Blackhawks' preseason storylines: all eyes on Vegas, including roster moves, Slaggert & more

The Chicago Blackhawks are officially ONE day away from opening their season against the Vegas Golden Knights in Vegas on Sept. 29.

The players are looking forward to seeing what they can accomplish this season. With that, let's revisit the preseason storylines before the real season begins

The latest content from Blackhawk Up

• Gail Kauchak revisits her preseason storylines, including the goaltender competition that wasn't with Drew Commesso, Arvid Söderblom, and Spencer Knight. Also, she laid out the top-six forward projections and how they have come together.

• Ryan Gagne discusses other issues that have been plaguing the Blackhawks' offense beyond just the goals scored. The offense hopes to improve with the additions of Bowen Byram, Patrick Kane, and Roman Kantserov. Additionally, with Connor Bedard, Frank Nazar, Nick Lardis, Oliver Moore, and more.

• Justin Lynch outlined the next big contracts that the Blackhawks have coming up. The Blackhawks have signed Byram and Bedard to big extensions in the last couple of months, and they still have many to go. Including...

• Moore was the latest re-signing, as the Blackhawks gave him a five-year extension on Sept. 24. Additionally, Rhys Jones explained how Moore and Nazar could be two of the NHL's best deals.

• The Blackhawks' power play will be one to watch because they have a lot of options to deploy on both units. Ryan McGregor discussed the good power-play problem that they now face.

• Ryan Greene is one of the versatile forwards that head coach Jeff Blashill has used on the second and fourth lines throughout the preseason. I outlined how he has been able to adapt so well.

• Lastly, if you want to get caught up on what happened in some preseason games, Gail has you covered with recaps: Blackhawks 4-3 overtime win against the Wild with Byram's big game, Blackhawks 1-0 loss to the Blues that was mainly disjointed, and finally the Blackhawks 3-2 win vs. Blues in their final preseason game.

Blackhawks roster moves

Some things to keep in mind before the season starts. As for injuries, Bedard has been skating on his own before the team practices during training camp. But there's no official word on a potential return date. When he got his shoulder surgery in July, the timeline was expected to be four months.

Jordan Greenway was day-to-day with a lower-body injury, but head coach Jeff Blashill said they believe he will be available for the start of the season.

Among the roster cuts, notable names that were sent to the Rockford IceHogs were Sacha Boisvert, A.J. Spellacy, and Drew Commesso.

Furthermore, Scott Powers of The Athletic reported that Landon Slaggert was placed on waivers on Sept. 27. The Blackhawks bottom-six was very crowded going into the season with Greenway, Cole Smith, Andrew Mangiapane, Teuvo Teräväinen, and others. As Blashill said earlier in camp, they have 14 forwards, excluding Bedard for now. So, there were going to be forwards on the outside.

Slaggert is a nice depth player because he is fast, works hard, and is a good penalty killer. But the Blackhawks just have a lot of players. It's very possible a team might seek him for their bottom six. If he doesn't get claimed, he would go to Rockford.

Looking to Vegas

As Ryan Greene told me on Sept. 26, their mindset going into the final preseason game against the St. Louis Blues was with the regular season ahead.

"Obviously, our last game before the regular season starts. So, we want to put forward a good effort and make sure we're detailed and doing everything right. So, when we step into Vegas on Tuesday, we're ready to go."

They did put in a good effort in their 3-2 win. But with the shortened preseason, they won't know anything for sure until the puck officially drops in Vegas.

Blashill said postgame on Sept. 26, "I'll let you know Tuesday, you know what I mean? Like we haven't really played full as a group yet. And so, as much as we wanted to, we didn't get to that point, which is fine. I don't think it's do-or-die.... I know that I believe in this group. Whether that means we're ready to be at 100 percent on Tuesday, you know, we've worked to be as ready as we can be. And as I said earlier today, I think across the league there'll be a learning curve as we go through the first month of the season. I think the first months, as we talked about earlier, is generally a little sloppy. That's why there's more offensive goals scored, and it might even be more so at the beginning. That's fine. We just got to grind away to points, find ways to win, and keep getting better."

The Blackhawks roster looks clearer heading into their opening night. Another big name to watch is defenseman Kevin Korchinski, who had a good training camp and looks very likely to make the team.

As the season officially starts, we will be sure to keep you updated on all the happenings here at Blackhawk Up!

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