The Blackhawks’ lineup on opening night Oct. 8 in Utah will look much different than it did opening night last season in Pittsburgh.
For example, the Hawks’ second forward line that night featured Lukas Reichel centering Tyler Johnson and Taylor Raddysh. By now, the Reichel-at-center experiment has long been vanquished, Raddysh has joined the Capitals and Johnson remains a free agent.
This time around, there will be many new faces for coach Luke Richardson to mold into four lines and three pairs, although those combinations will inevitably fluctuate throughout training camp and then change regularly throughout the regular season.
With that in mind, here’s a rough guess at how the Hawks’ lineup might look:
Forward lines
Tyler Bertuzzi — Connor Bedard — Teuvo Teravainen
Bertuzzi and Teravainen — the Hawks’ two biggest summer additions — won’t be outright awarded the two winger spots next to Bedard, but they’ll enter camp as the favorites to earn those roles.
Both provide skills that complement the franchise’s cornerstone forward in different and beneficial ways. Bertuzzi can use his scrappy style to win puck battles and clean up Bedard’s rebounds in the crease. Teravainen can use his passing ability to orchestrate plays with Bedard, and he can also help on the defensive end.
Ultimately, the Hawks’ offense will go as far as Bedard takes it, and his individual improvement from Year One to Year Two in the NHL will make the biggest difference.
Taylor Hall — Andreas Athanasiou — Philipp Kurashev
Hall, Bedard’s presumptive running mate entering last season, and Kurashev, who ended up becoming Bedard’s running mate, are the other two contenders for the first-line winger spots. If Bertuzzi and Teravainen claim those, though, there will be more uncertainty about the second line.
Kurashev erupted for 54 points alongside Bedard, but it’s unclear if he can maintain top-six level production away from him. Hall believes he’s due for a big season, but there are always question marks when coming off ACL surgery.
The middle role might be most uncertain. Athanasiou hasn’t played much center as a Hawk and scored only two goals last season, but he put up 40 points the season before. Jason Dickinson operated as the second-line center much of last season, but he’s unlikely to repeat his 22-goal outburst and his defensive acumen makes him best-suited for the third line.
Frank Nazar is the heir apparent for the second-line center role and could earn it right away in camp, but it seems more likely he starts the season in Rockford.
Meanwhile, Lukas Reichel’s NHL future depends on him becoming a top-six forward, considering his playing style and stature, but he has demonstrated he cannot play center. Perhaps the Hawks could move Kurashev to center to make room for Reichel on the second-line wing?
Nick Foligno — Jason Dickinson — Lukas Reichel
Foligno and Dickinson make sense as anchors of the third line. They share not only leadership duties but also a similar approach to the game. Dickinson’s production will likely regress, but the Hawks would love for him to replicate his defensive performance — which was so impressive he earned a few Selke Trophy votes.
But who would fit best as the other winger? Reichel probably isn’t the correct answer, but the Hawks need him to straighten out his trajectory, and this type of stable situation with a respectable amount of ice time could provide a good opportunity.
Joey Anderson, conversely, might be the right answer — he and Dickinson enjoyed a 50.1% scoring-chance ratio in 523 minutes together last season — but the new additions could also make him the odd man out.
Pat Maroon — Ilya Mikheyev — Ryan Donato
Maroon, with his physicality and grittiness, can be inscribed into a fourth-line role. Mikheyev, who’s known for his defensive acumen yet produced at a 50-point pace for the Canucks just two years ago, seems most likely to start out as the center next to Maroon, but he could ascend the lineup over time.
The battle for the final forward spots could be interesting. Donato actually held a first-line spot in last season’s opening lineup, but his lack of speed bothered Richardson and relegated him to the bottom six later on. Anderson’s season went in the opposite direction, but it remains to be seen if he’ll be able to claw out regular ice time again.
Summer signing Craig Smith tallied 20 points for the Stars last season, but he’s in the twilight of his career at age 35. Prospects Landon Slaggert and Cole Guttman both received some NHL time last season but will more likely end up in Rockford.
Defense pairs
Alex Vlasic — Seth Jones
Vlasic and Jones spent twice as much time partnered together as they did with all other Hawks defensemen combined last season, so they’re a safe bet to start 2024-25 locked in as the top pair.
Vlasic will be challenged to repeat his breakout performance in his de facto rookie NHL season, which vaulted him into cornerstone territory. Jones was quietly impressive analytically in his own right last season, but he needs to become more consistent with his offense (after two consecutive seasons with far more productive second halves).
Alec Martinez — T.J. Brodie
At some point, the second pair will likely feature Kevin Korchinski alongside either Martinez or Brodie. But the winds seem to be blowing in the direction of Korchinski — who just turned 20 — starting the season in Rockford, now that he’s eligible for an AHL assignment. That will be arguably the biggest storyline in camp.
If that happens, the two newly signed veterans might play together. Martinez, 37, and Brodie, 34, are both left-handed shots, so one would have to play his off-side.
Wyatt Kaiser — Connor Murphy
Injuries have piled up for Murphy, who has played more than 57 games just once in the last six seasons —including 46 last season due to a groin injury. If healthy this fall, however, his leadership and steadiness will be valuable on the back end. (If not, Korchinski’s chances of going to Rockford decrease.)
Kaiser looked solid after his March call-up; he will enter camp with an inside track to a roster spot. His mobility and puck-moving ability might complement Murphy well. Fast-rising prospect Ethan Del Mastro will try to leapfrog Kaiser on the depth chart, though. Either Isaak Phillips or Louis Crevier could be kept around as the seventh defenseman.
Goaltenders
Petr Mrazek — Laurent Brossoit
The Hawks’ goaltending hasn’t gone as expected each of the last two seasons, making it difficult to project how many starts Mrazek and Brossoit will each make this season.
Whether Mrazek looks like his 2023-24 self (.907 save percentage) or 2022-23 self (.894) will make a big difference. Brossoit, meanwhile, has delivered steadily excellent results in recent seasons, but he has never handled a starter-size workload nor operated behind a defense this unproven.
The two veteran goalies will probably split games equally in October, with Mrazek receiving a slight majority, and then Richardson will make decisions based on how things go.