Looking back at early predictions for the 2024-25 Blackhawks season

Looking back at the article that I wrote prior to the 2024-25 NHL season it is clear as day that I was wrong about these Hawks overall. In a word, I was hopeful. I predicted several big seasons from players who didn't quite deliver, and I have to own my own miscalculations. Let's go one by one through my preseason predictions and see how wrong I was. I will give myself a letter grade from A to F for each prediction just to pour salt in the wound.

Prediction One: The Blackhawks Will Not Finish Last in the Central Division Standings

Right off the bat, I was sorely mistaken about how large of a step these Hawks would take from 2023-24. The Hawks did in fact finish last in the Central Division. Oh and not only that, they finished second worst in the entire league again... If you had told me that prior to the season when I first made this prediction, I would have assumed that Connor Bedard was injured early in the season. The sad reality is, he played all 82 games and it didn't translate to many more wins. The Hawks did slightly improve their points total, moving from 52 up to 61 points this past season, but it was still a massive failure considering that Davidson quite literally said the Hawks couldn't finish second last again.

Overall I have to give myself an F for this one.

Prediction Two: Connor Bedard will finish the Regular Season with 41 goals, and 53 assists for 94 points.

Again, not even close... This one is perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the Blackhawks season, as many fans (myself included) were ready for Bedards coming out party as a top 10-20ish NHL player. Instead, we got a sophomore slump out of the young phenom, as he only slightly improved his point totals from his rookie season, going from 21 goals as a rookie to 22 goals as a sophomore, and 39 assists to 44 assists. The worst part is that he played significantly more games this season as well.

Now I'm not at all concerned about Bedard's long term potential or his ability to win cups (plural) for Chicago in the future, but I am ready to declare that we thought he would be the best version of himself far too soon. It takes time in the NHL to fully mature both physically and mentally, and to learn the little secrets of the game that will allow Bedard to finally break out with a massive point total. He will get there eventually, but my prediction was quite premature.

I'll give myself a D- for this one, only because he at least improved his point total.