After stealing Artemi Panarin away from the KHL to play alongside Patrick Kane, Stan Bowman is aggressively pursuing a player that could play next to Jonathan Toews for the foreseeable future. That player, of course, is the heavily-recruited former Harvard standout, Jimmy Vesey. Enough has been written about the hotly-contested sweepstakes to land Vesey that […]

The Blackhawks’ signing of Brian Campbell to a one-year, $1.5 million contract this offseason has been widely regarded as one of the best free agent signings this offseason. The veteran defender is coming off five solid seasons with the Florida Panthers where he appeared in every regular season game and helped Aaron Ekblad develop into the […]

It wasn’t that long ago that an aggressive trade deadline from Stan Bowman seemed to put the Blackhawks in a prime position to pursue their second consecutive Stanley Cup. The additions of Andrew Ladd, Dale Weise, Christian Ehrhoff, and Tomas Fleischmann all seemed like ideal rentals who could provide a boost throughout the lineup before […]

Unlike so many off-seasons before this one, Stan Bowman actually won’t be forced to trade away a large portion of his roster to keep the team under the salary cap. Instead, he faces a few interesting free agent decisions on who will be back in Chicago next season, and who will be playing elsewhere. Atop that list […]

The 2015-16 season probably didn’t go exactly how Marian Hossa was expecting it to. The veteran sniper and likely Hall-of-Famer scored just 33 points in his 64 games – which stands as his lowest offensive output in a full season since his rookie year. He returned to dominate in the playoffs on a makeshift third […]

2015-16 saw the emergence of several new staples within the Chicago Blackhawks’ lineup. Artemi Panarin, Artem Anisimov, Trevor van Riemsdyk, and Teuvo Teravainen all established themselves as productive lineup regulars over the 82-game campaign and will look to maintain their respective roles entering 2016-17. Next season, however, may the last for at least one of […]

Corey Crawford must be used being under-appreciated at this point. Despite having another stellar regular season and doing all that he could in the postseason for the Chicago Blackhawks, NHL general managers still decided to pass him over on their Vezina Trophy ballots (an award annually given to the best goaltender in the league). The above […]

From 2009 when he joined the Blackhawks until the end of the 2014-15 regular season, Marian Hossa averaged .37 goals and .85 points per game. This regular season he averaged .2 goals and .52 points per game as he registered his lowest point output since his rookie season. It’s no secret that 2015-16 wasn’t Hossa’s […]

Team depth had long been one of the biggest strengths of the Chicago Blackhawks when they won three Stanley Cups over just six seasons. And although last season’s group featured four primary defensemen and two rotators on the blue line, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Niklas Hjalmarsson, and Johnny Oduya made up one of the best top-4 […]

It wasn’t long ago that it looked like Michal Rozsival’s hockey career might be over. The gruesome injury he suffered in Chicago’s second round victory over Minnesota in last season’s Stanley Cup Playoffs would have been enough to convince most 36-year-old veterans to hang up the skates and enjoy retirement — especially after winning a cup with Chicago in […]

Losing center Marcus Kruger to a wrist injury back in mid-December was a frustrating loss for the Chicago Blackhawks. Not only was the veteran pivot in the midst of a disappointing offensive season, but he was due to become an RFA this offseason and was hoping for a new contract as well. All of these […]

The NHL’s new age of advanced stats means that the players with the best numbers on the surface may not always be the ones to receive the most credit for their performances; the forward with the best plus-minus is not entitled to the Selke, and the goalie with the lowest goals against average is no […]

My THW colleague, Ed Sarno recently completed a terrific interview with Notre Dame Head Coach Jeff Jackson on the play of Stephen Johns. In it, he mentions how Johns made his NHL debut against the Chicago Blackhawks just days before he was given a confidence-boosting two-year contract extension by Jim Nill in Dallas. An interesting […]

It’s no secret that the Chicago Blackhawks have been in a bit of a slump lately. Not only has the team lost three in a row to crucial Western Conference opponents in St. Louis, Dallas, and Los Angeles, but the last two of those have come by a combined score of 10-2. Those are not […]

The last time Andrew Ladd suited up for the Blackhawks they won the Stanley Cup at the end of the 2009-10 season. Since then, the imposing power-forward and team leader has gone on to record four 20-goal seasons and score more than 300 points as a member of the Thrashers/Jets franchise. Now, after nearly six […]

Artemi Panarin has been an absolute sensation for the Blackhawks since the season first began back in October. The young Russian sniper currently leads all rookie players in goals, assists, points, and game winning goals. His outstanding production has made him the early favorite for the Calder Trophy, which is awarded annually to the NHL’s top […]

Scott Darling was one of the most feel-good stories of the 2014-15 NHL season. He battled his alcohol addiction and ended up saving the Chicago Blackhawks from a first-round exit against Nashville with several heroic performances. And after a season where he posted a .936 save percentage, it seemed like an obvious choice for Chicago […]

My fellow THW writer Jordan Dix recently wrote an excellent piece on how each team in the Central Division was built, and the results were fascinating. One thing that stood out for me when reading that article was how most of the teams in the highly competitive Central (with the exceptions of the slumping Avalanche and […]

Seeing defensive stalwart and underrated depth forward Marcus Kruger go down for four months after undergoing wrist surgery was certainly not a welcome sight for Blackhawks fans who have grown accustomed to seeing #16 leading Chicago’s penalty kill for the past four seasons. The veteran Swede is an effective face-off man and is often tasked […]

Patrick Kane has earned a reputation as one of the most skilled players in the game over his years in the NHL, but he hasn’t always been known as an effective defensive player to complement his offensive ability. That has changed in a dramatic way in the midst of his historic start  to the 2015-16 […]