LAS VEGAS — There are probably only 23 games left in Philipp Kurashev’s Blackhawks tenure.
A restricted free agent this summer who would require a $2.25 million qualifying offer, Kurashev seems very unlikely to be re-signed by the Hawks after this disastrous season.
During the final month and a half, though, the 25-year-old forward is trying to turn things around as much as he can. He has at least seemed more engaged — both on and off the ice — since returning from the international break.
“The season hasn’t gone how I wanted or thought it was going to go, but I’m here now,” Kurashev said recently. “I can’t change the past. All I can do is control how I go into these next games.
“[I’m focusing on] winning my battles whenever I’m on the ice and not letting the game come to me. [I need to] just go and take it and do all the work that I can.”
The 54-point scorer from a season ago tallied just his 10th point in 42 games this season in the Hawks’ high-scoring loss Thursday against the Golden Knights.
He has bounced in and out of the lineup especially since interim coach Anders Sorensen took over, and the defining moments of his 2024-25 catastrophe will likely end up being a couple games — specifically Jan. 10 against the Red Wings and Jan. 30 against the Hurricanes — in which he gave up on plays that led to goals against. They were inexcusable and embarrassing.
Sorensen has talked to him repeatedly about needing to be more engaged in battles, however, and that lesson might finally be sinking in. Kurashev has scored in two of his last three games, and the Hawks have outshot their opponents 22-19 during his five-on-five ice time the last four games.
Sorensen mentioned Tuesday that Kurashev “seems to have a lot of jump” and looks more confident, so there has been a slight uptick. In all likelihood, it’s too little, too late. But Kurashev can only focus on the present.
“[I’m working on] gaining trust from the coaches [so] they can play me no matter what the situation is or who we play against,” Kurashev said. “That’s definitely something I want to prove to them.”
Line shuffling
When Sorensen replaced ex-coach Luke Richardson in December, he vowed to create more consistency in the forward line combinations, and in particular Connor Bedard’s line.
There has been more consistency overall, but lately, Sorensen has begun shuffling quite a bit. Bedard, for example, played Saturday and Sunday with Ryan Donato and Landon Slaggert, played Tuesday with Frank Nazar and Tyler Bertuzzi and played Thursday with Bertuzzi and Donato.
Sorensen explained Thursday he’s trying at least to construct lines around duos that have played together substantially, shuffling only the third spot in each trio. It is a difficult balance to strike.
Getting worse
The Hawks’ seasonlong analytics aren’t pretty, as has been the case for each of the last several years. But in the 2025 calendar year, they’ve been especially atrocious.
Since New Year’s Day, the Hawks have been outshot 605-398 during five-on-five play. That negative-207 differential is the NHL’s worst by a mile. The Ducks, whom the Hawks will face Saturday, have the second-worst differential during that span of just negative-92.
Furthermore, the Hawks’ 39.0% expected-goals and 38.6% scoring-chances ratios in 2025 are actually even worse than their 39.7% shots-on-goal ratio. They rank last in the league in every category imaginable.