A look at projected roster and lines for the Blackhawks in 2023

Now that the draft is over and the Blackhawks seem to be mostly done free agent additions, let's take a look at some key roster changes for the Hawks from the previous year.

Subtractions: Patrick Kane, Max Domi, Jonathan Toews, Sam Lafferty, Riley Stillman, Caleb Jones, Alex Stalock.

Additions: Connor Bedard, Taylor Hall, Kevin Korchinski, Ryan Donato, Corey Perry, Nick Foligno, Alex Vlasic.

We are still months away from next season's beginning, so there may still be some changes that are made to the roster that can impact the lineup. Younger players may also move in and out of the roster as the team gets a look at what they can do in the NHL. This is a rough projection of what the lines could look like at the start of next season as it stands.

Chicago Blackhawks Forwards

1st Line: Taylor Hall - Connor Bedard - Taylor Raddysh

2nd Line: Philipp Kurashev - Andreas Athanasiou - Lukas Reichel

3rd Line: Ryan Donato - Tyler Johnson - Nick Foligno

4th Line: Colin Blackwell - Jason Dickinson - Corey Perry

Connor Bedard will almost certainly make his debut in the NHL on opening night against Pittsburgh, so he is a lock at the #1 center position at this point in time. Taylor Hall will be the top line winger that is a great addition to help out Bedard. For the wing to the right of Bedard, I placed Taylor Raddysh, but we could potentially see another player like Reichel jump up there as the season progresses.

The second line is one that has the potential to be sneakily good as long as Kurashev and Reichel continue to grow and take their game to the next level. This line also has a fair amount of speed on it, with Athanasiou and Reichel being some of the speedier forwards on this Hawks roster.

Predicting the last two lines becomes a bit of a toss-up in my eyes. With a mixture of veterans and younger fringe players, things can definitely be shuffled around a lot. The new acquisitions of Nick Foligno, Cory Perry, and Ryan Donato provide a little more experience and veteran presence. Foligno and Perry were more than likely brought into the team to not only provide experience and mentorship. but also protect the younger players such as Bedard, Korchinski, and Reichel.

Chicago Blackhawks Defense

1st Pair: Kevin Korchinski - Seth Jones

2nd Pair: Jarred Tinordi - Connor Murphy

3rd Pair: Alex Vlasic - Wyatt Kaiser

Others: Isaak Philips, Filip Roos, Nikita Zaitsev

I think we most likely see Kevin Korchinski start on the first pairing on opening night. There is a good chance he does not stay there the whole season and may be sent back to Rockford to continue his development. Alex Vlasic is also a player looking to get some NHL experience as well and his time in the NHL may be limited based on his performance as well as the team's.

Chicago Blackhawks Goalie

Petr Mrázek - Arvid Söderblom

I don't think there are really any surprises here, Mrázek will assume the starting role again with Söderblom in the backup spot.

All in all, I think this roster has the potential to be better than last year's. While they still have a long way to go before competing for playoffs, it seems the Hawks are certainly on the right path for the first time in a while. Some of these players may also be shipped out on the trade deadline for a draft pick.

They will still need another high pick next year and we will hopefully see some steady growth from the young players. It seems that the fans will no longer have to actively root for the team to tank now that we have the best prospect the NHL has seen in years and we can be a little more excited to see this team compete.