During the second period of Tuesday’s game against the Jets, as a 1-0 Hawks lead became a 3-1 deficit thanks to a pair of quick Winnipeg goals in the second, some idiot posted this online:
It's hard to even be bothered at this point. Just back to apathy.
— Second City Hockey (@secondcityhockey.bsky.social) March 31, 2026 at 8:57 PM
A touch dramatic? Probably. It wasn’t just that the Hawks were suddenly down two goals, it’s that a promising first period had — once again! — been forgotten in the midst of a wildly lopsided second period that saw the Jets make the Hawks look like an ECHL team. Bertuzzi scored soon after and the Hawks added a tying goal in the third, making that moment of despair seem a little silly in retrospect.
But there’s some truth in that apathy, because virtually this entire decade of Blackhawks hockey has been overloaded with moments just like that one, when everything seems pointless, the team is going nowhere fast and will continue on that road to nothing interesting forever and again until we’re all dead and gone. Eat Arby’s.
Yes, there are going to be growing pains with this team — that’s the payment required for fielding a roster with so many kids on it. And this is what we wanted, too: a deeper commitment to the youth movement that the Hawks have seem reluctant to go all-in on at times, deferring to some veterans occupying the lineup for reasons that never seemed clear. So perhaps we shouldn’t rush to throw ourselves off the cliffs of despair when the Hawks look like a team full of players only a year or two removed from the draft — because that’s what they are! But when the losses have piled up for so many years, and the all-too-rare moments when Chicago actually has a lead disappears as quickly as it arrived, it’s hard to locate that logic.
Patience is still going to be thin these days, as it should be. And it’s fair to wonder how much longer it’s going to take for all these growing pains to subside before something resembling a decent hockey team arrives. Not even a good one! Just something that isn’t going to have you considering what else is on TV after a lead disappears while the Hawks are throwing up an expected goal share of 10 percent in a period and Spencer Knight seems worthy of hazard pay in net. It’s still possible this is all going to work out, and all this subpar hockey we’ve been subjected to is going to be worth it in the end. Still, we’ve been down this road for an extremely long time and it’s increasingly difficult to cling to the belief that it’s all going to work out.
But I’m trying, Ringo. I’m trying real hard.
The Week That Was
Tuesday, March 24: Blackhawks 4, Islanders 3
Probably said the same thing after the last Hawks/Islanders game but … that Schaefer kid is something, isn’t he?
Thursday, March 26: Flyers 5, Blackhawks 1
Yikes!
Friday, March 27: Rangers 6, Blackhawks 1
Double yikes!!
Sunday, March 29: Devils 5, Blackhawks 3
At least they didn’t continue the trend and lose 7-1?
Tuesday, March 31: Jets 4, Blackhawks 3
Forgot about the existence of Toews Face until this photo came up for the preview.
Buried in the Sun
Pulled some stats on Monday night to examine here, so they don’t include Tuesday’s game, but that’s probably not going to affect the sample. The data below features two players from the Hawks roster this season, with the figures largely organized by rates due to the vast difference in 5-on-5 ice time.
| 73 | Games Played | 33 |
| 964:24 | TOI | 339:26 |
| 13:12 | TOI/GP | 10:17 |
| 0.44 | Goals/60 | 1.06 |
| 0.87 | Total Assists/60 | 0.53 |
| 0.62 | First Assists/60 | 0.35 |
| 0.25 | Second Assists/60 | 0.18 |
| 1.31 | Total Points/60 | 1.59 |
| 52.5 | Individual Points Percentage | 81.82 |
| 4.67 | Shots/60 | 5.13 |
| 9.33 | SH% | 20.69 |
| 0.63 | ixG/60 | 0.68 |
| 8.65 | iCF/60 | 12.55 |
| 6.78 | iFF/60 | 9.37 |
| 6.03 | iSCF/60 | 7.42 |
| 2.86 | iHDCF/60 | 2.3 |
| 0.06 | Rush Attempts/60 | 0 |
| 1.24 | Rebounds Created/60 | 0.88 |
| 0.81 | Penalties Drawn/60 | 0.53 |
| 2.3 | Giveaways/60 | 1.77 |
| 0.81 | Takeaways/60 | 0.71 |
Any guesses?
Go ahead.
I’ll wait.
The numbers in the left column belong to Ryan Greene, while the numbers on the right belong to Nick Lardis.
The idea here was to examine what these two players have done while acknowledging who their top linemates have been this season. For Greene, it’s Connor Bedard, who’s been alongside Greene for about 55 percent (532 minutes) of Greene’s 5-on-5 ice time this season. For Lardis, it’s Oliver Moore at roughly 49 percent (167 minutes).
Overall, there’s logic to apply for every disrepancy, right? It seems like most of the numbers that accentuate the scoring part of the game go to Lardis, while the numbers that would seem to be superior for someone with higher-quality linemates go to Greene. They’re both currently operating as Bedard’s linemates, which hasn’t gone well so far.
I’d initially thought there would be a massive gap here which would emphasize the higher ceiling in Lardis’ game, but perhaps that was an incorrect hypothesis. It’d be fair to suggest Greene should have even higher production rates while playing alongside Bedard, but even that seems like a critique too harsh for a player in his first full NHL season.
Maybe the real conclusion here is that they’re both solid, complimentary players but in different ways: Greene the smart, savvy type who’s great at winning the puck in tougher areas of the ice for his teammates to use while the cerebral elements of Lardis’ game help him find the open spaces on the ice, paired with the necessary skill to turn those scoring chances into goals. Perhaps both of them project down the road as guys who can fill in on the top-six when injuries open up spots for a handful of weeks over the course of a season but are best-served in a bottom-six role where they can provide crucial depth scoring that becomes essential come April, May and June.
The Week That Will Be
Thursday, April 2: Blackhawks at Oilers
Jason Dickinson revenge game?
Saturday, April 4: Blackhawks at Kraken
A game on the west coast over a holiday weekend with precious little left to play for? This one’s for the sickos.
Monday, April 6: Blackhawks at Sharks
The final 9 p.m. start of the season!