Blackhawks power rankings: Nazar’s flash, Reichel’s redemption and some sweet jackets

There’s nothing like putting up eight goals on the road against a hated division rival to send the vibes soaring. The young and scrappy Chicago Blackhawks are 2-2-1 after an 8-3 trouncing of the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night, so it’s a perfect time to roll out the first power rankings of the season.

Let’s dive in.

1. Frank Nazar

The second-year center’s second-period goal Wednesday night in St. Louis was a pure hit of Nazar — the speed to blow by two Blues defenders, the skill to get the shot past goalie Joel Hofer, the reckless aggression to crash through the net, and the hilarious solo celebration after popping out of the resulting goalmouth skirmish. Casually saying Connor Bedard isn’t “taking any s—” on TNT afterward was just a bonus.

Bedard (who had three assists himself against the Blues) is going to be the Blackhawks’ biggest star for the next however many years, but Nazar is going to be the most fun player to watch. He needs a nickname. And yes, “Showtime” is already taken.

2. Jeff Blashill

With the obvious caveat that it’s ridiculously early, it’s hard not to give Blashill some serious credit for the Blackhawks’ solid start. Three very competitive losses (one in overtime) followed by two solid victories over Central Division playoff hopefuls is better than Hawks fans reasonably could have expected, given all the forecasts putting Chicago 31st or 32nd in the league again.

Regardless of whether it translates to the standings, the Blackhawks are playing hard, playing fast and — based on all the scrums — playing for each other. Blashill’s training camp was a tough one, and he’s still running long and frequent practices. The team seems to be taking to it.

3. Ilya Mikheyev

On June 27, 2024, The Athletic ran this headline: How did the Canucks escape from Ilya Mikheyev cap mistake so painlessly? A little more than a year later, a better question is: How did the Canucks not want this guy on their team? Just as with Jason Dickinson, Vancouver’s cap dump is Chicago’s gain.

Mikheyev was the most consistently solid Blackhawks player last season, and he’s picked up right where he left off, with three goals in his last two games. He can skate, he can defend, he can kill penalties — and the Canucks are still paying 15% of his salary. What’s not to like?

4. Spencer Knight

After his team escaped opening night with a 3-2 win, Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice did what he does best — distill something to its essence. Maurice knows Knight well from the goalie’s time in Florida and obviously thinks quite highly of him.

“The growing pains of a team at that age, all they’ve got to do now is get one goal better, right?” Maurice said. “Just a little tighter, one goal better, because they’ve got a goaltender that can stop the puck.”

In other words, by being so reliably solid rather than a liability, Knight helps close the talent gap with other teams. He can turn blowout losses into close losses and close losses into narrow wins. With due respect to Petr Mrázek, Arvid Söderblom, Kevin Lankinen, Collin Delia, Malcolm Subban, Alex Stalock, Jaxson Stauber and (remember?) Anton Khudobin, that’s something Chicago hasn’t had since at least Marc-André Fleury, and more likely the Corey Crawford/Robin Lehner tandem.

5. Anton Frondell

It didn’t feel like there was much buzz around Frondell among fans after the Blackhawks took him with the No. 3 pick in June. That might have had to do with the minimal hype beyond the first few picks, or maybe it was simply draft fatigue, as the Blackhawks have had so many early-round picks. However, last week, Frondell sparked some excitement and hope for his eventual arrival. In one game, he scored two goals, including a “Michigan.”

In the next game, he delivered a hat trick. With six goals and two assists in the first 10 SHL games, Frondell is off to a strong start to his season.

6. The centennial opening ceremony

The Blackhawks have done pomp and circumstance well for years. Saturday’s opening ceremony to their centennial year was another example of that. From the alumni jackets to the video presentation to Pat Foley’s presence as master of ceremonies, it’s clear the Blackhawks have put a lot of time and effort into getting all the details right. It was certainly noteworthy that Eddie Olczyk was present, too. The bar is set high for their remaining ceremonies over the coming year. We’ll all be watching closely how the last three Stanley Cup teams are celebrated.

7. Louis Crevier

The expectation was that Crevier — no longer waiver exempt — was going to be the Blackhawks’ No. 7 defenseman, almost by default; a guy who could step in when necessary, but an easy guy to scratch. However, Blashill has really fallen for the big guy, and in a sheltered role, he’s been quite effective. Even Blashill sounded almost pleasantly surprised. His willingness to rack up 17 penalty minutes in defense of Nazar after a (yes, clean) hit by Montreal’s Kaiden Guhle only helped.

“He’s played well, to be honest with you,” Blashill said. “He’s a 6-foot-gigantic guy who can skate pretty well. … When we talk about seven (defensemen), that gives us guys like (Connor) Murphy and Louis that specialize in the kill, and then you have the other two right-shot D — with (Artyom) Levshunov and (Sam) Rinzel — who specialize on the power play. That’s a good balance there. Louis getting in the fight was great for Louis, too. It shows he’s got that physicality and is going to bring more of that edge. If he can bring that to his game, at that size, he could be a really good player.”

8. Ryan Donato

Donato’s past year had been nothing like anything else in his career. He scored 31 goals. He finally got paid and had security. Instead of opening training camp having to prove himself like years past, he found himself on the top line from day one. But the past quickly became the past. Donato simply doesn’t have the same leeway as some others. He was demoted to the third line midway through the season opener. He was goalless through the first four games, too, despite creating more shots than anyone else. He finally broke that mini-slump by finishing a chance around the net on Wednesday. He knows the question of whether last season was a fluke will follow him this season. It’s too early to predict, but it probably wasn’t the start to the year he envisioned.

9. Lukas Reichel

Full disclosure: We’d penciled Reichel in as our first entrant to fall below CHSN. Then he went out and scored a couple of goals and handed out an assist against St. Louis on Wednesday. In very limited minutes (still the lowest ice time on the team), Reichel played like a man who knows he’s on his last chance.

Blashill’s preference for icing 11 forwards and seven defensemen — something he did a fair bit in Detroit, and something Jon Cooper did a ton in Tampa — actually seemed to work in Reichel’s favor. He still saw most of his minutes with Ryan Greene (who scored his first NHL goal on the Reichel assist), but he also got to make cameos on other lines, or perhaps more accurately, have top-six players make cameos on his line. Reichel’s second goal and Greene’s goal both came with Bedard double-shifting on their line.

Will Reichel ever get another chance to play full-time with Bedard? Maybe not, but Blashill has to at least be thinking about it now.

10. Artyom Levshunov

Levshunov is probably going to drive the coaches, teammates and fans crazy this season. He’ll have some shifts where you won’t believe what he just did with the puck. And then, there will be other shifts where you won’t believe what he did without the puck. If you noticed, there wasn’t any mention of whether those plays were positive or negative. The reality is that there will probably be a lot of both this season. It’s what you get with a lot of 19-year-old NHL defensemen, but especially Levshunov, who has a unique playing style. The Blackhawks want him to be his aggressive self but also learn to play more disciplined and smart. There will be a learning curve for him.

11. Ticket sales

After a raucous home-opener (albeit one that was just shy of a sellout), the Blackhawks drew just 15,203 in their second home game of the season against Utah for their smallest crowd since late March 2023. And it sounded like it. Was that because the Bears were playing, or was it a harbinger of things to come? Friday’s a Stan Mikita bobblehead night (centennial festivities like that should help), and Sunday is Joel Quenneville’s return. And weekends are always better than weeknights, too. So we might not have a great idea of what to expect until the end of the month, when Ottawa rolls into town on a Tuesday night.

12. CHSN

From the fan base’s standpoint, getting the channel on Comcast (at the most expensive tier) at the expense of the much-touted free over-the-air broadcast is robbing Peter to pay Paul. How many pairs of recently purchased rabbit ears are getting thrown into the bottom of a closet or into a duffel bag stuffed with old power cords, defunct chargers and land-line phones?

Ratings are up, at least. That’s good. But three times a very small number is still a very small number. This will continue to be a serious issue until the Blackhawks decide to give away the games for free (a la Dallas and Utah), or the NHL finally lifts its archaic blackout rules. Which is to say, forever.

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