Another practice on Tuesday, and another lineup shuffle as the Blackhawks prepare to host the Dallas Stars at the United Center on Thanksgiving Eve.
And, well, the lines look pretty close to what’d be an ideal lineup from this perspective for Chicago:
#Blackhawks lines and pairs at practice: Hall-Bedard-Kurashev Bertuzzi-Donato-Teräväinen Mikheyev-Dickinson-Foligno Maroon-Reichel-Smith Vlasic-Murphy Kaiser-Martinez Allan-Brodie Mrázek/Söderblom Scratches: Anderson, Crevier
— CHGO Blackhawks (@chgo-blackhawks.bsky.social) November 26, 2024 at 11:28 AM
A minor quibble would be ensuring Teuvo is on a line with Bedard somewhere, since Teuvo’s playmaking and overall creativity would seem to be a perfect compliment to Bedard’s skill set. But bringing back the Bedard/Kurashev duo that was pretty good last season and throwing a quality talent like Taylor Hall out there with them would seem to be one of the better options available to the team at this moment. The fourth line’s been working, the third line seems like a decent checking line and the second line is just a combination of what’s left and maybe it’ll work? Who knows.
Either way, coach Luke Richardson now seems more focused on making the offense work. Or, at least, he’s saying as much:
Luke Richardson after Blackhawks practice today: "Offensively, we just have to find something to help us get on the board more. Because we’re getting the goaltending, the defense; the special teams have really risen this year for us. That’s the one area that we have to improve on."
— Ben Pope (@benpopecst.bsky.social) November 26, 2024 at 12:33 PM
This is a team that has scored more than two or fewer goals in seven of the last eight games, and the third goal it got in that eighth game of the bunch was an empty-netter. Worth giving this lineup a shot, and hopefully it gets more than 20 minutes together before the Richardson reaches for the line blender again.