Jeff Blashill faces mounting pressure to accelerate the Blackhawks' rebuild

The pressure isn't necessarily about Jeff Blashill losing his job. It's about proving he's the coach who can take the Chicago Blackhawks from rebuilding to competing. Whether Blashill thinks the team is ready or not, Kyle Davidson drew his line in the sand by trading a fourth-overall draft pick for Bowen Byram and signing the unproven No. 1 defenseman to a long-term contract extension.

You can argue all you want about whether Byram is worth that contract, but the messaging behind the contract is what fans should really be focusing on. In giving up the top pick that turned into Daxon Rudolph for the Buffalo Sabres, Davidson told everyone that he is no longer interested in waiting for prospects to develop. The question is whether these Blackhawks are actually ready.

The positives are that Spencer Knight showed last season that he is a capable starting goaltender. Owning a 2.82 goals-against average and a .902 save percentage in a season where your record was 19-25-11 is proof that a better team in front of him could mean some big things for Knight. The problem is that the Blackhawks may not have gotten that much better over the offseason.

The growth of Anton Frondell and Roman Kantserov will be exciting this season, and they could elevate the Blackhawks to another level. Patrick Kane's return will bring a feel-good story to start the season, but he is by no means in a position where he can elevate a team from rebuilder to contender by himself. Beyond that, the Blackhawks are expecting too big a jump just from continued growth from Connor Bedard and the addition of Byram.

The Blackhawks don't need to make the playoffs this season

A San Jose Sharks-like growth would be nice for Chicago. San Jose was in the playoff mix for most of last season, but a late-season fall-off sent them out of the picture. It was an unfortunate end, but they still did well in the draft and expect to claim that elusive playoff spot this season.

Bedard is the wild-card in this entire scene for the Blackhawks. The team's star isn't expected back until mid-November after his offseason shoulder surgery, and it's unclear how the team will perform without him. If Chicago struggles without him, but then perform well the rest of the season without him and come up short of the playoffs, Blashill can chalk it up to being without their leading scorer for the first 20 games.

If the Blackhawks finish near the bottom of the league again, I still don't believe you can pin it all on Blashill. However, he will likely be the one to take the fall if Davidson doesn't see the growth he is looking for.

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