How the Blackhawks January schedule could reshape the rest of their season

Yeah, it’s getting to be that time of the year for the Blackhawks, even if the 2025 calendar year’s only begun. But, in NHL years, it means the season is roughly halfway over. And for teams struggling to contend, January will likely “end” their campaign early, if you know what I mean. 

It seems that, in many cases, the Blackhawks season has already ended. Yeah, there are a few young players whose respective development will be fun to watch, but that’s about all there is to get excited about. 

That said, January 2025 could be the month in which the Hawks will, without a question, find themselves unofficially eliminated from playoff contention. That means they won’t have the ‘e’ beside their name, but you may as well put it there. 

Following an embarrassing loss in the Winter Classic on New Year’s Eve, the Hawks first game of the new calendar year starts tonight vs. the Montreal Canadiens. That one may give them some leeway, as the Habs are still a rebuilding team, themselves. But it gets a lot tougher from there. 

January 2025 will likely rule out any epic comeback for the Blackhawks

The New York Rangers may be the NHL’s most disappointing team, but I won’t concede and say they’re a bad group. They have plenty of talent the Blackhawks lack, so count that one up as a tough outing. 

Then, there’s the Colorado Avalanche, Detroit Red Wings, and Edmonton Oilers. We know how good the Avs and Oilers are, but the Wings finally look like they’re showing some life with three straight wins at the time of this article. 

The Calgary Flames are still hanging around, but they’re one team I can at least see the Hawks upsetting. The Hawks will also get a chance to pull off a win when they face the Nashville Predators, who’s probably the most disappointing group in the Western Conference. 

The rest of the back half of January may be the toughest schedule in hockey. There’s the Vegas Golden Knights, Carolina Hurricanes (twice), Tampa Bay Lightning (twice), and Minnesota Wild. Yeah, it’s a stretch I wouldn’t even envy one of the league’s better teams working through. 

So, unless the Hawks can find a way to start playing sound hockey against some of the NHL’s best teams, you can start looking forward to the 2025 NHL Draft. Well, unless you’re one of those fans who enjoys watching your team try to play ‘spoiler.’