Here at The Athletic, we love power rankings, if you haven’t noticed. We thought we could bring them to the team level, too.
Welcome to our first Chicago Blackhawks power rankings. From individual players to team trends to prospects to whatever we feel like, we’ll give you 10 ranked items every few weeks. Tell us whom or what we left out, or join us and create your own rankings in the comments.
1. The Anders Sorensen vibe
Amazing what a couple of gutsy wins can do for a team, isn’t it? The Blackhawks are still tied for dead last in the NHL, but after beating the Islanders on a late Connor Bedard goal and then rallying from a two-goal, third-period deficit to beat the league-leading Capitals on a late Ryan Donato goal, the mood is suddenly high. Tina Turner’s “The Best” has blared from the Blackhawks dressing room three times in nine days, Anders Sorensen is 3-3-0 as interim head coach, and Chicago has a chance for its first three-game win streak since February 2023, when Patrick Kane was in his last week with the team.
Tuesday’s win over Washington was particularly cathartic, as the Blackhawks flipped the script and came from behind to win after so many come-from-ahead losses. Sorensen’s more aggressive style seems to suit this team better than Luke Richardson’s conservative scheme, and the Blackhawks certainly seem to enjoy it more. Taylor Hall wasn’t shy with his assessment after a win at Madison Square Garden last week.
No, this team’s not going anywhere this season. But with Frank Nazar and Kevin Korchinski back in the NHL and a couple of rousing victories, there’s a glimmer of hope that this team can be better, more successful and more watchable. Well, as long as you have DirecTV Stream or a set of rabbit ears.
2. The penalty kill
The Blackhawks have now killed off 28 straight opposing power plays after denying the Capitals on three chances Tuesday. They haven’t allowed a power-play goal since Nov. 27; that’s nine straight perfect games on the kill. During the streak, Alex Vlasic, Jason Dickinson, Connor Murphy, Nick Foligno and Ilya Mikheyev have led the Blackhawks in shorthanded ice time. The Blackhawks are now eighth in the league with an 86.0 percent success rate.
3. Connor Bedard
Bedard didn’t post any points Tuesday against Washington, but he’s looked like his old, freakishly talented and freakishly confident self since Sorensen took over. He has two goals and five assists in Sorensen’s six games and three goals and seven assists in his last 10 games. But just as crucial is the way Bedard is playing — with verve and daring, dangling his way through the neutral zone and toying with defenders in the offensive zone. Just look at this play he started with Nazar and Tyler Bertuzzi.
Unreal setup by Connor Bedard. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/nxNT8sKdVg
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) December 18, 2024
The points will come, particularly as the team around him improves. Yes, Macklin Celebrini has been spectacular in San Jose (do yourself a favor, don’t search “better than Bedard” on X). But as long as Bedard is creating plays like this regularly — and he has been lately, seemingly several times a game — then he’s progressing just fine.
4. Nick Lardis
There’s some competition for which Blackhawks prospect is playing best right now. Sacha Boisvert, Artyom Levshunov, Roman Kantserov, Sam Rinzel and Aidan Thompson have to be in that conversation. But Lardis trumps them all. In just his last four games, he’s had four goals, five assists and 28 shots on net. There was one game where he had 15 shots on goal. For the season, he’s second in the OHL with 28 goals and fifth with 50 points. He’s one of those prospects whose game doesn’t have everyone convinced will translate to the NHL level, but there are some promising signs, including where he’s scoring from this season.
5. Teuvo Teräväinen and Ilya Mikheyev
Teräväinen’s stick has been Finnish gold lately. Of the Blackhawks’ last eight goals, Teräväinen has factored into six of them. He has one goal and five assists in the last two games. That production comes after a somewhat dry spell for him. He had one goal and two assists in his previous 10 games. The Blackhawks aren’t expecting three-point performances from him every game, but they did anticipate some production when they signed him to a three-year deal.
Mikheyev has quietly put together a solid defensive season and has been particularly strong on the penalty kill. But with two goals in the last two games — including a beautiful shorthanded tally where he turned Capitals defenseman Jakob Chychrun inside out and turned the tide in Tuesday’s game — he’s finally showing that he can use his speed on the offensive end, too. According to the NHL’s tracking data, Mikheyev’s top speed of 23.18 mph is in the 96th percentile league-wide. For a team in desperate need of depth scoring — any scoring, really — might Teräväinen and Mikheyev be the new dynamic depth duo?
6. Jonathan Toews
Toews hasn’t played an NHL game in 15 months. At 36 years old, and with serious and frustratingly nebulous health problems, it’s a near certainty that his Hall of Fame career is over. It’s a shame that he won’t get to 400 goals or 1,000 points, both of which seemed like certainties not too long ago. There will always be what-ifs now when talking about Toews’ career, as his body gave out long before his will did. But Toews seems to be in a decent place right now. He posted recently on Instagram about his “healing journey,” which has taken him around the world. “It’s crazy to feel this level of gratitude for the little things, but what seems more insane is to have forgotten that this feeling should be normal. It feels like my body returned to factory settings.” What matters most at this point is Toews’ physical and mental health, and he seems to be back on the upswing.
So apparently Jonathan Toews is at the Habs-Sabres game??? pic.twitter.com/zpdGumN7J7
— HFTV (@HFTVSports) December 18, 2024
7. Frank Nazar
On the one hand, Nazar excelled in Rockford and earned an NHL call-up. On the other, he hasn’t exactly been lights out since joining the Blackhawks. He has zero points, three shots on goal and a 37.37 expected goals percentage in his first three games. He hasn’t looked out of place, just not like the offensive sparkplug he was probably unfairly expected to be when recalled. He does seem like a good fit between Hall and Bertuzzi on the second line. Sorensen has also been showing Nazar trust and played him a season-high 16:27 against the Capitals.
8. TJ Brodie
He was playing better under Richardson after being a healthy scratch, but Brodie hasn’t had the same bump a lot of the defensemen have had under Sorensen. Brodie has the lowest expected goals percentage (40.31) among Blackhawks defensemen in the last six games, and the Blackhawks have been outscored 8-5 with him on the ice. For the season, he’s been on the ice for 11 goals for and 22 against. The Capitals’ Andrew Mangiapane didn’t help matters on Tuesday, either.
seriously what a goal from Mangiapane pic.twitter.com/KZ82bzXKXT
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) December 18, 2024
9. Philipp Kurashev
Kurashev has played himself out of the top line, the second line and the entire lineup this season. With some of the worst underlying numbers in the league (outscored 23-3 at five-on-five) and meager counting stats (just three goals and two assists in 28 games), his hope for a long-term contract — and maybe even his hope of re-signing with the Blackhawks at all — has probably disappeared. He’s been an average NHLer for most of his career, and it’s looking like last season was the aberration, not the revelation. There has to be some urgency for him to prove otherwise.
10. CHSN
Chicago Sports Network (CHSN) could have been a success for the franchises and the fans. All the Blackhawks, Bulls and White Sox had to do was follow Victory+’s free app model used by the Dallas Stars and Anaheim Ducks. Victory+ announced on Tuesday that the app is consistently getting three times as many views for Stars games than in recent years. The Ducks were four times higher than last season. As for CHSN? The network is asking for $20 a month for just Blackhawks games on their app, which still has yet to hit smart TVs. It’s unclear how many views they’re getting. CHSN did not respond to a recent email asking for viewership numbers. It’s a safe bet, though, that the Blackhawks and Bulls are significantly down from their NBC Sports Chicago broadcasts. But hey, thanks to all those newly bought rabbit ears, the tinfoil industry must be going through the roof.
(Photo: Kamil Krzaczynski / Imagn Images)
