Let's hope at this point next year the Chicago Blackhawks are competing for a playoff spot

It feels like ages since the Chicago Blackhawks last made the playoffs.

That's because the last Hawks playoff appearance was in 2017 if you throw out the expanded playoffs in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was fun watching the Blackhawks eliminate the Edmonton Oilers in the opening round of the expanded playoff format. Corey Crawford was a wall in goal that gave the Hawks a fighting chance against the Vegas Golden Knights in the next round before getting eliminated.

The trouble is if the pandemic did not force the NHL to expand the playoffs, the Hawks would not even be close to getting in that year as they were in 12th place in the Western Conference standings.

They got in a technicality.

That is why you must go back eight years for the last time the Blackhawks truly earned a playoff spot. Getting swept out of the first round that year also coincided with the team's decline into its current miserable state.

Hopefully, this much anticipated offseason brings in enough talent upgrades for this playoff dry spell to end next season.

It would be great to fast forward to next year and the Blackhawks be in contention for one of the wild card spots.

That should be a fair expectation for next season.

The Blackhawks do not even need to make the playoffs for next season to be considered a success. They just need to be in the hunt and stop this daily Tankathon watch to see how the team's NHL Draft Lottery odds are.

That was sort of the expectations last offseason when general manager Kyle Davidson tried to raise the standards. It was one reason fans were upset the team passed on forward Ivan Demidov and instead went safe in drafting defenseman Artyom Levshunov.

The belief was that enough was done to where the Hawks would not be drafting in the top three for a while and they would never have a shot at adding a high ceiling forward like Demidov.

However, the team got off to a terrible start, fired Luke Richardson as head coach, and the season was lost by November. Now the Hawks are staring another top-five draft pick in the face.

Drafting high again is not necessarily a bad thing, but the hope was the team would be doing better on the ice at this point in the rebuild.

Davidson gets a redo this offseason to actually have the standards raised on the ice.

That standard should be enough moves are made in the offseason to add a linemate or two worthy of skating on the top line with Connor Bedard.

Davidson will have an opportunity to hire a head coach who can not only guide the team through this transition phase from rebuilding to contending but also winning the Stanley Cup by the end of the decade.

Also, this vital ice time youngsters such as Frank Nazar, Landon Slaggert, Levshunov, Ethan Del Mastro, and Nolan Allan are getting this season raises their level of play next season.

Hopefully more prospects such as Nick Lardis, who is on a goal-scoring tear in the OHL, make their NHL debut to help improve the team's offensive attack.

Mix in the Hawks finally have their long-term goalie situation solved with Spencer Knight being added at the trade deadline and that should be enough to at least get the Blackhawks out of the Central Division cellar.

However, the core of a potential Stanley Cup-winning team might still need more time in Rockford to develop.

The hope is forwards Oliver Moore and Ryan Greene, along with defenseman Sam Rinzel, sign their entry-level contracts after their college seasons end to get some NHL experience. They will still need time with IceHogs to refine their game to effective in the NHL.

That is why flirting with a playoff spot would be nice since time is still needed for the quality future pieces to come together around franchise cornerstones in Bedard, Nazar, Levshunov, and Knight.

Signing Mitch Marner in free agency or making a huge trade to grab another elite player to join Bedard and Nazar on the top line could at last put the Blackhawks in a spot to at least finally snap the team's playoff drought.