This position group has been the Blackhawks brightest spot through four games

Through four games, Connor Bedard has been stellar, posting five points and a goal so far. If you’re doing the math, the face of the Chicago Blackhawks franchise is on pace to snag over a point per game this season. 

While Bedard has been a bright spot on the Hawks, he hasn’t been the brightest. Nor has Teuvo Teravainen, who so far has three goals and five points. But the newcomer, along with blueliner Seth Jones, has shown fans that this isn’t the same bland Blackhawks team that we watched last year. 

While the above players have been great, Chicago’s goaltending has stood out more than any other position group. It will be a while before the Blackhawks look like a synchronized unit, but goaltenders Petr Mrazek, Arvid Soderblom, and later Laurent Brossoit might speed up that process. 

Through four games, Mrazek and Soderblom have 124 shots against or a not-so-good 31 per game. Yet, their collective save percentage sits at 0.919, with a solid 2.52 GAA, indicating this duo (plus eventually Brossoit) will keep the Hawks in a lot of games.

Blackhawks goaltenders will help this team a lot in 2024-25

Last season, Arvid Soderblom was terrible, but he looked fantastic in his lone start of the season against the Winnipeg Jets. While one game shouldn’t change anyone’s opinion of Soderblom, it doesn’t mean he’s not finally turning a corner. 

Something we need to constantly tell ourselves is that goaltenders can often be late bloomers, and not everyone will perform well early like, say, Devon Levi of the Buffalo Sabres. So, if Soderblom can keep up his strong play in a supplementary role while Brossoit is on the mend and if Mrazek can continue to exceed expectations, the netminders could be the heart and soul of the Hawks in keeping games competitive. 

This means we shouldn’t be surprised if they won a few games they otherwise should have lost, and continue to beat some of the league’s best teams on paper by multiple goals every now and again. Overall, it’s still early in the year, so this could all be a mirage, but Mrazek has made bad situations at least manageable before, and Soderblom could be the next goaltender to surprise us. 

We’ll see if this trend continues when the Blackhawks face off with the San Jose Sharks tomorrow night.