Once again, the Blackhawks sat in the basement of the National Hockey League. The position they are in is a far cry from their dynasty years in the 2010s. Although the 2024-25 season was a struggle, they have the pieces to be a Stanley Cup-contending team at some point in the future.

Let’s take a look at how the Blackhawks’ 2024-25 season went, what they’ve done so far this off-season, and how their team shapes up come October.

How the season went

Heading into the 2024-25 season, the Blackhawks finished with the third-fewest or second-fewest points in the league the past two seasons. They were lucky to land the first overall pick in the 2023 draft, selecting Connor Bedard.

It was much of the same for the Blackhawks last season. They finished with a 25-46-11 record, with their 61 points being the second-fewest in the league. Only the San Jose Sharks had fewer points than the Blackhawks last season.

What’s worse is that Bedard had a worse season than the 2023-24 season, at least on a point-per-game basis. His rookie season saw him score 22 goals and 61 points in 68 games, but he followed that up with just 23 goals and 67 points in 82 games.

Other notable young players on the team are Frank Nazar, Lukas Reichel, and Alex Vlasic. Nazar was the other notable young player on the team, as he scored 12 goals and 26 points in 53 games last season. Reichel scored eight goals and 22 points in 70 games, while Vlasic scored four goals and 30 points in 82 games, not bad from a defenceman.

Most of the Blackhawks’ scoring came from veterans. Ryan Donato scored a team-leading 31 goals with 62 points, with Teuvo Teravinen’s 58 points second on the team, Tyler Bertuzzi’s 46 points were third, Nick Foligno had 35 points, and Ilya Mikheyev had 34 points.

Between the pipes, Arvid Söderblom played the majority of the games, posting an .898 save percentage and 3.18 goals against average in 36 games. Spencer Knight was acquired in a mid-season trade for Seth Jones, and he had an .896 save percentage and 3.12 goals against average.

Drafted players

Thanks to finishing second-last in the league, the Blackhawks had another high overall pick, dropping to the third overall pick. With that selection, they drafted Swedish centre Anton Frondell, who could play NHL games in 2025-26.

They had two more first-round picks, using the 25th overall to select winger Vaclav Nestrasil and the 29th overall pick to select centre Mason West. In the third round, the Blackhawks selected winger Nathan Behm, followed by centre (and Étienne Morin’s teammate) Julius Sumpf.

The Blackhawks had another fourth-rounder, using the 107th overall pick to select Parker Holmes, another forward. Finally, they drafted a defenceman, using their sixth-round pick to draft Ashton Cumby. The only netminder they selected was Ilya Kanarsky in the seventh round. Flames’ prospect Kirill Zarubin served as Kanarsky’s backup with Mikhailov Academy.

Trades

The Blackhawks have made a handful of trades since the beginning of the off-season.. On Jun. 13, they traded Victor Söderström to the Boston Bruins for Ryan Mast and a 2025 seventh-round pick.

A bigger move came just over a week later on Jun. 21, sending Joe Veleno to the Seattle Kraken for two-time Stanley Cup winner, André Burakovsky. His production waned in the past two seasons, scoring seven goals and 16 points in 49 games in 2023-24 and 10 goals and 37 points in 79 games last season. At his best, Burakovsky scored around 20 goals a season.

They also sent Ilya Safonov to the Vancouver Canucks for future considerations. The Blackhawks’ other trade saw them reacquire Sam Lafferty from the Buffalo Sabres for a 2026 sixth-round pick.

Free agent signings

The Blackhawks didn’t do anything of note on the free agent front, at least with bringing in new players. On Jun. 18, they re-signed Donato to a four-year deal worth $4 million annually. They signed Frondell to his entry-level contract, while extending both Nazar and Söderblom.

Nazar has only played 56 career games, but the Blackhawks are betting big on him with a seven-year deal worth $6.6 million annually. Söderblom will split the crease with Knight, and he signed a two-year deal worth $2.75 million.

Departures

There were three notable departures from the Blackhawks in the off-season. Philipp Kurashev wasn’t given a qualifying offer and signed with the Sharks. Although the Swiss forward only scored seven goals and 14 points in 51 games last season, he had 18 goals and 54 points in 75 games back in 2023-24.

Their other two departures were because of retirement. Pat Maroon retired after 14 NHL seasons with 126 goals and 323 points in 848 games. He won back-to-back-to-back Stanley Cups from 2019 to 2021. Alec Martinez also retired, playing 16 seasons with 862 games, scoring 88 goals and 289 points. Like Maroon, Martinez is a three-time Stanley Cup champion.

What the team looks like heading into 2025-26

So what does the Blackhawks roster look like heading into 2025-26? Bedard, Nazar, Jason Dickinson, and Lafferty will play down the middle, with Frondell potentially making the NHL next season. Their area of strength is on the wings though, as they have Donato, Bertuzzi, Foligno, and Reichel on the left side, and Teravainen, Burakovsky, Mikheyev, and Oliver Moore on the right side.

Their forward core is solid, but their defence is an area of concern heading into 2025-26. Vlasic, Wyatt Kaiser, and Kevin Korchinski could feature on the left side, with Sam Rinzel, Connor Murphy, and second overall pick Artyom Levshunov filling in on the right side.

In net, the Blackhawks will run a tandem of Knight and Söderblom, with Laurent Brossoit potentially featuring at some point.

Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for FlamesNation, Oilersnation, and Blue Jays Nation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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