Two teams that spent last season in the Connor Bedard sweepstakes meet at the United Center on Saturday night when the Blackhawks host the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Columbus didn’t win, of course, ending up with a decent consolation prize in No. 3 overall draft pick Adam Fantilli from Michigan. Like Bedard, Fantilli immediately jumped to the NHL and has 27 points (12 G, 15 A) in the 49 games he’s played. But he hasn’t played since Jan. 28, expected to miss eight weeks after a gruesome calf laceration sustained in a game that night against the Kraken. CBJ’s top six took a further hit when Patrik Laine fractured his clavicle in December and then, while on the road back from that injury, entered the NHLPA’s Player Assistance Program. He’s played in just 18 games this season.
The lineup does have a few highly skilled players in forward Johnny Gaudreau (42 points in 59 games) and defenseman Zach Werenski (34 points in 47 games and a team-high average ice time of 24:21), but there aren’t too many other names here who are going to strike too much fear in the hearts of opponents. Kirill Marchenko leads the team with 17 goals, part of a Russian trio alongside Dmitri Voronkov and Yegor Chinakhov that’s all under 25 and makes of most of the depth scoring for this side. Cole Sillinger, the 2021 No. 12 overall pick, is also here with 22 points in 54 games, providing another youngster with potential for brighter days in the future. The Blue Jackets also have the No. 3 prospect pool in the NHL according to recent rankings from The Athletic, so there’s certainly potential for this team to improve mightily down the road.
That’s no help at the moment, though, and the Blue Jackets currently sit in last place in the Metropolitan Division by a significant margin with just 48 points in 59 games, well behind Pittsburgh’s 62 in 57. Columbus is also 29th in the league standings, ahead of Anaheim’s 47 in 60 and well ahead of the basement-dwelling Sharks (35 points in 58 games) and the Blackhawks (35 in 60).
Columbus enters this game with just four wins in the last 12 games, although that’s still better than Chicago’s recent form. Here’s what the lineup should be for CBJ this evening:
We have an old friend alert, too:
As for the Blackhawks, they’ve got just one win in the last FOURTEEN games, although three overtime losses in that span have moved them into a tie with the San Jose Sharks for the No. 1 odds in the Macklin Celebrini draft sweepstakes. San Jose does have two games in hand, though, so the Blackhawks are still just a little bit worse.
Thursday’s 5-0 drubbing against the Colorado Avalanche offered yet another stark reminder — as if we needed another — of the talent gap between this team and the rest of the league. All part of the plan, of course, but that offers little recourse in the present. The lower level of quality presented by this opponent suggests a more competitive game is possible in this outing, but Chicago’s also had a bad habit of looking just as overmatched against the league’s fellow bottom feeders.
This is the lineup that will attempt to buck that trend, with some shuffling among the forwards noted:
Tinordi was reportedly absent from the morning skate for a “maintenance day,” so he’s expected to be on the upcoming road trip. Addition by subtraction if he’s not in the lineup this evening, though.
Let’s go Hawks.
Tale of the Tape
Blackhawks — Statistic — Blue Jackets
43.90% (31st) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 47.92% (22nd)
42.38% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 47.65% (25th)
2.03 (32nd) — Goals per game — 2.9 (23rd)
3.53 (28th) — Goals against per game — 3.68 (31st)
46.0% (31st) — Faceoffs — 47.0% (26th)
13.2% (32nd) — Power play — 14.9% (28th)
77.3% (24th) — Penalty kill — 76.6% (25th)
How to watch
When: 7 p.m. CT
Where: United Center, Chicago, IL
TV: NBC Sports Chicago
Webstream: NBC Sports App, ESPN+/Hulu
Radio: WGN 720