Post-Mortem: How the Blackhawks fell flat—again

Have you ever gone through the same, recycled workouts at a local gym so many times that they became migraine-inducing? Hey, once upon a time, I was a personal trainer, and our gym concocted this program for all trainers to follow with our clients. But there was just one problem: the workouts recycled themselves every 13 weeks. 

Clients caught on, and slowly but steadily, I started using homegrown programs again, even if the powers that were didn’t like it very much. How does this relate to the 2024-25 Blackhawks? It feels like, through 78 games, they moved the needle so little that you can claim they recycled their season. 

And the entire fanbase has caught on. So, what happened here? What happened to a team that enjoyed a decent free agency, only to watch its season collapse not long after it began? 

For one, the Hawks signed quite a few older veterans, especially at the blue line. Further, Teuvo Teravainen and Tyler Bertuzzi aren’t game-changing top-six assets on a good team. Instead, I’d have them playing strictly middle-six minutes, not between 16 and 17 minutes per contest, on average. They’re good supplements for stars like Connor Bedard, but not legitimate help for 82 games. 

Blackhawks looked like a jig-saw puzzle that came with missing pieces

Yep, that’s the best analogy for the season. There’s some talent here, with a star player, a good supporting cast if they played fewer minutes, and a growing defensive rotation. But when you look at things realistically, should you have honestly thought that the Hawks had a chance to get anywhere other than a bottom-four finish in the Western Conference?

And after mulling it over, we can see why Connor Bedard couldn’t break out. Ryan Donato was his best forward this season, and that’s not saying much. Donato was never known to bring a high-scoring output, and his defensive play gave him a role in this league early on. If you were to ask me, right now, if I believe Donato would enjoy a repeat season, I’d answer with a hard no. 

So, looking back at the season from an objective angle, there was no growth because the Blackhawks didn’t have the pieces to grow. You can count on one hand how many players on this team who would’ve played on the first line or top pairing of a playoff contender. 

The Blackhawks: A never-ending array of NHL boredom

I talk about a lot of teams, but the Blackhawks are far and away the toughest to discuss because there’s rarely anything interesting to discuss. Nobody covering this team needed a crystal ball to know what was coming after the first two weeks of the season. 

The Hawks were slightly more successful than they fared in 2023-24 early before they regressed to an extent. Here in mid-April, they’re back to being a team that looks like they moved the needle one mere notch, with the opportunity to maybe move it another notch before they pack up for the offseason. 

And the situation could get even more hopeless should the San Jose Sharks snap out of their slump and end the season strong. But, if that occurred, at least the Hawks would end up with the best odds to win the draft lottery. If you can even call that a successful endeavor these days.

So, how did the Hawks fall flat? They never had enough talent to compete with even the league’s mid-tier teams consistently to begin with.