DENVER — Blackhawks captain Nick Foligno took a turn as the second-line center Monday against the Avalanche, becoming the third player to occupy that role in the last four games.
Foligno makes sense as a temporary fill-in there while coach Luke Richardson repeatedly shuffles the line combinations in hopes of sparking Connor Bedard and the rest of the offense. Foligno is experienced and versatile enough not to get confused by day-to-day changes to his job description, and he has been the Hawks’ best faceoff man this season at 61.4%.
But he’s not a medium-term solution to the second-line center problem, which has been a black hole so far this season. Nobody else on the roster right now seems to be, either.
General manager Kyle Davidson somewhat intentionally created this problem in July by choosing not to sign a middle-six center during his free-agency spree, leaving the spot open for top prospect Frank Nazar to earn in training camp.
But when Nazar’s inconsistency during camp made it clear he would be better served by getting experience in the AHL this fall, Davidson made the right decision to send him to Rockford rather than force him into the spot that had been reserved for him (as ex-GM Stan Bowman probably would have).
Looking at the long term, Nazar still appears to be the permanent solution to the problem — or at least the favorite to be the permanent solution. His defensive reliability and hockey IQ fit the parameters nicely. Although his less-than-otherworldly production in college is a concern, he has been productive to begin Rockford’s season, notching four points in five games.
The short- and medium-term outlooks for the role, however, look murky.
Philipp Kurashev — who on Monday slid up next to Bedard on the first line, reuniting a duo that displayed chemistry last season — has struggled as the guy Richardson tabbed to take over the job when Nazar was sent down. Most of Kurashev’s NHL experience and almost all of his NHL success has come as a wing, and he fares better as a complementary piece than when he is asked to drive his own line.
Jason Dickinson is arguably the only other natural center on the roster besides Bedard, but he has been cemented into a third-line shutdown role, which is objectively the best use of his skills.
Richardson seems to have little trust left in Andreas Athanasiou, who technically centered the second line last week against the Canucks but has been a healthy scratch in four of the last six games overall. He has scored only two goals in 33 games since the end of the 2022-23 season, and with his contract expiring next summer, his tenure in Chicago likely is nearing its end.
Lukas Reichel is a wild card. On Monday, he moved back down to the fourth-line center role between Craig Smith and Pat Maroon after only one game on Bedard’s wing. He has played well there, despite previously struggling at center. But until he demonstrates he can sustain his recent upswing, it’s hard to pencil him into any specific role.
Interestingly, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported last week that the Hawks — along with the Predators and Flames — might be looking to acquire a center on the trade market.
It’s unclear, however, how seriously Davidson is pursuing that option, if at all. It’s not as though these Hawks have any playoff aspirations, and it would be foolish to sacrifice significant long-term assets for a short-term plug. (The NHL’s 50-contract limit, though, eventually will force Davidson to make some tough decisions about which of the Hawks’ many prospects to sign and which to trade.)
For now, Richardson likely will have to make do with cycling through a less-than-optimal assortment of options for the second-line spot.
