The Chicago Blackhawks traveled to Salt Lake City on Tuesday for their season opener against the newly minted Utah Hockey Club. They followed that game with a trip to Winnipeg to face the Jets. Ultimately, the Blackhawks came up short in both games. They lost to Utah 5-2 and lost in overtime to the Jets 2-1. There were players on the Blackhawks who made positive first impressions. Then there were those who looked as if they would need several games to get into a flow.
One game isn’t enough to make broad assumptions or predictions about this team. But the first week of the season for the Chicago Blackhawks did provide a strong look at where the team is starting and the work that needs to be done.
Chicago Blackhawks Players Who Made Strong First Impressions
Connor Bedard: It should come as no surprise that Bedard was a bright spot for the Blackhawks. The generational talent became just the second player in Chicago Blackhawks history to record a point in two season opener games as a teenager with his pair of assists against Utah.
Bedard is clearly the Blackhawks main offensive weapon. He can score, but he can also dance through defensemen and pass the puck with pinpoint accuracy. Using his agility and offensive zone awareness is exactly what Bedard did to collect a couple points during the Utah game. He assisted on both Chicago goals. First, he set up Teuvo Teravainen in the second period with a sweet feed after side stepping Utah defenseman Mikhail Sergachev with a quick move. Then in the third period, he earned a secondary assist on captain Nick Foligno’s tip-in goal.
Even though Utah would go on to win the game, Connor Bedard no doubt impressed fans of the new franchise with his skill. He never took a shift off and wasn’t afraid to be physical, and he finished the game with two hits and five shots on net. Bedard was quiet on Friday night thought, only logging 18:44 of ice time and getting one shot on net. However, this was expected for being on the road twice in a row to start the season. After his hot start against Utah, it looks as if Bedard is primed to have an even better sophomore season.
Seth Jones: Jones finished Tuesday’s season opener with an assist, an even plus/minus rating, and two shots on net. While the numbers may not necessarily jump out as impressive, Utah scored five goals (two empty netters), which could have easily spelled trouble for Jones’ plus/minus. He also logged a massive 26:42 of ice time, seeing time on both the power play and penalty kill.
In their game against Winnipeg, Jones once again logged a ton of ice time with 24:10, the most of any Chicago Blackhawks defensemen. He finished with a -1 rating, two shots on net, and two blocked shots. Jones is the Chicago Blackhawks clear number one on the blue line. He will be relied on to play big minutes night in and night out. After a disappointing 2023-24 campaign, Jones delivered a solid first couple of games and will look to build off that performance and find consistency this season.
Ilya Mikheyev: While Mikheyev didn’t get on the scoresheet against Utah, he showed why the Chicago Blackhawks acquired him to provide stability to their Top Six. He logged 15:50 of ice time and finished the game with a +1 rating, two shots on net, two hits, and one takeaway. He then saw 17:30 of ice time against the Jets, finishing with a -1 rating and landing one hit. Mikheyev will continue to bring a steadfast two-way game for the Blackhawks while looking to find more of a scoring touch as the season progresses.
Chicago Blackhawks Players Who Did Not Impress
Tyler Bertuzzi: Bertuzzi found himself playing on the second line during Tuesday’s game with Philipp Kurashev and Taylor Hall. It was expected that he would be a physical presence on the ice while providing secondary scoring. That did not pan out during the season opener. Bertuzzi finished the game with two shots on net, one hit, and a -2 rating. Overall, he did not make any positive contributions to Chicago’s first game of the season.
Against Winnipeg, Bertuzzi once again did not make any noticeable impacts. He had two shots on net, one giveaway, and one takeaway during the game. The Chicago Blackhawks will need more out of Bertuzzi moving forward. It might take a little time for Bertuzzi to settle into his new team, but that needs to happen sooner rather than later.
Petr Mrazek: Last season, Mrazek put up a 3.05 Goals Against Average (GAA) and a .908 Save Percentage (SV%), which wasn’t that bad all things considered. However, a bit more is expected of the Chicago Blackhawks this season. If the Blackhawks want to make any improvements in the standings this year, they will need better goaltending than what Mrazek provided Tuesday night. He saved 22 of 26 shots for a .846 SV% and a 4.09 GAA. Mrazek has a career .907 SV% and 2.80 GAA; if he marginally improves his numbers from last season, the Chicago Blackhawks will start to see more wins.
Taylor Hall: After a lengthy absence due to injury, Hall’s return was something that the Chicago Blackhawks hoped would spark the team. During the first week of the season, however, Hall’s impact was minimal to unnoticeable. Against Utah, Hall logged 17:28 of ice time and finished with a -2 rating, two shots on net, one giveaway, and one hit. Against Winnipeg, Hall finished with a -1 rating, two shots, one hit, and one giveaway, once again failing to provide any tangible impact on the game.
It is reasonable to give Hall some benefit-of-the-doubt, however, as returning from a major injury isn’t easy. The Chicago Blackhawks will anticipate that Hall won’t take too long to return to form. His offensive capabilities will be a crucial boost to the Blackhawks moving forward this season.
The Chicago Blackhawks looked as if they might have been able to overcome a 3-0 deficit on Tuesday after a rough start to the game. However, it proved to be too little, too late in their season opener. Then, they led the Winnipeg Jets 1-0 throughout most of the game, but they couldn’t close it out. They allowed the game tying goal with just a minute to go, and then gave up the overtime winner not even a minute into the extra frame.
There were ups and downs but overall, there were more positives to take away from the first two games than there were negatives. The Chicago Blackhawks will look to find their footing during this first leg of the season and hope the wins start to come for them.
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