5 Negative Takeaways From the Chicago Blackhawks’ First Half of the Season

The Chicago Blackhawks season is not going well and that is putting it nicely.

The Hawks are currently dead last in the NHL standings. While that is great for the NHL Draft Lottery odds, the hope was fans would not have to monitor those chances daily once the team drafted Connor Bedard.

Taylor Hall being lost for the season and Corey Perry's off-ice behavior that led to his contract being terminated started to send this season into a tailspin. Injuries made sure the Hawks' very slim chances of the postseason came crashing into the ground.

There have been some positives this season despite being one of the worst teams. For the most part, there are a lot of negatives that have happened during the first half of the season.

Lukas Reichel is struggling.

He was the Blackhawks' top prospect before Bedard was drafted. It seemed like everyone forgot that. It feels like Reichel did too.

The hope was Reichel could be the team's second-line center and an offensive force on the same level as Bedard. Instead, he has just nine points this season. The plans for him to be a center has already been scrapped.

Now Luke Richardson is trying anything he can think of to get the talented player going. He has benched him, had him skate on the first line along with Bedard, and Richardson has also demoted him down to the fourth line. The result has been a player who has lost his confidence.

However, his most recent benching might be what snaps him out of his struggles. He did not score against Calgary, but Reichel skated strong and was active.

If he can skate like he did against the Flames, and score like he did in December against Colorado, he has a chance to finish the season strong.

Arvid Soderblom failed to become the No. 1 goalie.

The hope coming into this season was Soderblom would secure the top goaltender position in his first full NHL campaign. There were four reasons for that.

The first reason was Petr Mrazek was likely to spend time on injured reserve. Second, Mrazek was set to be an unrestricted free agent and the Hawks could move him at the trade deadline to get some assets back. Third, Soderblom has the talent to be a top goalie. Finally, he is young and still has another year left before he hits restricted free agency.

Well, Mrazek has stayed healthy, and Soderblom has played like a goalie destined to be a backup goalie. His numbers are so bad, that his future forecasts him as just an organizational depth piece who goes back and forth between the AHL and the NHL.

He has -10.3 goals saved above expected which ranks him as one of the worst goalies in the NHL in that category. That is a simple stat that measures the number of goals a goalie can save over an average netminder. Think about that. Soderblom is ten goals worse than an average goalie.

Arvid's biggest issue is he is incapable of making key saves to keep the game from getting out of hand.

With the way the offense has struggled, the team needs a goalie to at least limit the opposition to three goals. Soderblom has had eight games where he has given up four or more goals. That is eight games in 18 starts.

Mrazek was given an extension recently for two years. That lines up when Drew Commesso will be ready for the NHL. It also means Soderblom's chances to be the long-term No. 1 goalie are not very good.