REPORT CARD: Grading the Chicago Blackhawks 2025-26 NHL Season | CHGO Blackhawks

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Hope you're having a wonderful Friday in Chicago, what a beautiful day outside.

So we are in our basements.

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Where are you today?

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Here we are.

It is the offseason and we are still here.

What we're going to do today is grade the Hawks position group.

We're going to give them all letter grades.

We're going to save the individual player grades for some many pods as the offseason goes on.

But we're going to get into all of it.

A couple of things you should know about our bracket challenge is live for diehards a little bit different this year.

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So get in there.

I ran mine today.

Just as I pick every bracket, I just go gut feel on every one of them.

Got a crazy crazy Stanley Cup champion.

Colorado.

Yeah.

You're bold.

A bold prediction by me.

So.

Yeah.

Oh man.

Is it like the kings or something?

And they win all games and over time.

I had the abs and the hurricanes.

I had the.

Cains and sabers in the east final.

And I was like.

The sabers aren't cup final ready yet.

I would love that.

I just don't.

Run around.

Yeah.

Run around.

We'll see.

I will be doing mine shortly after this show.

I will.

I will stay right here.

And I'll fill it out.

And I'm sure I will somehow without trying.

Have the abs and hurricanes in the final as well.

Yeah.

It certainly feels that way.

It feels that way.

It feels that way.

But we'll see anything can happen in the NHL playoffs.

I love it.

Yes.

And that's it.

What my upset is I have the wild being the avalanche.

So there you go.

There's my spoiler alert.

If you have the abs winning the cup.

I'm sorry.

The wild being the stars.

I'm an idiot.

Oh, I was just head avalanche on the mind.

As always.

I think technically yes.

Well, yeah, by seeding.

Yeah.

Yeah.

All right.

Let's get into it.

We are going to start with the black hawks defenseman.

We both offered letter grades to these squads.

Why don't we give our thoughts on those things and then give the grade?

When we're done.

Here's my thoughts on the hawks defense this year.

Aside from really good seasons from why Kaiser and Louis

Crevier.

I didn't really feel like there was a hawk that had a really

convincing and encouraging year.

Like we had those looks from Adam Levchenov like some really

good games.

And then some really disappointing moments like both on the ice

where he looked lost at times.

And then off the ice where he shows up late for a practice.

I think Alex Vlasik seems to like kind of be leveling out.

Like I'm hoping he is not reached to ceiling.

I was very encouraged by what he said yesterday saying like I want

to add offense to my game.

I think there's more here for me.

But it seems like he's been kind of the same guy for a few years.

McRisleck was fine.

You know, got what you wanted from him.

Maybe a little bit more.

And as much as I liked Courchinsky and Del Mastro's end of

the season.

Neither of them really did a lot to tell me that they're NHL

ready.

Where I'm like, OK, I am ready to call it.

These two guys are never going back to Rockford.

So I didn't see enough from them in that regard.

And I'll say to like, I think we expected Samar and Zelda have

ups and downs.

But I think the.

I think it was a little more of a stroll than we expected or hoped.

Yeah, I would tend to agree that there really wasn't anybody

that was like spectacularly standing out.

Kaiser and crevier were probably the best two guys that they had.

I will say though, as far as maybe biggest surprise.

Was McRisleck like to be a guy who came in on a PTO.

And really like when he got here, we were like, wait,

this is going to take time away from these young defensemen.

He ended up playing up until he got hurt.

Pretty much every game and was one of the most reliable guys,

most consistent defensemen of the group.

And it's kind of what you expected him to be being a veteran amongst

guys who were either in their second year pro or were true rookies.

So I mean, you take that for what it's worth.

A guy that came in on a PTO, he's not part of the future.

All that stuff, but it was valuable to have him there.

And you look at some of the numbers here.

According to the natural statric at five on five.

Like he was up there as one of the better defensemen when it came

to, you know, shots for percentage goals for percentage this season.

He was the best at at five on five, allowing 45 goals

while he was on the ice or no, sorry, scoring 45 goals

while he was on the ice, allowing just allowing

46. So essentially, he was the only defenseman

that was close to break even in that.

And that's that.

And I think too, like that's something that you kind of take

going into the offseason, the boy that Grizzly played,

the way the defense felt differently once Murphy was gone.

And you see a lot of these young players needing someone like that

that can be more of a a settling presence, someone who can

kind of be that, you know, when things start to go,

hey, why are they can kind of calm things down?

They don't really have a guy that can be like that right now

because you can't really depend on first and second year

defensemen to be able to do that.

If they had anybody be able to do that, that'd be wonderful.

But they really haven't had anybody step up.

Maybe outside of why a Kaiser for the most part,

step up and kind of like be in that role.

And I think moving forward, like you have a lot of young

defensemen and this season, like I really do feel like Alex

Lassick kind of at this point is getting to the getting

to that spot where it's just like this is who he is.

And who he is is like a fine second pair defenseman.

Sure.

But he's been put into that that role of being the top pair guy

because they really haven't had anyone to really fill that role.

And especially since the trade deadline, like he was,

he was the guy to go to who's the most experienced guy.

And him and Crevier did a, did an okay job,

you know, given all the context of being the top pair.

But it's really one of the, you know,

I think if you look statistically and just with your eyes,

probably one of the worst top pair defensive groups of the NHL.

Yeah.

And they were getting, and neither of those guys

are top pair defensemen.

So I think moving forward, you know,

you think that Adam Levchenov is going to be putting that role.

He started to show some of those,

you know, traits of being a guy that you can put out there

at all situations.

He was given penalty kill time.

So I think that's a step forward that we'll see going into

the training camp.

But yeah, I mean, I think it was,

it was fine given the context.

And this is going to be kind of the tone of my grades.

Yeah.

Is like in the context of who these guys were this season,

how you would grade them.

Because I, because if anyone was,

if someone from outside looking in was just looking at, you know,

stats and results and all that stuff,

you'd be giving out D's and F's.

Right.

But I think we, it's a, it's a service.

We would be doing a disservice if we were to just say,

oh, D's, F's, what a failure of a season.

And you got to have the context of the process of this rebuild,

the how young this group was and kind of look at it that way.

And for me, it graded out to being a C because as,

as good as some players had moments,

like you kind of had equally bad moments.

And by the end of the year, the defense just kind of panned out

to be given the group.

They did what they probably were expected.

Yeah, and I think context is important.

I also consider concept context a casuals filter.

Right.

Like if you're having a conversation with somebody,

they've finished last place the last four years.

Like, yes, as planned.

Right.

Like they've been trying to rebuild.

They've been trying to have prospects.

So it is important for us to give these grades in the context of where

they're at as an organization.

I think too.

Like talking about plastic and crevier and, you know,

like you said, probably the worst top pair analytically in the league.

True.

I think part of that we can't forget.

And I remind myself of this sometimes too,

that they are also the victim of forward to don't defend very well too.

Right.

So D and forward work.

And it's a complimentary.

They're not like they are separate units technically,

but it's a five man group out there and they all have to play together.

They've already got to get puck support.

They've got it.

The forwards got to be available for outlet passes.

They've got to be predictable to their defenseman.

So you've got that coupled with those guys playing the other teams top competition.

Who can basically kind of cherry pick who they play against most nights against the Hawks,

because they're going to put their best defenders out there against Bidard.

And then just run wild however else they want with the other three lines.

So I think context, context, context on all of this.

Meckers, like you mentioned how you had him like it is a big surprise.

To me, the surprise was that Meckers like you needed a pto to get on an NHL team.

He had a really productive year two years ago.

A half a point for game career year.

I think it was.

Yeah, and look like every like we just saw Ryan that'll have a 61 point season.

And then the 30 point season, right?

There's always going to be that outlier year.

And it was that for Meckers like, but he was just steady atty, right?

You didn't notice him, which is a really nice thing to have among your defenseman.

And I do think he brings out into this team.

And I would not really look.

I've been saying for weeks that they need that.

Look, I've been saying for weeks that they need that bring a veteran.

And or two to help solidify this thing while they've sorted out their young defenseman

and see where they are.

Come October.

If it's just meck, Rizlik is good of a job as he did.

If you're going to find a guy to fill that role,

I needed to be something they don't have, right?

They've got offensive minded puck movers.

Like that sort of a thing.

I need a guy with some physicality and some jam.

We're going to have all off season to get to the guys we want to add to this team.

But yeah, it grows like gave you everything you hoped he would.

All props to him.

So yeah, like you said, I'm given the D group a C just because, you know,

aside from Kaiser and crevier,

there wasn't a huge ascension for anyone.

And I think we're left with more questions and answers at the end of this year.

And I do wonder as I talk about outlier seasons,

is this a breakout season for Louis crevier?

Or is this an outlier season for Louis crevier?

Right?

And that's another part of this, like,

maybe bring in a veteran thing because I'm not.

And again, I'm not trying to take anything away from him.

I'm not.

But I'm not betting that the Louis crevier we saw this year

is going to be what he's going to be for the rest of his career.

I think this might be a season where things look really good due to the opportunity,

due to a coach loving him, doing him having to do with the coach,

putting him in situations to thrive.

And he took advantage of it.

Like, great.

Like, honestly, it wouldn't shock me if he's great again.

I'm just saying, I'm not counting on it.

I'm not counting on Louis crevier duplicating what he did this year.

Well, I mean,

let's, let's not, you know, frame it like he's like a Norris candidate or anything.

Like he had a, he had a great year for the expectations that,

that were what put upon us.

A great, we're in context.

Yes.

Coming out of training camp, right?

Like if he duplicated the season that he had this year, next year,

you'd say, OK, like, I would feel very much the same about him as I would as Alex Flasick

is like, he's a fine second pair of defensemen because that's,

he's, he's playing kind of that way.

So it's crevier having the year that he did in the, in the situations he did

in the position he did was really good for a guy who was a seventh round pick,

really felt like a project project kind of guy.

Um, we didn't really have big expectations for him to do much of anything in the NHL.

And he got the opportunity and he did well with that opportunity.

But if he's going to be a guy that's going to be playing 20 minutes

and is going to be playing on the top pair,

he's got to take another huge step.

And he has 648.

So he takes big steps.

But I think he would have to take like another like big jump.

And I, and I agree, I'm not, am I banking on year after year,

will he crevier is going to continue to up his game to be an actual top pair defenseman?

No.

But I think if, if you go into next season thinking that if he does what he did this last year,

that's good.

That's good.

That's a very good like consistent guy.

And then you hope that Ardom Levchenov and Sam Renzell and Kaiser and Vlasik,

also from now, from this point now through training camp and into the start of next season,

they get a little, they, they work this summer and they work on being a bit more,

you know, stronger, faster, read, you know, reading the game differently,

reading the game better, and being able to just, just elevate their game a little bit.

And that, that was a big thing yesterday through, you know, the,

the exit interviews with Blaschall and with Davidson and with all the players.

They all just talked about how important this summer is for them to take that step.

And it's, it's not just going to be, oh, look at Conradard putting in the work this off season.

It's got to be everybody.

Right.

And I think that big emphasis going in the next year.

So I feel like for these defensemen, you know, yeah, we didn't really learn,

like any definitive things, but at least it gives you a measuring stick going into next year

of like what they can look like once training camp and preseason rules around.

All right.

We got to hit the break zone.

When we come back, we are going to get to the gold tender Spencer Knight,

Arvitzard Lume and a little touch of Drew Kameso.

That's next on CHG Black box.

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All right, we're back on CHG O Blackhawks.

Thank you for being with us.

If you've not done it yet, please hit that like button.

And if you are a diehard, make sure you enter our bracket challenge.

I believe the NHL closes that on Sunday when the games begin.

So there's a short amount of time.

It is our pinned tweet.

So make sure you go find that and get those picks in immediately.

Is Eddie Olchek?

Don't say.

Don't the games start tomorrow?

No.

Or no, Sunday?

Sunday.

Yep.

Oh, okay.

Yeah.

Also, some Hawks news.

Believe it or not, Friday, April 17th.

Roman Cancer of with the overtime winner to send Magneto.

No.

No.

Metal Lurg, but needle gorsk to the semi-finals in the playoffs.

Not Magneto.

I got Magneto.

He should put him on a jersey, though.

That'd be cool.

Oh, yeah.

That's why all those pucks are going in the net.

But Cancer of with the overtime winner and his team advances in the KHL.

Delaying the contract, yet even further.

No, it's coming in May.

There's no one.

What's he going to do?

Sign it.

Come over here and.

Yes.

Tour the facility and go back.

The first pitch with Anton Frontel, like you did today.

There you go.

Yeah, he can.

Maybe he can play shortstop.

Yeah.

All right.

It's your right.

The Flyers and Penguins played a model.

My bad.

All right.

We'll get those picks in anyway.

Sure.

No, you have even less time to do it.

Awesome.

All right.

Good to see for Cancer of continuing the season.

The regular season he had into the postseason.

Yeah.

He's good.

He's good.

This just.

He's good.

I got high hopes for him.

I hope so long as he signs.

Yes.

Which I think we're.

The way Jeff Flash was saying, just talking about him out loud.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But we'll see.

We will see.

All right.

Let's move on to the goal tenders.

As we're saying, if you missed the first segment, all of this is in the context of the season

in the rebuild and all that stuff.

However, you want to chop it up, though, Spencer night was good.

11th overall in goal saved above expected.

He did a good job of keeping the hawks in most of the games they played.

There were a few stinkers, of course, as are with every goalie.

The only thing I would say is two things.

I was, I was expecting us like a week from Spencer night where he was just unstoppable.

Right.

Like where it was like shut out.

One goal shut out.

Like just one of those runs that goies can go on.

He didn't really have that.

And I do think he sort of ran out of gas towards the end of the year a little bit.

You saw some rough performances as the season wound down.

It's understandable.

It is his first full year as a full-time starter.

And he sort of acknowledged that yesterday too, saying like,

I just every year I got to get better every year.

I've got to, it's not going to get easier for me.

So I've got to be prepared for everything.

And now I know what I have to work on.

Like, you know, he acknowledged that he wants to play more.

And if he's going to play more, especially if they make the playoffs,

you're adding what 20-something games to his schedule.

So he's got to be able to play more games.

So yeah, in theory, that'll be something that he will be definitely focused on in the summer.

Yeah, I think for for night, like the way to kind of measure him is based off of kind of the analytics,

because if you just go by say percentage, you know, win loss, like all that stuff,

yeah, it doesn't look great.

But again, like, he's playing behind the youngest team in the NHL,

the youngest defensive core in the NHL.

Like, it's just, it's not the easiest assignment.

And it's crazy. He had, let me look here, 19 wins this season in 55 starts.

His first full NHL or his first full season in the NHL,

21-22 with the Florida Panthers.

He had 19 wins in 27 starts.

He had a 908 save percentage that year with the Panthers.

He had a 902 this year.

So he won the same amount of games playing half as much with a kind of comparable save percentage.

And he did that with the 22 Panthers compared to the 26 Black Hawk.

So really, to me, that speaks a lot.

And also he was 20 years old compared to 24.

So, you know, there is growth and development in his game and what not from there.

But to me, I think that that's a big marker of like how team,

like team performance impacts gold tenders as well.

And that's that's the kind of the context that I put into the gold tender ranking for him,

for the rest of the group as well,

because his first full time starting year,

I think as far as, as you'd be concerned for, for a Hawks fan,

like he did everything that he, he possibly could.

And I think trying to, you know, there are some games that he stole, definitely.

There are some performances where he, without him,

they don't gain a point or anything like that.

Or they're not even, you know, within a, you know,

within arm's reach of trying to win a game.

And, and he mentioned that being super important this year is how close they were in games.

And how many times that they, you know, were able to get, you know, forced force over time

and, and play in those scenarios compared to when he was here at the end of last season,

where he was saying like it felt like most games we were either up,

up really quickly, or we were way out of it really quickly.

Yeah.

So I think that that, I think that that is something that is, you know, important,

not only to the context of the rest of the group,

but for him as well as like he's playing in those,

uh, in those close games and he's, he was a big part of it.

On the other end of things, Arvid Soderbloom was who he was.

And he is a below average gold tender.

And I, I, I feel like at this point, like I don't want to, you know, hammer on him

because he is who he is.

He, last season, he had kind of an up year.

The season before that, like you could not play him.

They had to, because they had no other choice.

But it was just like every time he played it was like, well,

they're going to have to score six tonight because he's going to give up at least four,

maybe five.

Yeah.

And, and then last year, there were moments where you're like, oh, all right.

Hey, if we get this Soderbloom again next year, you're feeling pretty good about that

on top of Spencer night and, you know, Borswai whatever would have happened with him.

Uh, and then he just, he wasn't as terrible as that first full year that he played,

but he wasn't what he was last year.

He kind of landed in the middle of that.

And that's a sub part goal.

So he had like a C minus season, maybe even a D,

but I'd give Spencer night a, I'd give Spencer night a B plus, maybe even an A

for, for what he was asked to do, how he performed,

and it being his full first full year, being a starter.

Yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm, we'll give the letter grades later later,

but I am, I'm very pleased with Spencer night.

I think he did.

He was what we hoped he would be when they acquired him last year.

And I think there is still room for a ton of growth.

And I, I am very confident that in two or three years,

he'll be considered one of the elite goalies in NHL.

Like, I think that that is.

Yeah.

Maybe not like the Vasylowski or Shasturken guy,

but like that, that second tier of all star level goalie.

Like a, like a Jake out in your style, like one of those kind of guys where he

is a plug and play.

Consider one of the strengths of the team.

He should be already, by the way, in that conversation.

It was as a strength of the team.

But as the team gets better and more competitive,

I think he'll be a huge part of why.

You mentioned Arvid Sawderblum last year or two years ago.

His safe percentage this year,

880 was exactly the same as it was two years ago.

Same safer.

I thought it was a eight.

Was it, I thought it was like a 870 something.

I chose an 80.

Yeah, I did some free show number crunching and it was 880 this year.

His goals against average this year was 3.80.

It's not, or that was it two years ago and 3.80 this year was 3.92.

This year, he allowed five or more goals in seven of his 26 starts.

He allowed four or more 12 times.

Now, Jeff Flash will say, if you take away his worst game,

his numbers look a little better.

And he's right.

But his worst game was nine goals against on 22 shots against the same.

Yes.

So I did that math took the numbers away.

His numbers this year still a 358 goals against.

And a nine in an 893 say percentage.

You know what?

I think Flash was right.

That sounds a lot better.

It is a lot better.

There's no doubt about it.

But the nine goal game happened.

Like, you know what I mean?

Like as we evaluate, we evaluate goalies and we look at these numbers.

All of them have games like that.

Patrick Wah had a game like his last game in Montreal was one of those.

He's like, you're not going to pull me.

Awesome.

Pull me to Colorado right now.

I'm out of here.

Well, that's what happened.

That's what happened in that.

Wasn't that the second night of back to backs?

I don't remember that.

Well, game it was either that or it was either that or it was the first.

That was on on a back to back.

If I remember correctly, that back to back went like nine three and like seven two were those two games.

Something like that.

It was it was atrocious.

Right.

And that's an error where no one was scoring.

Like nine goals then is like 70 goals.

I can't just.

Sure.

That was the end.

No, I'm talking about the soda.

The soda.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And that was.

If I'm remembering correctly, it was the second night of back to back.

So it was like solder bloom just had to wear it.

Yeah.

The team was.

The team was buns.

And he didn't help himself.

So it was just a situation where.

He just.

Yeah.

It was just the probably the worst night that they could have had.

The entire season.

But yeah.

But even still.

Even still.

I think you look at.

Just the the roller coaster you get with solder bloom.

Oh, yeah.

It's a it's a D for me dog.

Like it's not.

Yeah.

I'm not I'm not using.

I'm not using that nine gold game to be like, well, throw it out and look how much

better he is.

It freaking happened.

You can't just not count it.

It's like if someone was like, well, if you take away all counterbredards, multi gold games,

you didn't have that great of a year.

What?

Yeah.

Sure.

Of course.

I can take away that hat trick.

It really wasn't that impressive of a road trip.

Okay.

Fine.

So a lot of people are doing with McKenna, by the way.

They're like, oh, well, he had eight points in one game.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Great.

Yes, that happened.

That's a great point.

The one game this year.

Yeah.

It's like, well, you take away all Wayne Gretzky's goals.

He's still, oh, wait.

He's still the second all the time.

He's still lead.

That's right.

He still leads all.

Everyone points.

But still, it's like, you can't do that.

And you, okay.

So can I take away his best performance too?

Because if I take away his best performance, those numbers are going to go right back to where

they were.

So you can't just cherry pyjamas.

Yeah.

He was flat out bad.

And I think that's a lot of them gets a D for me.

And I think that's generous.

So my goal-tending grade is a C plus brought down big time by Arvid Sartreblum.

Yeah.

I think I, I think I'm, I'm being a little bit maybe two generous dispenser night, but I,

I think I'm maybe giving him a big credit for, for being in the spot that he's in.

And I, I think I'm also banking that if he, if he performs the way he did this season

next year and you bank on the team's improvement next year, it's going to look different.

So I, I gave night a pretty big grade.

But yes, Sartreblum's down for me.

All right.

We're going to move on to the forwards and the coaches next before we do that.

Hit that like button.

We will talk to you in two minutes or so on CHG Black OX.

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Okay, we're back on CHGL Blackhawks before we move on to the forward group.

We have a super chat from our buddy.

Young Dangle God and if you're a long time, CHGL fan, you know what?

This is about five dollars this time.

All right, he just set the new rate.

Every time he mentions Patrick Kane, it's five dollars.

That's inflation, buddy.

Sorry, it's the way it works.

First off, season show means one thing.

Cainer is a UFA.

Resign Cainer, 2026 is in full swing.

He still has plenty of gas in a tank.

56 points in 67 games.

Okay.

This team needs to get to know for the record.

Young Dangle God, this is a bit from him.

And he's been doing it basically since we started.

So I'm not yelling.

I'm not yelling.

I'm just reminding.

There's limited roster spots available in the forward group.

You're bringing over cancer off.

You got all over more.

You're hoping Elia McCabe is coming back.

Frontels.

We don't have to list everybody.

You know who they are.

If you're bringing somebody back or you're bringing somebody in,

it's not going to be a player like Patrick Kane, who is old and not physical.

No, like you're working.

I can hear your mic.

Mario, I see you tapping things.

Okay.

He's so excited about difficulties.

But you're not bringing Patrick Kane in now.

It makes zero sense.

It is the least Kyle Davidson anything to do in the world.

And if you are adding from the outside as Kyle Davidson said,

it has to be something that makes sense.

Patrick Kane does not make sense for what the Black Hawks are doing.

Zero.

I didn't hear anything you just said.

I had a little audio issues, but I agree that Patrick Kane coming back.

While it would be fun.

I just don't see it happening.

Sounds like he's, I mean, if you hear him at the end of the year,

interview with Detroit.

He sounds like he really wants to go back to Detroit.

And get them to the post season.

He sounds very dedicated to doing that.

So.

Okay.

Sure.

He's got out.

Great.

So far.

Yeah.

Maybe next year they'll finish one point out of the playoffs.

You know, he's got to bring cat there.

He's been there for a few years.

Like it just feels like that's just what he wants to do.

But who knows?

It's.

If he came back, I'm not going to be sad.

I just don't, I just don't see it happening.

I'm not trying to put any eggs in that basket.

Bring in a power play specialist.

If that's your cell, but like, then who's sitting out?

Right?

Like who then who's not playing?

Because that means that Nick Artis is in Rockford.

No, it means 100 Berkowski's gone.

I don't think it's one for one there.

I think he's gone regardless.

Well, then that's a lineup spot that's open.

If you look, I'm not trying to rile this up.

You said that you would swap out.

You'd buy out Andre Berkowski and sign Patrick Kane.

Kyle Davidson would have a lifetime contract with the fans

of being the best GM in the NHL forever and ever and ever.

Oh, some fans are just dumb, just being honest.

And that would be it.

That would be it.

And that also would be a good move.

Like objectively, that would be a good move.

But I just don't see that happening.

No, there's nothing that says that just it's ever we're

wasting time on it.

But who is the guy that said if you start listening to the

fans, it won't be long until you're sitting next to them.

Some former executive.

There's buddy Ryan.

Yes, it was buddy Ryan.

Yeah, it sounds right.

Yeah.

Sorry, guys.

Okay, forwards.

The forwards.

The forwards that are on the buck.

Yes.

And there's a lot of them.

Yeah.

Kind of an art.

I think really good season overall.

He committed his off season.

Very like we saw it.

We were excited about it.

And it came to fruition.

And what I liked about his season was he.

After some struggles.

Found it again, right?

Like he didn't he didn't spiral from.

You know, he started red hot and then.

Had some injuries took some time to get back.

And he found it again and got back to that pace.

I love that.

Frank Nays are despite a massive slump mid season.

Finished with a 50 goal in 19.

19 goal and 50 point pace.

Which is probably what you'd expect in a second year.

And I think there's a lot more there.

Pretty good.

Pretty good.

The arrivals of Oliver Moore, Nick Lardis.

Probably a little bit ahead of schedule.

I would say obviously we both expected more.

We all expected more from Ryan DeNato and table tear.

But I think what we lost from them was made up with

Bertuzzi McCav.

Having really good kind of unexpected years.

The thing that really syncs the score for the four-group for me is

Berkowski.

He was just terrible for two-thirds of the season.

Couldn't do anything right.

Turning the puck over.

Not scoring.

Like honestly, I feel like if you were I played right wing with

counter-bredard.

More pucks would have hit us on the way in.

Then points he picked up.

Like it was like single-digit points in 2026.

And he played a ton with Bidard.

That's.

Yeah.

I'm sorry.

Yeah.

That's that's a season.

It was that was pretty bad.

That was that was pretty bad.

And it was for three quarters of the season like that.

First 20 games of the year.

I think he had like 17 points.

Like he was he was firing on all cylinders him in Bidard.

And that was a big reason why it felt like hey,

you know, he might be a team that gets to the 80 point range

or higher.

And then, you know, he gets, you know, he gets injured deals

with, you know, concussion stuff and was never the same coming

back and got a lot of the same opportunities for most of the

year.

So it was that was really tough.

Table Terrovinen also was a huge disappointment this year.

And that's coming from me where I'm not even feeling like,

you know, he needs to be a 60 point 70 point guy.

Like he has been in the past with Carolina.

He didn't even replicate what he did last year.

And like I know that he is, you know, more quiet.

He's not a big high emotion guy.

And he's, you know, supposed to be consistent and steady

and be a creator and all that stuff.

If they traded him this summer, I would not be sad.

Like I liked table.

He's got the cup with the hawks.

And then he was, you know, that young up and coming guy

with that, you know, 2014, 15 run.

But man, like, it's just you could get that out of a young

guy the way that the production numbers at least.

And he got dropped from top six down to playing on the fourth

line at the end of the year.

I got so aggravated with him in the in the bumper roll on the

five forward power play just because he would get the puck

in the middle of the ice was no one around him.

And he would turn his back to the goalie and look to pass.

And I'm just like, I like, I understand like that's his game.

But like this team has too many people that are trying to make

the perfect pass and pass up scoring shot, scoring a shot

attempts and scoring chances.

Jeff Blaschle called the team out for doing that.

At some, at different points this year, like,

I was very disappointed with, with, uh,

and yeah, Donato fell short of, you know, even the,

the tempered expectations after putting up 60 points last year,

I thought if he got to 50, that'd be wonderful.

Um, but he didn't, didn't reach that.

The focus is the young guys.

The foe, it's, it's a dart.

It's, you know, the rookie, like getting 81 games out of Ryan

Green and having the production he did almost,

uh, hitting 30 points.

Um, Nick Lardis in half a year,

put up 10 goals over 82 game season.

That's 20.

Like the, the, the impacts that Oliver Moore had,

not only with some, you know,

a little bit production wise, but also just off the puck play

was really missed at the end of the year.

And that was really one of the big things that made him stand out

as a rookie and, and why he was getting some opportunities

up in the top six, uh, on the penalty kill.

Frank Nazar had, or had, by the end of the year,

had a really good season for probably the expectation

than the position he was in.

Injuries knocked him down, but Dard was awesome.

Um, if he never gets hurt,

this team has got close to 80 points this year.

Yeah.

Um, and look at the end.

And for a coffee is half of what he was.

Is a different conversation too.

I just looked up the numbers.

For a coffee, seven points and 10 games in October.

10 points and 10 games in November.

16 points and 14 games in December.

So right there, you've got 23 points

in October, November to December.

Seven and 15 in January,

over four in February, two in 16 in March,

and one in six in April.

So we had 10 points from January 1st to the end of the season.

He had 23 points from the, from October to December.

That's two, that's two different seasons.

That's the two different guys.

Yeah.

Yeah, it was, it was really rough.

Um, I mean, it's, it really does sink the rest of the,

the group, but there was still, I mean,

I think grading it with context with the rookies is,

is important.

And I think for the most part,

all the rookie forwards,

you were, you're, you're,

you come away from the season happy with,

with what they did.

Uh, and the opportunities they got,

you're obviously happy with the Dard.

Um, you know,

I, I, I'm, I'm going to include, you know,

as I did with the defenseman to,

I kind of put in counter Murphy's contributions

up to the trade deadline.

I'm doing the same with Jason Dickinson,

like he did exactly what you asked of a guy in his spot,

being that defensive forward,

being that PK forward.

Um, so that's a big contribution that they missed,

uh, at the end of the season.

And that I think you're,

they might have been thinking like,

Oliver Moore is going to step up into that spot

and get that opportunity.

Then he gets hurt.

And this is basically the final, you know,

20 or so games, uh, of the year.

Ilya McKayev.

And Cal Davis said it yesterday,

like they want to sign him.

That is a priority for them this off season

is getting a contract,

getting a deal done that makes sense.

Um,

he had an awesome year.

Last year he hits 20 goals this year.

He hits a career high end points.

He's a monster on the PK.

He's a guy that,

you know,

what he's going to give you every single night.

He's very consistent.

He's a guy that,

you know,

what he's going to give you every single night.

He's very consistent.

He's effective at five on five.

He's not a big point producer.

But he,

but what he does well,

he does it very well.

And it's one of those

roles that really good teams need players like that.

And I,

I really want him back.

And I,

I think the,

the Hawks are going to do what they can

with term that makes sense.

Money they can overpay him.

And if it's a shorter term deal,

you're not going to get in the weeds with it.

I would give him

you know,

tell him,

hey,

you know what,

we know it's your last chance.

Probably for a big long contract,

go see what's out there

and report back to us.

And we will find something that,

that makes sense for us

and hopefully it makes you happy.

Like that,

because if he,

if he's just content to go out there

and test for agency,

because very few players

reach for agency anymore.

And maybe someone panics him

and panics and gives him

the money and the term he wants.

Okay.

I'm happy for him.

I want him back big time.

And I love the way

he finished the season.

Like, you want to talk about

guys that were motivated

at the end of the year?

I think he played his hardest

at the end of the year.

He was awesome.

He was so good.

And by the way,

we should mention,

like,

land and slagger,

Sam Laffrey,

like they're not like big keys

to the future,

but they all came in and did a roll.

Like I like Sam Laffrey,

who's been leading a long time

to play as little as he did

and just like,

go about his business,

be a team first guy.

They all talk about Sam Laffrey.

They,

everyone on that team loves him.

He's the like most beloved

teammate on that group.

It's not even close.

Like they all love Sam Laffrey.

And for a prideful veteran NHL player

to be like,

yeah,

I'll come in here and play once a week.

I'll come in and play defense

for a game.

If you need me to,

tell me what you need.

You got it.

I'm just going to be here

and be me.

And he did it.

And I think land and slagger.

Like,

if he's a NHL player,

he's what he was this year.

Fourth line winger.

The plays with speed.

Bring some energy.

Win some puck,

puck battles.

I think maybe is his,

and you know,

maybe he has a two or three year

burst where

there's a little bit more offense

there.

You see that from guys now

and again where they hit their

prime.

I'm not saying like,

20 goals.

I'm saying seven or eight.

Right.

Like,

still in the,

like the high single digits.

But fine.

Right.

You can, you can live with that

because he's going to create

chances with the speed and

short-handed breakaways and

stuff like that.

So overall,

I'm very pleased with the

forward group.

I'm giving him a B.

Brought down by Burakowski.

Brought down by Tevo.

And brought down by Ryan

DeNado.

And look,

I think DeNado,

we should give the caveat to

where he didn't really get

the opportunity he got last

year to replicate the

numbers that he wasn't playing

with.

Yeah, he wasn't playing with

the bird.

I don't think he played poorly,

but certainly didn't live up

to the contract numbers wise.

Yeah,

and I,

I think as far as like the role

that he played outside of

production,

he was fine.

But I think he got,

he got the term and,

he got the deal that he did

because he put up 30 goals.

And I,

I think if,

if he's able to go out next

year,

play kind of a similar role

and, you know,

maybe puts up a couple more

points,

I think you feel a little bit

better about what he's doing.

But I mean,

he's also a guy that is,

is, is good for the room

as far as,

you know,

be in a pro and,

and be in a,

a guy that can be in the group

and is,

you know,

someone that can be of veteran

presence,

can be someone who's been

around the league.

He's been in a lot of locker

rooms,

playing on six teams

in his first, you know,

seven seasons of his career,

whatever it was

before getting here.

Like, he's,

he's,

he's a good guy to have in the room.

Um,

I think the big thing,

too with at least the veterans

veterans group is just finding consistency, like like Donato career year back down, you

know, Mikaev, I think brought, brought consistency table was not consistent. Last year, one of

the most inconsistent and streaky players was Tyler Bertuzzi. This year, the most consistent

player night in and night out. You knew exactly what you're going to get from him. And he

not only brought it similar to how Mikaev did, but he was doing it on the score sheet. He

was putting up a career in goals career points, you know, was super effective at being around

the net. And really is one of those guys that I think some of these young players can take

a finger to from about the dedication and the effectiveness of playing in that area. I'm

not saying you want to turn nickel artists into a net front guy. He's never going to be that.

But some of those, some of these guys that are, you know, their speed is going to create things.

You also, once you get set up into the offensive zone, if you're a skilled player that, you know,

is, is reliant on speed, you can't really outspeed guys for chances. So I would like some of

them to, you know, take some notes from Tyler Bertuzzi and being a guy that, you know, be a player

that if you can go to the front of the net, or if it makes sense to go there for, for a chance,

or to set up there because of, you know, how the offensive cycle is going, that you're not just,

like, you're not one afraid to do it. And two, like, you know, kind of how to be in position or

know how to, you know, screen a goalie, you, you know, work on, on tips, pucks and things like

that and know how to find a rebound in chaos. Like I really want those players to be able to do

that because that's how, you know, that's how you score a lot of goals in this league. And especially

in the playoffs, that's how a lot of goals are created. So I think if they can kind of take some

of that from Tyler Bertuzzi, who did it really well this year, that'd be wonderful. Yeah, I mean,

look, and Bertuzzi's not the biggest guy in the world either. Like he's, you know, it's a huge

no. There is, it's really funny. Like Bertuzzi is such a, um, his reputation is so based on his

uncle. Like, it's because he is not the only way that Tyler is like Todd Bertuzzi is that he

thrives in front of the net. But like, he's not a power forward. He is not a guy who's going to

run you over. He's a guy who's going to play his ass off and dive ahead long and lay out and

try to kickbox. He'll do everything it takes to win. But that is a game that he likes to play.

Right? You could tell that he likes being that guy. But like all these guys, at one point in his

career, Tyler Bertuzzi was the offensive dynamo leading his team in scoring. And he had to learn

if I'm going to succeed in the NHL. I don't have blazing speed. I'm not overly big. I've got to go

make my hand front of the net. And what Tyler Bertuzzi does is willingness. He's got some skill too.

I don't want to take anything away from his skill to be able to redirect the puck out of mid air,

takes a lot of talent and practice, right? Like, I love this. He talks instead of doing like,

let's you can hit the post the most from the slot after practice. Get guys in front and start

tipping pucks. Tip that like, that is a drill. I would like to see them do more often. They're

always out there on their own. Do it like ripping one timers and it's all very fun and very exciting.

And you get some highlights. But like, is it does that translate in a game? No. What translates in

the game is tipping pucks. You know, now that you say that, I rarely saw them doing stuff like that.

No. And look, I will say it's after practice. They're, they're

trying not to swear. They're clowning around. Right? Like they're not doing, they're not,

they're just having fun. They're out there with each other building camaraderna. Which is great.

It's not like a lot of structured drills and stuff. It's more of like, hey, you want to take

some face-offs, you want to take some shots, work on whatever. Yeah, that's yeah. But go. And also

too, I will say, it's not that they never did it. And also after practices, after morning

skates, whatever, we walk into the locker room and there's still guys out on this. So maybe it's

done and we don't see it all that stuff. But I just, I mean, I do recall back to, you know,

when Corey Perry was here for a very short time, he did that like every practice. And he,

again, was another guy that when he was here and the late in his career, however, it's been for

the last number of years, like playing around the net is very effective for him. So yeah,

maybe that is something that can translate into next season and be something that they either

draft or acquire or just work on more poignantly next season. Nate Krumpos in the chat says,

as basketball expert Jay Zowowski would agree, Bertuzzi lays a place hockey like Joe Kim Noah

plays basketball, ugly and sloppy, but very effective. Good comp. Okay. Absolutely.

By the way, fun fact, I've shared this before, but I have not shared it recently.

Tyler Bertuzzi, his mom's last name is Bertuzzi. His dad's name is Adrian Gedje, G-E-D-Y-E,

and his brothers are Evan and Matthew Gedje. So Tyler took his mother's name for hockey purposes.

He made a hockey decision. Yes he did. Like Anderson. Maybe people don't remember this.

Craig Anderson, when drafted by the Black Hawks, had two S's in his last name. So people thought

he was Swedish. So he got drafted higher. And then he once he was in a league, he took the extra S away.

That's true. That's your story. That was a typo, typo, yeah. That's funny. I mean, listen, if

if my mom was Wayne Gretzky's sister, and she married Joe Plummer, I would be Mario Gretzky

if I played hockey. That would be smart. That's just a smart decision to go with. Yes, yes.

All right, we got to get to the coaching staff. If you've not hit the like button yet, please do.

And this will be the last time we get to talk to you before the playoffs starts. So one final

reminder, get in on our diehards only, bracket challenge. Password is in the discord right now.

If you're a diehard, so click that link and then head over to the discord and get the password.

Or if you are a diehard and you don't have password access or discord access, reach out and we'll

figure something out for you. We'll try to get you in there. You just got to prove your diehard.

That's all. So DM one of us with your diehard membership. I won't give you that. Sure. It's

so is your diehard tattoo. Sure. That's right. There's only one of us that has that and it's great.

Anyway, let's get the coaches. Here's where I'm at. Overall, starting with Jeff Lashel,

I'm overall happy with him. I think he was a good communicator to the players. They all sort of

said it yesterday. They like to know where they stand. They like to know their role. They like to

know what's expected and he delivered that. In an 11 point improvement, considering you lost

badard and nasar for a month is good. It's a very solid improvement. I'm going to take some

points away because I don't love the way he handled Andreber Akawski all year and I don't

I don't understand what he was doing with Sasha Blavare at the end of the year.

Like, well, do we need to see Dominic Tonanato? Do we need that?

Well, that was, that was, hey, thanks for being a good pro. I'm not, I'm not going to

ding him for that. But yeah, I mean, I think, you know, for Blashel and the staff, like,

aside from Andrew Sorenson, like, completely new new staff. And, well, I end you me wait too.

But I think for Blashel and Michael Peca and Mike Volucci coming in,

having the assignment that they did of basically like being teachers and having to, you know,

move forward with what was going to be a young group that was going to get younger beyond

the trade deadline, they did a fine job. I think you can look at the success of the penalty kill.

You know, part of that is, is systematic and coaching. And part of that is putting the right

players into those situations to succeed. I think they did a good job with that. You know,

you look at how they were structured to, you know, not have a lot of high quantity in offense,

but high quality in offense considering. I think that was, that was effective because we saw

that early on in the season where they were, they had a high percentage of, you know, a high

shooting percentage in the high danger area. And they didn't really have big numbers in like

scoring chances, but it was always like scoring chances were, yeah, okay, but the high danger

chances were, you know, by percentage pretty high. That was a systematic thing. That was effective

early in the year. And I think kind of faded out as the talent kind of changed. And, you know,

you, like you mentioned, you had the point improvement. Like that's that, that is something that is

important. You had more close games. And you had a, you had a coaching staff and you had Jeff

Blaschle that didn't panic with changing things, which I think we were all kind of sick of under,

you know, Luke Richardson and Andrew Sorenson, where so many things were just changing lineups and

pairs and everything like that was just different. Almost every game. Blaschle was pretty consistent.

Maybe sometimes to a fault, but I think for the most part being consistent, he found some good,

some good groups to put together. So, you know, I give him the coaching staff overall,

a B, some things weren't great. As much as they really liked the five man power play or the five

forward power play at the end of the year, I did not, I don't think that that's something you

move forward with. I think that happened because you lost Ardom Lovchenoff. I don't system

schematically with the, you know, personnel that you'll have starting next year. I don't want

them to do the five forward power play. So, hopefully, like, that's a coaching thing decision

that they make going next, going forward next year, but you tried it. You gave it, you gave it,

you gave it a go, gave it a look at the time where you needed to experiment. So, I'm happy with

how the coaching staff panned out this year for in the context of first year and all that stuff.

Now moving in next year is where you can really grade these guys based off of year over year results.

Yeah, look, I think Mike Packard did a great job leading the power play. I would probably kill him

and Volucci were, they handled the forwards, but Volucci in charge of the power play. And look,

like that's the veteran guy he's been around the league forever. I think Mike Volucci knows

what he's doing. He's got a long track record of doing it, but I think he would tell you,

like, I had to be better. I needed more results. So, I'm not firing him. We're going to go over

time here in a few seconds, by the way. So, just so you know, if you're watching on the

fast channels, switch on over to YouTube or LCHGM.com to continue watching. I might, I'm going to

think about this more. I might move on from Anders Swarinson. I know we like him. I know the

players like him. I need the development of these defensemen is the most critical part of this

rebuild. They have to get this right. When you pick Ardom Levchenov's second

and you pass up a lot of really good players who have already established themselves. We know

who they are. We don't want to talk about them. You know the names. When you make that move,

you're announcing that Ardom Levchenov is our number one defenseman. He's going to be for the

next decade plus. You don't keep a guy around to develop him because you like him or because he

was a good soldier for your organization. Kyle Davidson has an obligation. I made up my mind.

I'm firing Anders Swarinson. Kyle Davidson has an obligation to go find the best developer

of defenseman. He can find and hire him this summer because you cannot be like, hey man,

thanks for being in the interim. Sorry, we didn't give you the job. We're going to give you this

nice cushy defenseman job. You know, we appreciate you. We'd like you. We want you as part of the

war. That's great. He can be part of the war. He can be an advisor. He can be a skills. He can

be a mental skills guy. Fine. You have to find the dude to teach your defenseman. They might have

had him in Kevin Dean. It might have been him. Go find that guy. Go find the guy who is going to be

the defenseman whisperer. There's got to be one. There's got to be several out there that have

that reputation of you want to fix your decore. You hire this guy. Do it because if this defense

group doesn't develop the way you think, I don't care if Conor Baudard has 130 points. I don't

care if Roman Cantorov scores 50 goals. If these defensemen don't work out, you're not going to win.

So they have to get this problem solved. Not a problem, but they got to make Ardolm left

shoved, not just good, but great. They've got to make Kevin Courchinski a pretty good power play

quarterback to a lead puck mover. You've got to get these guys up to where you thought they were

when they drive them. I don't think Ardolm is the guy to do that. Yeah. No, I would agree. I would

say that they kept him on, I think, because of the situation that they were in where they didn't

want to just let go of everybody. They wanted to have a little bit of continuity with these young

guys. But now that, you know, Volucci, Blasho Limpaca have been here for a year. There's your continuity.

And yeah, I would say having a guy that can be dedicated to the defenseman that maybe is a bit more,

has a bit more NHL track record resume of success. That would be really good.

Because like, like, Swardson has had a good run in Rockford with some of these young guys.

And I think that that was important. I think he's been decent at developing some of these players

that have gone through that track of like Rockford up to Chicago. But I just don't think he's,

I just don't think he's cut out for the NHL. And I agree, like they got to be at this point where

you can't really just have these, you know, question marks with anybody, anybody, any player,

or any coach, you know, at the NHL level. Like, you have to be certain that they are

capable of getting things going forward at the NHL level. So our guy, the gig of these brings up

a name I really like. And I actually wanted him considered for the head coaching job last year,

Trent Yoni. Find someone that loves you the way Duncan Key loves Trent Yoni.

Like that is a guy who he's been around forever. Long time defenseman, very much like Joel

Quinnville when he played was good, but not great. Like kind of like a middle bottom pair guy

that stuck around forever because he was smart and a good team guy. I would love to see somebody

like Trent Yoni brought in here to just take these defensemen and mold them. He's done decent job

with Mord Sider. He's been okay. Yeah, right. Yeah, it's been. Do we have a fighter and

Ed Vidson? Yeah. Are we ready to promote our guest for Tuesday?

I mean, we can. I thought we'd tease it through the weekend. We'll tease it. We'll tease it

through the weekend. You'll find out on Monday, but Tuesday, we have a guest coming in and yes,

a big guest definitely a big one in several ways. It's up there. I mean, we've had Duncan

Keith on the show. We've had Cory Crawford on the show. We've had Mary and Hosa on the show.

We've had Dave Boland on the show. This will be another guest that is in that same echelon

of guests. So yeah, it's going to be. It's going to be a lot of fun. Can't wait to talk to them on

Tuesday. Couple more options for coach, by the way. Dustin Bufflin in the chat. Somebody said

and Duncan Keith. I think he'll definitely stop fishing. And slamming burskies.

Yeah, to become an NHL coach. It's just like I think it's motivated to be an NHL coach. It's

Dustin Bufflin. Yes. You know, look, it's it's not the craziest idea. Brent Siebrak has been

going through, you know, the coaching ladder. He's coached, he's been a coaching advisor down

in the junior ranks. I think he was a coaching advisor with the flames if I recall. I don't want

him. I don't, you know why? I don't ever want to be mad at Brent Siebrak. So, you know, hard

it is for Redling fans to finally realize to see Viserman's a fraud. Well, have they yet?

Yes. If you look at any response to any Redwings anything, a good majority of them has figured

it out. Yes, we got to give our grades, by the way. So coaches, I am giving a, I forgot what I

gave them. I wrote down here. I gave them a B. I think as far as what they did coming into this

year and what they were asked to do, they did what they were asked to do. Fair. I wanted a better

power play and more development front of defense. So C++, we, well, you know, what next year you'll

have Anton Frontel and maybe Roman Cancer of as power play players all year. I think that might

help. I agree. And then overall grade, I gave the whole team a C++, you know, again, using the

context of the expectations, I think they probably achieved what we thought in a little bit more.

So a C++. Yeah, I think it would, for my overall grade, yeah, I mean, they basically hit where,

I think we expected them to, maybe a little bit under the course of the season, had some

ups and downs. There were some, you know, the early on was a lot of fun. And then basically,

Bidard and Nazar getting hurt kind of changed the trajectory of everything. And then you just kind

of had to, you know, there were some still some good, some good moments, some fun times towards the

end of the season. But it did kind of grind at the end of the year. I think you have a couple

better performances down the stretch. And I feel like I get you that, for me, that would have

gotten me up to maybe at the minus because that might have ended up giving you a few more points,

maybe some of those OT games, you know, you either win in regulation, or you figure out a way to win

and over time, you feel a little bit better about yourself. But by the end of the year, they kind of

landed where I expected. And it was okay. Not great. C++. It's me and high school. Okay, not great.

C++. Same here. All right, we will be back on Monday at three. So make sure you're there with us.

That's the plan for now, three o'clock Monday through Friday. Until that changes, that's what we're

going to be. So make sure you join us. And don't forget, big guests coming on Tuesday, get those

brackets in in time for the playoff games. We're going to have some playoff games in the books on

Monday show. That'll be fun. And of course, first mailbag Monday of the season. Let's go get those

questions in to our digital bags. Should be a lot of good questions in the chat.

Regarding the future of the team, summer plans, really good fits for mailbag. So get those

questions in. We'll touch on Monday at three on CHG Blackhawks.

That's good. Pretty painless. All right. Thanks, Chloe. Thanks, guys.

All right. You got the poetry about me to do it. I can do it. All right. Have a good weekend.

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