Blackhawks raise the bar, 'playoffs are the expectation'

The Chicago Blackhawks are heading into yet another long summer with plenty of time to train for next season. Instead of breaking down a first-round series in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, we are crunching draft lottery odds and debating which prospect would be the best fit. After four full seasons under general manager Kyle Davidson’s rebuilding plans, the Blackhawks are still at the bottom of the NHL standings. The fans have had enough of losing, and so have the players.

"Going into next season, playoffs are the expectation,” defenseman Alex Vlasic said on Thursday. “We're not here to do this again, and we all know that in the locker room."

While that is exactly what the fans want to hear, that is the type of quote that can come back and burn you if the Blackhawks finish another season in the NHL’s basement.

Steps Taken Forward, But Not Enough of Them

This season was supposed to be the year where being in the running for the first overall pick was no longer acceptable, but here we are. The Blackhawks did have an 11-point improvement, going from 61 to 72 points. That’s a significant jump, but they went from 30th to 31st in the overall standings. While the Blackhawks couldn’t make a big move up the standings, the Anaheim Ducks and Utah Mammoth made the postseason, while the San Jose Sharks contended for a playoff spot until the final end of the season.

“We took more steps in the right direction than wrong,” head coach Jeff Blashill said. “Going into the year, we wanted to set a standard and begin the process of setting a culture. I know we’ve done those two things. I know we’ve taken more in the right direction, I would say, by a lot. Now that doesn’t show in wins and losses. I feel good that we’re heading in the right direction.”

In early December, the Blackhawks were keeping pace with the playoff race. Connor Bedard was playing at an MVP level, and the optimism was running high. Then, in the span of eight days, Bedard and Frank Nazar were lost to injuries. Take the top two centers off any team for a month, and they will struggle. With the playoffs no longer in sight, Davidson traded away his entire leadership group in Nick Foligno, Jason Dickinson, and Connor Murphy. The young group left, while showing flashes of what’s to come, struggled mightily to right the ship when it strayed off course.

However, the message from today’s end-of-season media session was loud and clear: this group is sick of losing and wants to make the playoffs.

"This has to be the last year of not playing until the end of the year, not playing for something in the playoff standings," Bedard said. "That’s on us as individuals. I take a lot of responsibility for that. I feel like we can all just pull with the same rope.

"At the end of the day, we know we've got to start winning. It’s been a while. I think it takes a toll on you, and you want to make that step. We talk about it all the time, but it’s on us to go out there, have good summers, come back and make that leap."

Raised Expectations Need a Better Roster

Davidson was happy to hear that his players had raised the bar. But, he also knows that going from 31st in the league to the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is easier said than done. In addition to the players making major strides, the roster will need to improve.

"The players are very motivated to make sure that we're pushing for the playoffs next year,” he said. “That’s realistically a goal we believe they should come into training camp trying to achieve. It’s something that would require a major step forward. But the group is motivated and talented enough that we feel it's not unrealistic to expect that. We need to take another step forward. The league doesn’t wait around for anyone, so these young players have to continue that development and translate that to more wins on the ice."

Davidson has a lot of work to do this summer. He knows that going with all young guys next season is not a recipe for success. Asking all these guys to make a big jump at the same time is a lot. It’s not impossible, but it is improbable. So, with his new contract extension in hand and a vote of confidence from ownership, he needs to move on from the prospect-building phase to the trying to win now phase. But that is for another discussion.

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