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The Blackhawks Week That Was and Will Be, 1/6: Wait For It

Today we’re going to talk about premature prognostication.

Posted on by Dave Melton
Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images

Every now and then, I come across some headline or social media post that makes a grand statement regarding the quality of Kyle Davidson’s work as Hawks GM and it always leaves me confused, because I don’t know how anyone can make any definitive statement in either direction.

How can you properly judge an incomplete process? How can anyone decide if Davidson is building a successful NHL team or not when all he has are — at best — a few foundational pieces with minimal to no structure above them?

How Davidson is viewed seems to correspond with the Hawks’ NHL record in the last 10 games, which still isn’t the franchise’s primary objective. The Sun-Times posted an article featuring comments from Davidson on Christmas Eve when the Hawks were at their worst and the replies are largely furious. An article from The Athletic a few weeks prior to that, before the Hawks plummeted in the standings, were not as harsh on Davidson. Perhaps the lesson here is to avoid social media replies in general, but let’s keep going just for the sake of this conversation.

These words have probably popped up multiple times at this site and perhaps they’re more for myself than anyone reading them but there’s still so, so damn much about this whole process that we simply don’t know, and that even applies to the things we’ve seen happen through the first half of this season. Connor Bedard took a massive step forward but we still don’t know if that’s a permanent leap or a brief anomaly, even if it feels more like the former. The same goes for Spencer Knight. Frank Nazar has looked both worthy and unworthy of the contract he signed in the offseason. The young defensemen on this team have been a similar mixed bag of results. There isn’t a single thing on the ice that we can reasonably conclude as a proven commodity right now, from the guy wearing No. 6 who was sent to Rockford to the guy wearing No. 98 who’ll need to show that his recent injury was merely a brief setback.

There isn’t much to discuss related to most of the talent acquired from outside the draft because it’s mostly veteran players who likely won’t be here when this team matters again. That even includes the team’s current top goal scorer in Tyler Bertuzzi, who’s been very good this season but will be 35 a few months after this decade ends, which feels like a decent target for when the Hawks could be legitimate contenders again, at this rate. Beyond that, there is the Knight trade — which was a good one for the Hawks, of course — but Florida acquired a player who was their postseason ice time leader en route to a championship. Can anyone really say the Hawks definitively won that trade when the Panthers won the Cup? That’s what the point of this whole thing is, after all … isn’t it?

That’s still the biggest test ahead of Davidson: adding quality players from outside the organization to supplement the in-house talent and turn this team into a legitimate powerhouse. It’s one he hasn’t seemed all that interested in getting a headstart on, as indicated by the lack of such moves so far. Could that approach work? Sure! Could it fail spectacularly? You bet! We won’t know the answer until it’s too late to change it in either direction. And the reason why that point continues to be hammered home from this space is that it feels like it will ultimately be the difference between the success or failure of this whole project. Look at the Cup winners and you can see the pieces added that weren’t draft picks. Florida added names like Verhaeghe and Reinhart and Jones and Forsling and Bobrovsky. Tampa added names like McDonagh and Sergachev. Colorado added names like Kadri and Toews and (prime-aged) Burakovsky and Nichushkin. Failing to supplement a team’s draftees with outside talent leaves a team looking like … well, the Toronto Maple Leafs, right?

We’re still waiting and seeing, because that’s all we can do.

The Week That Was

Saturday, Dec. 27: Blackhawks 4, Stars 3

It wasn’t quite Patrick Kane on Dominik Hasek on the shootout, but a nice moment for Lardis with the shootout winner in the early stages of his NHL career.

Sunday, Dec. 28: Penguins 7, Blackhawks 3

No.

Tuesday, Dec. 30: Islanders 3, Blackhawks 2

That Schaefer kid: pretty good!

Thursday, Jan. 1: Blackhawks 4, Stars 3

The Dallas Stars are not to be taken seriously.

Saturday, Jan. 3: Blackhawks 3, Capitals 2

Enjoyed the story behind Foligno’s shootout selection from that game.

Sunday, Jan. 4: Blackhawks 3, Golden Knights 2

Nice of the Hawks to return the favor to the Golden Knights after Vegas followed a similar script when these two teams played in Sin City about a month ago.

Stand and Feel Your Worth

Last time we gathered here, we previewed the Hawks prospects playing the World Juniors. Since that tournament ended on Monday night, let’s recap it!

Anton Frondell

The biggest highlight of Frondell’s tournament was likely this shootout winner that sent Sweden to the gold medal game:

That was Frondell’s third attempt in the shootout following to unsuccessful opportunities, with him being chosen multiple times indicative of how important he was to Sweden’s offense during the tournament. Frondell was a top-line fixture for the gold medal winners, finishing with eight points (5 G, 3 A) in seven games. His post-WJC accolades included being named the tournament’s best forward and a spot on the tournament’s all-star team. The NHL website even listed Frondell as one of its five breakout players from the annual event.

Here are the pair of goals Frondell scored against Latvia earlier in the tournament:

Hard to classify this as anything other than a promising display from Chicago’s No. 3 pick of the 2025 draft.

Vaclav Nestrasil

Nestrasil helped Czechia to a runner-up finish, also finishing with eight points (2 G, 6 A) in seven games. He had a primary assist in the gold medal game:

His pair of goals consisted of an empty-netter and this no-look snipe:

Like Frondell, Nestrasil was a consistent top-liner for his country, building off the success he’s enjoyed during his freshman season at UMass. Also like his fellow Hawks prospect, plenty to like about Nestrasil did in this tournament.

And even the most amateur of lip readers could tell what Nestrasil playfully told Frondell in the handshake line following the final game:

AJ Spellacy

Spellacy had a solid tournament, finishing with four points (1 G, 3 A) in five games for a Team USA side that was bounced by Finland in the quarterfinals.

Here was that lone goal:

One other stat related to Spellacy that was bouncing around the interent from the tournament detailed just how fast he can move on the ice, apparently at a pace which is more than NHL-caliber:

Spellacy already has an NHL contract and is in his third OHL season with the Windsor Spitfires, so the professional level will be calling for him soon. Whether that’s in Rockford or Chicago is yet to be determind, however. We’ll see what he does in the second half of the season with the Spitfires after posting 17 points (9 G, 8 A) in 27 games so far.

The Week That Will Be

Wednesday, Jan. 7: Blackhawks vs. Blues

Would enjoy a repeat of what happened the last time the Hawks faced the Blues on a national broadcast.

Friday, Jan. 9: Blackhawks vs. Capitals

Tom Wilson is day-to-day after his injury in the prior Hawks/Caps game and it feels like he’ll be throwing elbows all over the place if he returns for this game.

Saturday, Jan. 10: Blackhawks at Predators

Think a certain segment of us are going to miss this entire game, eh?

Monday, Jan. 12: Blackhawks vs. Oilers

Still feels like this season is the make-or-break one for McDavid in Edmonton. If they can’t win it all this season, then perhaps they never will.

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