How did Teuvo Teravainen fare in his first season back with the Blackhawks?

One of the more pleasant moments from the prior offseason arrived early on the first day of free agency, when the Blackhawks signed Teuvo Teravainen to a 3-year, $16.2 million contract, returning this prodigal son to the franchise that drafted him No. 18 overall way back in 2012 and won a Stanley Cup back in 2015.

Teuvo was a blossoming 21-year-old when Chicago traded him to Carolina in 2016 and he returned to 1901 W. Madison as a seasoned veteran with a decade-plus of NHL experience under his belt. How did that first season back in Chicago unfold for and what should we expect of his next two seasons with the Blackhawks while he remains under contract here?

Let\'s find out.

As a player expected to produce top-six numbers, Teuvo fit the bill based on where he ranked on the team in most key categories. Teuvo finished with 58 points (15 G, 43 A) in a full 82-game season, just the third time he\'s played all 82 in his career. He was third on the team in points, second in assists and tied for fifth in goals. Someone with his offensive prowess is expected to shine on the power play and he did: Teuvo was second to Bedard (18) with 17 power-play assists and third to Bedard (11) and Bertuzzi (10) with seven power-play goals.

Teuvo was tied for third on the team with 27 points (6 G, 21 A) at 5-on-5 and his rates of production didn\'t drop off much. During Teuvo\'s prime with Carolina in the late 2010s and early 2020s, he spent four consecutive seasons with a point-production rate between 2.3 and 2.7 per 60 minutes of even-strength ice time. That number fell to 1.8 in 2021-22, to 1.6 in 2022-23, went up to 2.0 in 2023-24 and was 1.7 last season with Chicago. While he may not be producing like he was in his prime, going from a contending team like Carolina to a basement-dwelling team like Chicago did not have a serious effect on Teuvo\'s even-strength production and he was still effective on the power play which, again, is precisely what he was expected to be when he was signed.

Another feather in Teuvo\'s cap is that the Blackhawks were a better possession team with him on the ice. The data from Natural Stat Trick has Teuvo on the positive side of the ledger for every 5-on-5 statistic when it\'s presented as relative to the team\'s overall numbers:

3.06 percent improvement in shot attempt share

4.32 percent improvement in shot share

2.76 percent improvement in scoring chance share

3.23 percent improvement in high-danger chance share

5.58 percent improvement in expected goal share

Virtually all of those numbers were either the best mark among Blackhawks forwards from last season or second to Ilya Mikheyev, who was Teuvo\'s top linemate,

We\'ve already touched on Teuvo\'s power-play success but there were also some positive numbers from the penalty kill as well. He was fourth among Blackhawks forwards last season with 103:40 of PK ice time, per Natural Stat Trick and was on the ice for just five goals against during that time while assisting on a pair of shorthanded goals. A collective minus-3 on the PK from one of your top skaters over the course of an 82-game season? Yeah, that\'ll work.

Of the 101 forwards who skated at least 100 minutes of PK ice time during the 2024-25 regular season, Teuvo\'s rate of 2.89 goals against per 60 minutes was the second best mark in the entire league. That probably explains why Teuvo\'s PK marks stand out the most in the player card from JFresh Hockey below:

So, yeah, Teuvo was still producing at 5-on-5 and was also effective on both the power play and the penalty kill. All while carrying a $5.4 million cap hit for this season and two more. Seems like some pretty solid return on this offseason investment, doesn\'t it?

Yes, Teuvo will be 31 years old by the start of the next season, so it\'s fair to consider him being on the backside of his career -- a chilling thought for those of us who remember the baby-faced teenager he was when he arrived in Chicago. The good news there is that any concerns about him possibly losing a step can be largely ignored since speed isn\'t necessarily part of his game, as indicated by Teuvo\'s presence in the graphic below that came from the NHL\'s tracking data.

The cerebral side of Teuvo\'s game hasn\'t shown any signs of slowing based on all of the numbers above and, since speed wasn\'t really part of the equation anyway, it\'s fair to be optimistic that Teuvo can continue producing at a top-six rate for the two remaining years on his current contract -- and perhaps even another season or two beyond that.

Who needs speed with hands like these?

Teuvo Teravainen finds Ryan Donato backdoor who taps it in on the 5on3 pic.twitter.com/XQEAxqgl5q

— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) March 23, 2025

TEUVO ➡️ LUKAS ➡️ 🥅 pic.twitter.com/reYYsLkVfG

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) February 6, 2025

500 POINTS FOR TEUVO 🚨 pic.twitter.com/wrWl55cjWE

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) February 24, 2025

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