NEWSLETTER
With the Blackhawks moving on from Luke Richardson last week and Anders Sorensen taking over as the interim head coach in Chicago, the rumor mill has already started to swirl around the prospects of taking the lead gig for the organ-I-zation. And the conversation is usually presented in a similar way with varying answers to the initial question(s).
On Tuesday, Elliotte Friedman was on Sportsnet 590 radio and he was asked about how attractive the Blackhawks’ head coaching job is. Here’s the clip:
Friedman says the job is attractive for a couple reasons: Connor Bedard, and the scarcity of head coaching jobs in the NHL. And he’s right on both counts.
But I have a couple problems with how the question was presented — and usually is — and the conversation that follows.
Perceived Blackhawks’ flaws
The question here was how attractive the Blackhawks’ job is with the roster as currently constructed. That’s a massive red herring when we’re talking about the job in Chicago.
Because the Blackhawks’ roster as currently constructed won’t be the roster when the new permanent head coach takes over for the 2025-26 season.
Taylor Hall, Craig Smith, Pat Maroon and Ryan Donato are forwards in the final years of contracts headed to unrestricted free agency. Philipp Kurashev is a restricted free agent this summer. Around them, Joey Anderson has a low-cost contract that expires after next season. Nick Foligno, Jason Dickinson and Ilya Mikheyev have just one year remaining on their respective contracts and then they, too, will be UFAs. Lukas Reichel will be an RFA in 2026 as well.
In fact, the Blackhawks only have two forwards — Tyler Bertuzzi and Teuvo Teräväinen — under contract at this moment beyond the 2025-26 season.
Blackhawks selling points
Beyond Bertuzzi and Teräväinen, the assumption is that Bedard will sign a long-term extension as soon as possible. That gives the Blackhawks nine forward spots open for competition in two years. That’s a lot of opportunity for a new head coach to impact the future of the team.
Chicago has one of the deepest prospect pipelines in the NHL. As I’ve said about a million times over the past couple years, development is not a concrete reality and every player has a different timeline to hopefully reach expectations. Reichel is a great example of a player needing a little more time to get it. But the Blackhawks can boast both quality and quantity in their pipeline with some pieces starting to make their way to the NHL already.
The Blackhawks have already started matriculating young defensemen to the NHL level with success. Alex Vlasic is signed long-term and has been excellent. Wyatt Kaiser and Nolan Allan have been solid thus far in their first full seasons at the NHL level. Kevin Korchinski returned to the NHL on Monday night against the Rangers and looked good — and he’s still young and developing. And the Blackhawks still have Artyom Levshunov, Ethan Del Mastro and Sam Rinzel coming in the pipeline. Defensively, the Blackhawks look to be in very good shape.
Add to the pipeline the reality that Chicago has a truckload of cap space (and draft capital) coming. With the NHL’s salary cap expected to go up significantly next year before the new CBA is negotiated, the Blackhawks could have around $35 million in cap space this coming summer. That gives the Blackhawks a huge opportunity to supplement their rebuild pipeline with veterans either via trade or free agency to improve the roster quicker than waiting for prospects to be ready.
And the Blackhawks have Connor Bedard.
Do the Blackhawks have a long way to go? Yes. But the roster as currently constructed, especially at forward, will turn over dramatically in the next two summers. When discussing how desirable the job is in Chicago, we need to be mindful of the future more than the 2024-25 roster.
