The 2025-26 NHL season is upon us, as the Blackhawks opened training camp on Thursday with their first official practice at the Fifth Third Arena.
Let’s start with the more surprising news of the day, which is that goaltender Laurent Brossoit is once again going to be sidelined and it’s starting to feel like he may never end up on the ice for the Blackhawks, based on what GM Kyle Davidson said during his Thursday media session:
#Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson said goaltender Laurent Brossoit underwent offseason hip surgery and he’s out long term. pic.twitter.com/pP83IY8M30
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) September 18, 2025
Brossoit signed a two-year deal with the Hawks last summer but has yet to appear in a game. Looks like it’ll be the goalie duo of Spencer Knight and Arvid Soderblom in Chicago for the foreseeable future.
It’s only day one, but we’ve got line combos to discuss!
#Blackhawks Team 1 lineup:
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) September 18, 2025
Donato-Bedard-Burakovsky
Slaggert-Dickinson-Mikheyev
Moore-Greene-Reichel
Vanacker-Ludwinski-Behm
Savoie-Seney
Del Mastro-Rinzel
Vlasic-Murphy
Kuzmin-Harding
Fitzgerald-Mast
Knight
Commesso
#Blackhawks Team 2 lineup:
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) September 18, 2025
Teravainen-Nazar-Bertuzzi
Dach-Foligno-Lafferty
Thompson-Toninato-Lardis
Cates-Hayes-Anderson
Misiak-Holmes
Kaiser-Levshunov
Grzelcyk-Crevier
Korchinski-Allan
Cumby-Perrott
Söderblom
Berezhnoy
The easiest conclusion to make here is to look at the lines featuring guys who are virtual locks for the NHL roster this season and see if they have any linemates who are on the fringe between the AHL and the NHL, and that should offer some clues at early favorites for breaking camp with the parent club. Using that theory, Colton Dach skating alongside the captain seems like a good sign for him, while Lukas Reichel skating on a line with two other guys with possible AHL stints upcoming in Oliver Moore and Ryan Greene seems like a less-than-good sign for him. Davidson’s own words on Reichel included the words “prove it”:
Kyle Davidson on Lukas Reichel: "It’s a little bit of a prove-it camp for Lukas. It’s been an up and down couple of years for him. But we still see Lukas as an extremely talented, high-upside player that has just as good a shot as anyone as breaking camp with this team."
— Mark Lazerus (@marklazerus.bsky.social) September 18, 2025 at 11:00 AM
On the blue line, having Rinzel with Del Mastro may say more about the latter since the former seems all but guaranteed a Chicago roster spot, but we’ll need to wait a bit more to see what the pairings featuring Korchinski and Levshunov mean in the longer run.
OK, that’s more than enough armchair lineup analysis from the first freaking day of camp. Let’s get to some on-ice clips, starting with one dynamic duo turning some heads during practice:
Not to feed too much into the hype, but Frank Nazar and Nick Lardis have looked really good today.
— Scott Powers (@scottpowers.bsky.social) September 18, 2025 at 1:23 PM
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Frank Nazar to Nick Lardis
— Scott Powers (@scottpowers.bsky.social) September 18, 2025 at 12:21 PM
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It’s been a while, so let’s watch Connor Bedard score a goal again:
Connor Bedard with a Connor Bedard-like goal
— Scott Powers (@scottpowers.bsky.social) September 18, 2025 at 10:04 AM
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The pace was apparently noticeable during practice:
Nathan Behm sets up Paul Ludwinski to end this drill. It’s been an uptempo practice for the Blackhawks, as you’d expect.
— Scott Powers (@scottpowers.bsky.social) September 18, 2025 at 10:24 AM
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Bedard agreed as well and suggested speed will be a theme with this team all season long:
Connor Bedard on the 2025-26 Blackhawks: "We can fly. We've got some of the fastest guys in the league… You've got to play to your strengths, and probably our biggest strength is our skating. We're young, we're energetic and we're going to hound teams."
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) September 18, 2025
As is customary, coach Jeff Blashill met with the media following practice and here are a few quick highlights of his comments:
Blashill on the Burakovsky-Bedard-Donato line:
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) September 18, 2025
"[Burakovsky is] really good at bringing pucks up through the neutral zone. I think he can play off Connor. There’s a give-and-go component to his game, so it could be a good match there. Donato is a good scorer." https://t.co/OGVPfpIbfc
And here are a few more from Davidson’s media session, starting with the question that will likely come up a bunch this season related to Connor Bedard’s contract status:
#Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson on Connor Bedard contract talks: “It’s nothing we’re actively working on right now but Connor’s mentioned it and I’ll say it: I have zero concern about where that’s headed. He wants to be here for a long time, we want him here for a long time, we’re…
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) September 18, 2025
Bedard offered similar thoughts:
Connor Bedard on contract negotiations: "I've said it a bunch, it hasn't been a ruthless anything. It's just like a couple chats. It's all pretty chill. We have a good relationship. It's not something that keeps me up at night or ever really think of, to be honest."
— Scott Powers (@scottpowers.bsky.social) September 18, 2025 at 11:48 AM
One more comment from Davidson to highlight before we get outta here:
As Pope mentioned, the last time Davidson said the team was expected to take a step forward, it very much did not. Fingers crossed for a better result this time around.