The Chicago Blackhawks face a critical stretch to keep the season from spiraling out of control

The Chicago Blackhawks' start to the 2024-25 campaign has gone much like last season. The only difference between then and now is the Hawks have picked up an extra point in the standings.

The Hawks were 5-10 through the first 15 games of the 2023-24 season. They are now 5-9-1. One thing they have also replicated from last season is this team cannot produce a win streak.

The Hawks dropped down the Tankathon.com/NHL rankings thanks to two straight wins over the Los Angeles Kings and the Anaheim Ducks. Chicago then followed it up with two terrible efforts against Detroit and Dallas. The only real sign of progress is the Blackhawks have been in most of these games, whereas last season, they got boat-raced by the Coyotes and shut out by Colorado and Boston.

The Blackhawks are also finding different ways to lose than last season which ironically is a sign of progress.

The defeats usually happen due to a lack of a complete 60-minute effort. Goalie Petr Mrazek and, surprisingly, Arvid Soderblom have done just enough to keep the Hawks in practically every one of the first 15 games.

The issue is the other five players in front of them have had trouble maintaining focus, discipline, and energy. Oh, and resistance to fire the puck at will has been a problem.

Against Dallas, the Hawks had simple issues of just being able to clear the puck. Against the Kings, firing the puck at the net did not start happening until the third period and suddenly good things happened.

This team continues to get into a rut of wanting to score the perfect goal on one-timers instead of just put it toward the net and get the goal via rebound.

Such is life during a rebuild.

However, this is the season that the standards are supposed to be raised, and it would be nice to see the Hawks not near the top of the NHL Draft Lottery odds. It would be amazing to land a top three pick yet again, but it would better if it was because luck was on the Hawks side and not because of the sheer volume of ping-pong balls in the hopper.

One way to show the standards have improved is for the Hawks to avoid a bad stretch like last season over the next 15 games.

The Hawks went 4-10-1 last season after the first 15, and the season was completely lost. Now, injuries played a huge role in that, but also lack of talent was another reason.

The Blackhawks front office supposedly improved the talent in the offseason so now is the time to show it. Also, the additions were supposed to add depth to overcome IR issues.

The next 15 games do have some tough matchups against the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Florid Panthers. There is still a matchup against the Stars and two games against the red-hot Minnesota Wild. They will also have to face currently the best team in the NHL, the Winnipeg Jets.

The Hawks did take the Jets to overtime in their first matchup. While Dallas seems to dominate the Hawks, the Stars now have to come to Chicago during that 15-game stretch.

There are also winnable games against fellow lottery teams, such as the Philadelphia Flyers, Seattle Kraken, Columbus Blue Jackets, and the Ducks.

The hope is the Hawks find a way to draw a few more points in the standings to show they are improving from the past two seasons of chasing the top spot in Tankathon. It would be nice to watch this season not spiral out of control so early.