The Chicago Blackhawks are back on the ice after being off the past two weeks due to the 4 Nations Face-Off.
The Hawks are in a race to the bottom with the San Jose Sharks for the best odds in the NHL Draft Lottery.
There are still some storylines to follow over the rest of the season.
1. Connor Bedard silencing his critics
He has been accused of playing pond hockey. An NHL legend questioned his ice time after going soft to the puck. Now you got people wondering if Bedard will just be a good NHL player rather than great one like he was advertised coming into the league.
Hey, people love to build a star up only to knock him down.
Bedard can silence those critics by having a strong push over these final 26 games. If he can finish as a point-per-game player in his second season, then all you can say is he is still a superstar on the rise.
The criticism also misses the mark in that it is totally overlooking Bedard is still a teenager and his linemates on the top line have been a revolving door of players not elite enough to skate with him.
Tyler Bertuzzi has the grit, and Frank Nazar could get there someday. Right now, Bedard is skating with no peers. Hopefully, an offseason spending spree can get him some help.
2. Does Seth Jones get traded?
The Hawks’ highest-paid player has not outright demanded a trade, but he has come as close as he can with his recent rhetoric.
Jones first leaked it himself that he and his agent have approached the Hawks front office about trading him. His reasoning is he does not think the Blackhawks will be competitive any time soon. All he has been doing since joining the Hawks is losing…a lot.
He would rather be dealt to a contender. The issue for the front office is how many teams will Jones allow to submit an offer since Seth has a full no-movement close. The other matter complicating things is the front office may not want to use their last retention spot to make Jones attractive on the trade market.
If general manager Kyle Davidson agrees to retain half of Jones’ $9.5 million, it will be taking up a cap retention spot for the rest of the decade.
Davidson might determine getting a draft pick back is not worth it since the salary cap is going up and the Hawks do have enough talented prospects that they should be getting back to being a contender for the playoffs before Jones’ deal is up.
3. Who signs their entry-level contracts once the NCAA season is over?
The Blackhawks’ prospect pool is highly regarded. A good majority of those prospects are still in the juniors, the NCAA, or the KHL.
The NCAA regular season is going to be wrapping up soon and some of these prospects might be available to sign their entry-level contract once their team is done with their conference tournaments or gets knocked out of the NCAA Frozen Four tournament.
Top prospects such as Sam Rinzel, Oliver Moore, and Ryan Greene could decide it is time to make the jump to the NHL.
The Hawks would like to give them a taste of the NHL game if they do sign their entry-level deals before going to Rockford next season to continue their development.
