The Chicago Blackhawks are one of the bottom teams in the NHL right now. At 6-11-1, they are 31st in the league. The Nashville Predators are in 32nd but they have the same number of points (13) as Chicago.
The biggest reason for Chicago’s lack of winning is their offense. They are getting good goaltending from Petr Mrazek and Arvid Soderblom while the skaters do a decent job of defending in front of them on most nights.
Not being able to score is the issue. They have only scored one regulation goal in five straight games. In those games, they are 1-4-0. The one win came from an overtime game-winning goal which broke a 1-1 tie.
Chicago was never going to be a playoff contender or anything like that but they made off-season moves that proved they were trying to be better than a bottom-five team. So far, that has not been the case.
If they want to get back to those expectations, they need to make a move. The biggest hole on the team right now is the second-line center.
Connor Bedard is in a scoring slump but he’s 19 and is as talented as any prospect to ever enter the NHL. He is going to end up being one of the 10 best players in the NHL but there is some development still in the works.
As the team’s number-one center, Bedard needs help. Adding a second-line guy would give the team more depth at one of the most important positions in all of sports and it would help Bedard find better matchups.
Without a high-end guy in this role, every opponent can get the perfect matchups against Bedard at even strength. It is affecting his play this season so far.
One option is that Chicago could call up Frank Nazar from the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs. He currently leads the team in scoring with five goals and eight assists for 13 points in 11 games played. For being a rookie, he’s doing very well down there.
It might not be the best idea, however, to bring him up to this sinking ship at the NHL level. It might be better for him to keep doing what he’s doing while playing for an AHL contender that has a high ceiling this year.
Nazar is also a kid who will go through struggles at the NHL level once he’s up full-time. That type of inconsistency won’t help the overall offense in Chicago.
That leaves a trade. Kyle Davidson would be wise to bring somebody in to help them in that category. This wouldn’t be a move to make a playoff push but it would help the team develop in the long-term which is the most important thing.
It is unclear who is truly available out there but plenty of teams are looking to sell. The Hawks might end up selling later this season as well but adding a second-line center is a perfectly good reason to buy in their situation.
Brock Nelson (New York Islanders), Mikael Granlund (San Jose Sharks), Sean Monahan (Columbus Blue Jackets), and Yanni Gourde (Seattle Kraken) are just a few examples of centers who play for teams that may want to move on. Those players would all make the Hawks a better team down the middle if acquired.
These are all short-term options but we know that Nazar will get his chance one day. They also may be low enough in the standings this year to find a high-end future second-line center in the draft with a top-five pick.
Waiting isn’t the smartest idea for them though. They don’t need to make a splash and then win the Cup but they do need to develop the organization. What we’ve seen to date isn’t good enough and they don’t want to stunt anyone’s growth.
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