With Connor Bedard’s and Patrick Kane’s signings complete, the Blackhawks’ roster for the 2026-27 season is likely set.
Restricted free agents Kevin Korchinski and Ethan Del Mastro still need contracts, but they won’t be significant. The Hawks’ news cycle will probably be slow and stay slow until rookie camp leads into training camp in September.
In the meantime, coach Jeff Blashill and his staff can begin sketching rough drafts of lineups for the start of this season, which will be complicated by Bedard not returning from shoulder surgery until November.
Here’s an equally rough forecast of what those forward lines and defensive pairings might look like:
Forward lines
Who will fill in for Bedard as the first-line center in October? That’s a burning question the Hawks will need to figure out in camp.
Once Bedard returns, the lines figure to change significantly, although the odds are somebody else will be injured by then.
Roman Kantserov — Frank Nazar — Patrick Kane
Whether Kantserov will look like a promising rookie or a fully ready-to-go star — building upon his 36-goal season in Russia last season — is another burning question. General manager Kyle Davidson hasn’t shied away from setting high expectations for him.
Meanwhile, it’s pretty easy to predict what Kane will be: a savvy, charismatic playmaker with defensive flaws and decreasing speed.
It will be thrilling to see Kane eventually set up Bedard goals, but he also brought up Nazar on Friday. They’ve skated together this summer, and Nazar has impressed Kane enough to make him wonder about them playing together.
The Hawks would love to see Nazar start this season like he did last season (with 11 points in 10 games) and maintain that momentum longer in the first year of his big seven-year contract.
Tyler Bertuzzi — Anton Frondell — Nick Lardis
Frondell might not be a center long-term, but Davidson sees the Swedish power forward as a center this year. A summer of studying the position should help him, considering he showed promise last spring but clearly didn’t know every defensive assignment in the Hawks’ system.
Bertuzzi has demonstrated a knack for elevating and engaging linemates with sheer will and determination, and the Hawks might need more of that if he plays alongside two guys with a combined 53 games of NHL experience.
Lardis is flying under the radar somewhat, but he has scored everywhere he has been, including quietly maintaining a 20-goal pace during his first NHL half-season. Following another developmental leap this summer, he could round out the top six.
Teuvo Teravainen — Oliver Moore — Ryan Greene
When Bedard returns, Moore may get pushed to the wing, but Bedard’s absence presents Moore with a golden opportunity to grab hold of a checking-line center role.
Moore’s defensive analytics were solid last season and he expressed interest in molding himself into a defensive specialist, but his season-ending injury prevented him from finishing the season in Jason Dickinson’s old spot. That tryout comes now.
Teravainen, coming off a subpar season, and Greene, coming off a rookie season in which he played a role (on the first line) that nobody expects him to keep long-term, aren’t easy to slot on the depth chart. They’re both intelligent players, though, so maybe they could join forces on a defensive line.
Cole Smith — Ryan Donato — Jordan Greenway
The Hawks sought to add more grit and physicality this summer and did so with Smith and Greenway, two large forwards who aren’t afraid to dish hits or drop gloves.
Blashill cast Donato into a bottom-six role last season and isn’t likely to change that stance, although Donato could potentially switch places with Greene.
Landon Slaggert and Andrew Mangiapane, as it stands now, appear to be the forward extras. Mangiapane could be Rockford-bound at some point, as he’s essentially guaranteed to clear waivers due to his $3.6 million salary-cap hit.
Defensive pairings
The pairings are tricky to predict because the Hawks have five left-handed vs. two right-handed defensemen, although both new left-handed additions — Bowen Byram and Ian Cole — have experience playing both sides.
There are a couple ways the Hawks could approach this. They could balance out the pairings with one aggressive, puck-moving defenseman and one conservative, stay-at-home defenseman on each one, or they could unite like-minded defensemen to create, for example, one shutdown pairing.
Alex Vlasic — Bowen Byram
This top duo assumes the Hawks opt for more balanced pairings and that Byram is the lefty who shifts to the right. One way or another, Byram will likely lead the unit in ice time by several minutes per game over everyone else.
Vlasic’s development has plateaued somewhat over the last two seasons. He and Louis Crevier, his most common partner last season, faced brutal matchups and disrupted plays well enough with their long reaches, but they struggled to exit the defensive zone after doing so.
Byram’s puck-moving abilities could help Vlasic with that, while Vlasic could cover for Byram when he eagerly jumps into rushes.
Ultimately, the defense’s success will depend on Byram quickly becoming a No. 1 defenseman and seizing this opportunity he waited for. He needs to dominate his minutes no matter who he’s playing with.
Wyatt Kaiser — Sam Rinzel
Kaiser’s pairing with Artyom Levshunov was a major disappointment last season, as they were outscored 30-10 during their ice time together.
Kaiser himself was a bright spot, though, as the Hawks actually outscored opponents 39-36 when he wasn’t with Levshunov. Duncan Keith is a believer in Kaiser, too.
Perhaps playing him with a strengthened Rinzel would work? Their stats weren’t bad together last season.
Ian Cole — Artyom Levshunov
Cole has quietly delivered solid results everywhere throughout his journeyman career, making him a potentially good, stabilizing partner for Levshunov (or Rinzel).
“If I can handle my business and bring a consistent product night after night, it’s something the coaches and teammates can rely on,” Cole said earlier this month. “[We’ll] figure out how we can meld all these different skill sets and personalities together.”
Levshunov needs to take a large development step this summer. He has the raw tools to do so, and his decision to spend most of it in Chicago rather than Florida should help, but only time will tell if he has.
Korchinski is no longer waiver-exempt and likely figures to start the season as the seventh defenseman, but the Hawks will need to find ways to rotate him in. Del Mastro will also require waivers and may well find himself on them at the end of camp.
Goalies: Spencer Knight, Arvid Soderblom
Knight could be slated for one of the larger workloads in the NHL this season, while Soderblom holds a tenuous grip on the backup job over still waivers-exempt Drew Commesso.