The Blackhawks have started the season 2-4-1 with some high moments and low performances, punctuated by the underwhelming effort against the Canucks on Tuesday night.
With two days off before Nashville — the only team below the Blackhawks in the Central Division — coming to town, let’s take a step back and consider some of the good and bad we’ve seen thus far in the 2024-25 season.
Faceoffs
- Thru seven games, the Blackhawks rank 23rd in the NHL in faceoffs as a team (47.9 percent). Let me wrap that with a little context. In Chicago’s first seven games, they have faced Edmonton (first), Utah (sixth), Winnipeg (ninth), Vancouver (13th) and San Jose (15th) — all of whom are over 50 percent for the season to date. And Nashville (second in the NHL) is coming to town on Friday night.
- Among all skaters who have taken at least 50 faceoffs thru Tuesday night, Nick Foligno (63.6 percent) ranks third in the entire NHL. He isn’t even a regular center! Philipp Kurashev is at 51.7 percent.
Defense
- Seth Jones has already put 21 shots on net, which is tied for sixth among all NHL defensemen. So we’ve got that going for us… which is nice.
- Jones has been on the ice for 144 shot attempts against at 5-on-5 already this season, which is the 12th-most in the NHL for a defenseman.
- The Blackhawks rank fourth in the NHL in blocked shots per 60 minutes (18.83). Alex Vlasic has blocked 19 shots thru 7 games, which is tied for 12th in the league. Wyatt Kaiser is averaging 11 blocked shots per 60 minutes, which is second on the team behind currently injured Alec Martinez (11.74).
- Jason Dickinson ranks third in the NHL having taken 66 defensive zone faceoffs already. Only New Jersey’s Nico Hischier and Calgary’s Mikael Backlund have taken more defensive zone draws than Dickinson to date; Hischier has played nine games and Backlund six.
- In five games together, the Blackhawks’ checking third line of Ilya Mikheyev — Dickinson — Joey Anderson has skated 40:25 at 5-on-5. According to Natural Stat Trick that trio has a Corsi For rate of 54.76. What happens when Anderson isn’t on that line? Mikheyev — Dickinson — Other has a Corsi For rate of 46.88 in 24:07. (Note: 19:07 of that time without Anderson has been with Ryan Donato, during which the Mikheyev — Dickinson — Donato line has a Corsi For rate of 46.88.)
Special Teams
- The Blackhawks rank 8th in the league on the power play (27.3 percent).
- On the power play, Foligno is winning 59.1 percent of this faceoffs. Kurashev is winning 50 percent of his draws.
- The Blackhawks have scored six power play goals in seven games. Teuvo Teräväinen has a point on five of the six (two goals, three assists).
- The Blackhawks are 16th in the league on the penalty kill (79 percent).
- Dickinson has taken 23 of the Blackhawks’ 29 total short-handed faceoffs to start the season.