis will have a chance to become an everyday NHL player, so the team will be very exciting up front. While this is going on in Chicago, there will be guys like Marek Vanacker and Sasha Boisvert getting their first professional experience in Rockford.

The 2026-27 season will be another year of growing pains, but it will look a lot closer to what this team will be when they are knocking on the door of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It will also give Davidson more time to figure out who is part of the foundation, and who is expendable when he does make that big trade to put the Blackhawks over the top.

Focusing on the Youth

Coachdacc on Bluesky is wondering about the defensemen in Rockford:

“Which def prospect in Rockford, not named Eithan Del Mastro or Kevin Korchinski, could eventually see some NHL time?”

Unfortunately, you named the only two real prospects, outside of Sam Rinzel, playing in Rockford. Taige Harding, who scored his first professional goal over the weekend, is an intriguing prospect. He has a lot of similarities to Louis Creiver, not only because of size and play style, but also because of the path he’s taking. Nobody expected Crevier to be an NHLer, so I won’t write off Harding, but it’s still a long shot at this point.

Jake Furlong, who was acquired from the Sharks for Nolan Allan last month, is another long shot to play in the NHL. He’s a defense-first blueliner who had more offensive success in juniors than he’s had in the AHL. He can move the puck well and is reliable in his own zone. His biggest attributes are his physicality and defensive prowess, which are always needed at the NHL level. He has a long way to go before he’s knocking on the NHL door, but he only turns 22 in March, so there is plenty of them for him to develop.

Staying on the blue line, Gregg Peterson on X had an observation about Artyom Levshunov:

“I noticed that Levshunov gets caught two or three strides after circling his own net. I thought he was supposed to be fast. Why is he getting caught so easily?”

I think Levshunov getting caught out of position has more to do with his head than his feet. He is a tremendous skater. His long, powerful strides make it look effortless and can make it seem like he’s coasting, but he has a lot of speed.

His biggest issue is that he’s learning how to play in the world’s top hockey league. At every other level he’s played at, he could use his raw ability to recover from mistakes. In the USHL and college, he was the best skater on the ice most nights and could take unorthodox routes because he could make up ground.

For the first time in his life, he’s playing in a league where everyone is an elite skater. He must rely more on his instincts and being in the right place more than just his ability to be effective on the ice. This is something every young defenseman struggles with early in their career.

Finally, Neverbettermike on X wants to know about a recent mid-round pick:

“Thoughts on Julius Sumpf? Seems like Providence really likes him, getting a lot of top minutes for them. Don't really know where he projects for the Blackhawks' future, or know much about him, but I am curious.”

Sumpf has had a nice season with Providence College. At 21, he’s an older prospect, and he’s used that to his advantage in college. The German-born center played two full seasons with the Moncton Wildcats in the QMJHL before being drafted in the fourth round last summer. It took him some time to adjust to the difference in play, but he’s come around of late with eight points in his last eight games. He’s more of a distributor than a goal scorer, with 16 of his 19 points being assists.

I’m not sure where he fits into the Blackhawks’ long-term plans, but he’s not a player for whom a decision needs to be made right away. I think his ceiling is a third-line center at the NHL level. He has the size for the position. We’ll get a better sense of how the organization feels about him by where he plays next season. If he turns pro and heads to Rockford, that’s a good sign that they are happy with his progression.

Thanks for all your questions! We’ll do another one of these before and after the March 6 trade deadline.