The Chicago Blackhawks special teams have been a bright spot, despite losing season

The NHL season has passed the halfway point, and the Chicago Blackhawks currently sit tied for last with the San Jose Sharks.

Playing at even strength, it has been a struggle to say the least. The Hawks are bottom 5 in goals for and goals against at even strength and overall have scored the third least number of goals in the league with 123 on the year.

While the Blackhawks have been pretty miserable in all aspects this year their special teams has been a real bright spot.

Through 47 games this season, the Blackhawks rank tied for seventh best in the league at 23.9% and have the fifth best penalty kill including a streak of 30 consecutive penalties killed earlier this year.

Though the new players GM Kyle Davidson brought in haven't been hits out of the park, it has certainly helped their power play with Tyler Bertuzzi leading the team with eight goals and Teuvo Teravainen tied for second with Bedard at five.

The top powerplay unit has the perfect recipe for success.

Bertuzzi in front of the net cashing in on deflections or tap-ins with Bedard and Teravainen on the flanks to provide shooting threats on both sides. Then you have Seth Jones quarterbacking with Donato a great option in the bumper spot with his ability to shoot anywhere and win battles when needed.

On the flipside, the penalty kill has been great as well with a more aggressive approach.

Instead of sitting back and letting the opposition get their power play set up, the Hawks have been doing a really good job this year of disrupting before the other team can get anything going. Jason Dickinson has been the leader for the Hawks all season on the PK. He leads all Blackhawks forwards in blocked shots while averaging 2:40 per game on the penalty kill which is also the most among Hawks forwards.

First-year Hawk Ilya Mikheyev and someone who has been on the rise recently, Louis Crevier, has been a nice addition to the penalty kill. With Mikheyev's speed and Crevier's size, they have been able to shut down the opposing team's power play units very well. Even with the team having the 2nd worst goal differential at -39, Mikheyev and Crevier are both only a -1 on the season.

Even though basically every other aspect of the Blackhawks game this year has been pretty abysmal, the Hawks at least have their special teams going. The Hawks really need to figure out their 5 on 5 play if they want to start to compete in a few seasons.