Blackhawks Trends: Crevier earning his playing time, discipline is lacking

The Chicago Blackhawks finished their first week of the 2025-26 season with just one point in three games. However, there are plenty of reasons to be encouraged by the direction of this team. Three one-goal losses to the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions, a team two years removed from the greatest regular season in league history, and a playoff team from last season. Once this group figures out how to win these close games, they will be problematic for the rest of the National Hockey League.

The Week That Was

Tuesday: 2-3 @ Florida Panthers (Frank Nazar, Teuvo Teravainen)
Thursday: 3-4 (OT) @ Boston Bruins (Connor Bedard, Louis Crevier, Andre Burakovsky)
Saturday: 2-3 vs Montreal Canadiens (Sam Rinzel, Connor Bedard)

The Week Ahead

Monday: vs Utah Mammoth (7:30)
Wednesday: @ St. Louis Blues (8:30)
Friday: vs Vancouver Canucks (7:30)
Sunday: vs Anaheim Ducks (6:00)

Trending Up: Louis Crevier, Andre Burakovsky, Jeff Blashill

• Crevier entered the season as the ideal candidate to be the Blackhawks’ seventh defenseman. He is never going to blow you away on the ice, but he is rarely going to hurt you. However, with the way he’s played the last two games, it won't be easy to take him out of the lineup. After being scratched against the Panthers, he scored a goal against the Bruins and had a big fight defending Nazar on Saturday. At 5-on-5, he’s yet to be on the ice for a goal against and has the second-best Corsi for percentage (CF%) on the team at 60.7%.

• Burakovsky was the most significant offseason addition, and there were low expectations for him after three down years with the Seattle Kraken. Through three games, we have seen flashes of the player who had a lot of success with the Washington Capitals and Colorado Avalanche. He had a goal and an assist in Boston, and nearly scored against the Canadiens but was denied by a pesky crossbar. His ability to get the puck quickly through the neutral zone and on Bedard’s stick is why he was acquired. He’s been on the ice for six high-danger scoring chances at 5-on-5. Only Ryan Donato has more, with eight.

• When the Blackhawks hired Jeff Blashill last May, it was met with a lot of shoulder shrugs. However, after an intense training camp and a good showing through three games, the fanbase is warming up to the new head coach. More importantly, the players have bought in. They are playing fast, emotional hockey, and have been more competitive early in the season than in the past few seasons.

Trending Down: Artyom Levshunov, Sam Lafferty, Team Discipline

• Artyom Levshunov got himself into Blashill’s doghouse early with four penalties in his first two games. While his analytics are solid, his decision-making on the ice needs improvement. The penalty at the end of regulation in Boston, while stopping to react to the call, landed him in the press box for Saturday’s home opener. He appears to be a healthy scratch for the second straight game against Utah tonight. The organization still believes in Levshunov’s talent; they want him to have better habits on the ice. It's better to address this early rather than let him develop tendencies that are hard to break.

• When Sam Lafferty was reacquired this summer from the Buffalo Sabres, it made sense. During his first stint in Chicago, he was a speedy, responsible winger who was excellent on the penalty kill. We have yet to see that version this season, as he’s not even killing penalties anymore. He played less than five minutes on Saturday and still managed to commit two penalties. Lafferty will be scratched for the second time in four games tonight. Now that Jason Dickinson is back, and Landon Slaggert shouldn’t be far behind, it’s going to be hard for him to find playing time unless he starts positively impacting the game.

• The Blackhawks lead the NHL with 62 penalty minutes through three games. Even if you take away Crevier’s 17 minutes from Saturday, they’d still lead the league by two minutes. The early-season uptick in penalties is a byproduct of Blashill’s philosophy. He wants his team to be hard on the puck, and they have been. Unfortunately, they haven’t learned how to toe the line between playing hard and committing infractions. They’ll figure it out.