3 areas the Chicago Blackhawks must address in the offseason

Backup goaltender

Arvid Soderblom was a major disappointment this season. The hope was he would have a firm grasp on the starting job. Instead, he was one of the worst goalies in the NHL.

Petr Mrazek thankfully avoided going on IR and was rewarded with a contract extension to cover the next two seasons while Drew Commesso goes through the developmental process.

Soderblom is still under contract through the next season and goalies take some time to develop. Davidson could run it back and hope Arvid progresses into a solid backup. The problem is he ignores the fact that he is a big presence in front of the net and tends to play much shorter than he is. Also, long rebounds tend to go off of his pads. That allows for more scoring chances.

The Blackhawks are going to need a competent backup as there is no guarantee that Mrazek will make it through a season without a stay on injured reserve. Mrazek's stats will not win him the Vezina Trophy, but relative to what the Hawks needed out of him to stay in games, he should have gotten some votes. Keyword being some.

Mrazek has had injury problems throughout most of his career so there is always the risk that he will not be available to play well enough to stay in games. That is why the Hawks need a viable backup plan and Soderblom is not it.

Internally, the team could see if Jaxson Stauber is up to the task. Going through the free-agent route might be a better option.

If these three areas can be upgraded, hopefully, that will get the Hawks back into the postseason.