CHICAGO — In seven days, a lot has changed for the Chicago Blackhawks.
In the Blackhawks’ biggest move of the deadline on March 1, they traded defenseman Seth Jones and acquired goalie Spencer Knight. Two more moves, including sending out Petr Mrázek and Craig Smith and bringing in Joe Veleno, followed before the deadline on Friday.
On top of that has been the team’s play. The Blackhawks came out of the 4 Nations break with a four-game losing streak, including a woeful loss in Utah. Since March 1, the Blackhawks have picked up points in four consecutive games, including three wins.
On Friday, the Blackhawks avenged their recent loss to the Utah Hockey Club and won 4-3 as Connor Bedard sent a building of Blackhawks fans home happy with an overtime game winner. There’s definitely a feeling around the Blackhawks that wasn’t there a week ago.
“I think we’ve been a little more consistent,” said Bedard, who snapped a seven-game pointless streak with a goal and a primary assist in Friday’s win. “Obviously, we’re going to have little lapses — every team has them whether you’re in our position or first in the league. It’s just about kind of handling that and having as few as you can. I think we’ve done a pretty good job. We’ve been having a lot of guys chip in, which has been great. We just have to keep trying to build our game, try to win these close ones because that’ll help take us to another level.”
1. Ryan Donato’s situation could have played out a few different ways at the deadline. He ended up remaining with the Blackhawks. The question now is if he’ll be with the Blackhawks next season.
The two sides have talked about a contract extension. It is believed Donato was offered a three-year extension with a cap hit around $4 million. He’ll have to weigh whether he can get more on the open market.
Donato was noticeable again in Friday’s win. He had a primary assist on Ilya Mikheyev’s goal and seemed ready to fight all of Utah’s team.
2. Knight has been everything the Blackhawks hoped for in his two starts in net. After his 42-save debut, he came back with 36 saves on 39 shots on Friday.
“Just impressive how dynamic he is down low, how explosive he is and how quickly he gets his pads down,” Blackhawks interim coach Anders Sörensen said.
Two saves especially stood out on the night. The first was this for obvious reasons.
The second one involves just how poised he was on this overtime save. Bedard scored shortly after.
3. Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson is well aware of how much cap space he’s set to have this offseason. Even with taking on Shea Weber’s contract along with prospects from Utah on Friday, the Blackhawks still will have more than $30 million in cap space. Weber’s contract assures the Blackhawks of reaching the cap floor, but it sounds like Davidson is ready to spend beyond it.
“(The trade with Utah was) probably more so the players, but the cap implication is certainly part of it,” Davidson said. “I think it’s part of any deal. Again, it doesn’t really change anything for us. It’s not like it alters ambitions, alters anything we had planned going into the summer at all.”
This summer could be a big one for the Blackhawks. Davidson has the money and the draft capital to be aggressive.
“You’re always thinking about who can really fit our picture moving forward,” Davidson said. “We do have all these great assets that are future assets — that’s also not for everyone, those types of assets. That’s something we do have to consider. But we’ve got some really nice pieces that we feel are valuable around the league, and when it comes to exploring what those bring, we have done that and we will continue to do that. But it takes two to tango. So we’ll keep grinding away.”
4. The Blackhawks are intrigued by defenseman prospect Victor Söderström, whom they acquired in Friday’s trade with Utah, and could explore signing him for next season.
Söderström was drafted 11th by the Arizona Coyotes in 2019. He’s 6-foot, 196 pounds and a right-handed defenseman. He spent time in the NHL and AHL over four seasons beginning with the 2020-21 season. He was a restricted free agent after last season and opted to return to Sweden instead of sign with Utah.
Söderström has been one of the SHL’s best offensive defensemen this season with nine goals and 27 assists in 47 games. The Athletic’s Corey Pronman thought Söderström still had a chance to be an NHLer.
“He’s having a great year in Brynäs,” Davidson said Friday. “We scout those Swedish leagues pretty heavily, and team’s in first place and he’s a big reason why. So get a little more in-depth view into him and see if there’s something there to move forward with beyond this year. Once they finish up, we’ll kind of explore that as we get to know Victor a little bit better as a person.”
Here are a few clips of Söderström from a recent game.
Söderström scores on this play. He’s sixth in the SHL among defensemen at 0.77 points per game.
You can see some of his skating as he defends on this play.
5. It sounds like the Blackhawks are going to use the rest of the season to gauge what they think of Veleno, acquired in Friday’s trade with the Detroit Red Wings. Veleno could fit the fourth-line center role for the Blackhawks next season. He skates well and is solid at the dot with a 47.2 percent faceoff rate this season.
“He’s got some pace, got some size to his game,” Davidson said. “I think he can play the center position. So there’s some versatility to him. He’s still only 25 and we’ll give him some run, give him some opportunity and see what he can do. He’s been on the scene for quite some time. He came in very highly touted, he’s a talented guy and we’ll give him some opportunity and see if we can pull some additional value out of him, and sometimes a little opportunity and a change of scenery does that for some guys.”
It’ll be interesting to see who the Blackhawks remove from the lineup. The fourth line in Friday’s game was Pat Maroon, Lukas Reichel and Philipp Kurashev. Jason Dickinson could also return next week and take another forward spot.
6. Bedard earned his way out of his dry spell Friday. This play was complete effort.
“I thought he was really good,” Sörensen said. “For him, the last couple of games he’s had a lot of opportunities. You’re going to go through some of those. This is the longest one of his really young career so far and I thought he handled it really well, through all the downs he’s had here now. Not to get frustrated and sticking with what he believes works, which he’s been doing, and today he got rewarded for it.”
7. Frank Nazar had his share of chances Friday, too. He and Bedard seem to be creating more and more together.
Nazar handled this moment well, too.
“Honestly, it was a little different this time,” Nazar said. “I went out for the shootout against St Louis earlier in the season. And lot of nerves going through your first time. And then this time, just kind of having that experience and knowing what it’s going to feel like, just trust in myself and believe. And just know I was able to make a good move.”
8. How the Blackhawks are playing has to help Sörensen’s case for the permanent coaching job. Davidson was asked Friday about having that coaching decision ahead of him this offseason.
“It’s always in our mind,” Davidson said. “It’s a huge decision. It’s a huge operation that we’re not only going to have to … and look, it’s something we’ve thought about for quite some time. We’re evaluating Anders in that. We’re thinking about how that profile looks and what the team will look like and what they’ll need in a coach. That’s always evolving, that’s always ongoing on our minds.
“Obviously, over the last couple weeks, you do back-burner that a little bit, so we’ll transition into putting that again in the front of our minds and really being thoughtful in the way that we want to think through and fill that role. And also building out the process by which we’re going to find that next coach, too. A lot of those things are underway; a lot of those things are being discussed internally. But they did take a back seat for a bit, so we’ll get back to it in the days to come.”
