Blackhawks power play has potential for vast improvement this season

The Chicago Blackhawks struggled in a lot of ways last season, finishing 31st in the league with 72 points. Their power play, an area that should’ve been a strength, didn’t do them any favors either. They ranked 29th in that department, with just a 16.9% success rate. However, the organization added some lucrative pieces this summer that should help them. Obviously, more success on special teams will lead to more overall team success. Let’s dissect the evolution of the power play and discuss it’s improvement.

Power play philosophy for the Blackhawks

We can start with last season as a benchmark. There’s a certain philosophy for success on the man advantage. Assistant coach Mike Vellucci, who oversees the power play, spelled it out ahead of a game on Jan. 9.

“We concentrate on three things. Entries is number one, faceoffs is number two, and then recoveries. And when you do all three of those well, sometimes you're not going to score. But if you do them well consistently enough, you're going to score goals. That's one, the second thing is both units. We got two power play goals from the second unit last game. That's a big part of it. And then just moving the puck as much as possible. Not settling it down and waiting for plays, just making plays happen.”

Unfortunately, the Blackhawks struggled in all these areas. They were pretty much horrific on entries. As a matter of fact, as the season went on confidence seemed to become a factor. It was almost comical sometimes how badly the Blackhawks labored to enter the zone.

Faceoffs were an area of concern across the board. On the power play, they ranked 31st in the league with a faceoff percentage of just 47.7. This will need to improve for the Blackhawks to start with possession and use that to their advantage.

The power play did pretty well once they got into the zone and found their groove, but recovering the puck after a missed or blocked shot wasn’t exactly an area of strength. They also arguably didn’t utilize their second unit as much as they could have.

New weapons on the power play

The good news is the organization went out and added some players this offseason who should help the team as a whole, but especially on the power play. Let’s start with defenseman Bowen Byram. The 25-year-old mostly quarterbacked the second PP unit for the Buffalo Sabres last season, as he was slotted below Rasmus Dahlin on the depth chart. Nevertheless, Byram is an elite puck-moving D-man who should immediately give the Blackhawks an upgrade to their top unit. Even playing on the second unit, Byram recorded seven points on the PP (one goal, six assists), which is a career-high for him.

Patrick Kane is the legend returned, and Blackhawk’s fans know all too well he’s always been a force on the right flank of the power play. Last year with the Detroit Red Wings, Kane registered two goals and 19 points on the man advantage. In the 2024-25 season, he logged an impressive 12 goals and 29 points.

Russian prospect Roman Kantserov is another player who is expected to contribute on the power play. Of 36 goals last season with the Magnitogorsk Metallurg, 10 of them were on the power play. Kantserov specifically specializes in the bumper roll. Blackhawk’s head coach Jeff Blashill recently expanded on what he sees from the 21-year-old based on video he’s seen.

“I think Roman, you can tell that he’s really, really studied it, really bought into it. Because I thought he was really, really good at finding little quiet areas, knowing how to slide in and out of the bumper, which is a big deal now in today’s power plays. I think the static bumper is fine, but guys that can slide in and out make your power play that much more dangerous.”

Finally, we saw firsthand how young Anton Frondell was an extra weapon on the PP when he suited up for 12 games at the end of last season. Like Kane, Frondell also does his best work on the right, which could potentially cause a bit of a logjam on that side. Here’s a peek at what Frondell can do on the power play.

These four players are immediately going to upgrade the Blackhawk’s power play. There will be a plethora of weapons on the power play, which should be music to the ears of Blackhawk’s fans. But where will everyone fit in?! Let’s try our hand at some predictions.

Blackhawks projected 1st power play unit

We know Connor Bedard will be out of the lineup to start the season due to injury. So let’s start with what the top unit might look like without him.

PP1: Bertuzzi, Nazar - Kantserov - Frondell (Kane?), Byram

If there’s one constant with the power play, it’s that Tyler Bertuzzi will be the net-front presence on the top unit. He was a staple in this position last season, and excelled at it. As a matter of fact, he tallied the most PP goals on the team (11).

Based on Roman Kantserov’s prowess in the KHL in the bumper position, I’ve got him slotted there right off the bat. In the video shown above from the end of last season, Nazar was on the left flank and Frondell on the right. So that’s where I’ve placed them to start this season. Byram will quarterback this top unit.

Since Kane and Frondell basically both excel on the right, I could possibly see Kane on the right flank instead of Frondell. My colleague Jeff Maroon did this exercise a few weeks ago, and he predicted Kane on the top right flank. It will be super interesting to see how this pans out! But I believe Frondell’s youth and powerful shot will give him the upper hand to be on this top unit.

When Bedard returns, I see the first PP unit looking something like this.

PP1: Bertuzzi, Bedard - Kantserov - Frondell, Byram

Bedard played on the left and right last season, as well as quarterbacking the entire power play at the end of the campaign. It’s safe to say he’s a threat anywhere.

With Bedard back, Nazar becomes the odd man out, displaced to the second unit. He actually played on the second unit quite a bit last season, so this choice made the most sense. However, if Kantserov doesn’t click on top unit, it might be him instead of Nazar slotted down.

Blackhawks projected 2nd power play unit

Assistant coach Vellucci mentioned above about the second unit being a factor as well. Moving forward, with added personnel who can potentially cause some damage, I could see the Blackhawks balancing the ice time more between the two units. Here’s my projected second unit.

PP2: Greene, Lardis - Nazar - Kane, Levshunov/Rinzel

Ryan Greene played the net front presence a handful of times last season on the second unit, so that could remain the same. I’ve got Nazar in the bumper spot, which he did a lot on both the first and second unit in 2025-26.

Nick Lardis was mostly on the right flank last season, but with Kane now in the fold he might have to move to the left. Finally, we know it will be a competition between Artyom Levshunov and Sam Rinzel to see who plays the point on the second unit.

Quite honestly, that’s a pretty threatening second unit! And let’s not forget Teuvo Teravainen, Oliver Moore and Ryan Donato are all viable options who have contributed on the power play in the past.

All in all, there are a plethora of options that could equate to a stronger power play this season. We can debate the PP units all we want, but what it really boils down to is chemistry. As Coach Blashill said last season,

“One of the things you do is just try to develop chemistry. And that they get touches. Almost every good power play I've been around has wanted to do it on a consistent basis. So you get a number of touches. And so they can kind of work out; the best power plays in the league have a framework of how it's going to work. You don't necessarily have set plays. You have things that you look for, and they're able to kind of figure out chemistry-wise, how they're going to make those things work. And so just trying to build that chemistry.”

It’s safe to say there could be quite a lot of fireworks surrounding a much-improved power play this coming season.

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