The One Main Thing Derek King Needs To Do For The Blackhawks

The Chicago Blackhawks' first few games of 2022 could not have gotten off to a worse start. The team has dropped their first two games losing in big fashions to the Nashville Predators and Calgary Flames.

While it was great seeing Arvid Soderblom get his first start, the Blackhawks haven't had a lot to enjoy from their last few games. The joy and happiness of the new coach have seemed to have worn off, as the Blackhawks are now getting back to their norm of losing games. While that stinks, it definitely was expected.

The Blackhawks season might be over, as the chances of making the playoffs are so slim already, but there still is a lot of hockey left to be played. Which brings me to the one main thing Derek King needs to do during the coming weeks to help this team down the line.

Derek King needs to stick with the same lines.

Line shuffling and overplaying different players is not really going to save this season. The Blackhawks should play out the year with this group and give everyone a lot of playing time to see who is where in their development and who fits into the long term plan with the team.

Kyle Davidson is a new general manager compared to a year ago when Stan Bowman was in charge. The remainder of the season should be spent letting Davidson watch his different players play - and not just overplaying one or two lines every night in the hopes of sneaking away with two points.

Seeing Borgstrom center Kane and DeBrincat last night against Calgary was great. Was he perfect? No, but not a lot of players were. Hopefully young guys like Borgstrom and even Caleb Jones on the back end keep getting more playing time as the Hawks continue along this season.

King is doing his job as an interim coach, he doesn't need to shake up the lineup at this point. The only way the team is going to reach a new level is by building up some chemistry and finding another level. While it isn't likely they make the playoffs, maybe they can be in a better position for next season.