SALT LAKE CITY — With his interest in a trade now public knowledge,Seth Jones has gone unfiltered.
Jones ripped the Blackhawks after their 2-1 loss Tuesday in Utah, where they began the season with another loss all the way back on opening night Oct. 8. Four and a half months later, they now sit 17-34-7, second-to-last in the NHL.
“We’re the exact same team right now as we were game one,” Jones said. “It’s pretty evident out there. We haven’t made any strides to be a better, more simple hockey team, and it shows. We don’t get a lot of wins because of that.
“This has been almost four years of bottom of the league, so it’s not just this year — for me at least.”
Jones scored the Hawks’ lone goal, a first-period power-play snipe that actually gave them the lead until the final minute of the second period. He also logged a game-high 25:27 of ice time.
But neither Jones nor any other Hawk found a way to stem wave after wave of Utah rushes, which led to some absurdly lopsided stats. During five-on-five play, Utah generated a 69-19 advantage in shot attempts and 40-5 advantage in scoring chances. That negative-35 scoring-chance ratio is the Hawks franchise’s worst since Natural Stat Trick began tracking that stat in 2007.
Lawson Crouse scored the game-winner for Utah with 7:48 to play, and Hawks forward Frank Nazar whiffed on a golden chance to equalize with 1:36 left. Hawks goalie Arvid Soderblom played well but could only hold the fort for so long.
“[We were] refusing to play simple and turning pucks over,” Jones said. “[It’s] not just forwards. It’s everybody, [including] defensemen. We weren’t very good on the breakouts tonight. … We have no business being in that game.”
Interim coach Anders Sorensen disagreed with Jones’ assessment that the Hawks haven’t improved since October, admitting that’s true in “certain areas” but not in others.
Lawson Crouse gives the @utahhockeyclub the lead off a sweet backhand! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/tdHfxHIbDK
— NHL (@NHL) February 26, 2025
In a drought
Hawks forward Tyler Bertuzzi is a historically streaky scorer, and that streakiness is something he has learned to tolerate.
“Sometimes you hit a post or miss a chance,” he said. “[But] when you’re on a streak and you’re feeling it, stuff is just hitting you and going on or any shots are going in. You ride the highs when they’re high, but you [should] keep grounding out the lows, and they’ll eventually come.”
The Hawks have gotten the full range of him this season. He racked up 12 goals in Anders Sorensen’s first 21 games as interim coach between early December and late January. But he has scored only five goals in his other 37 appearances, including zero in his last 11.
Because he doesn’t have many other above-NHL-average skills, the Hawks really need him knocking pucks in from five feet away to help their chances of winning. Sorensen moved Bertuzzi back to the first line with Connor Bedard and Nazar on Tuesday, hoping to jump-start that trio.
No calls
Young NHL players often have to pay their dues, in a sense, to get the benefit of the doubt — or some protection, on the other hand — from referees. In Bedard’s case, he seems to be going through an extreme case of that.
The 19-year-old Hawks star has drawn only 10 penalties this season (tied for sixth-most on the team) and has been whistled for 16 (tied for third-most on the team).
It’s not so much the latter number that seems unjust — Bedard is prone to committing stick infractions on defense at times — but the former. It seems as though he often gets held, hooked or interfered with, but nothing is called.
In the first period, Utah defenseman Mikhail Sergachev got away with boarding him, and then Connor Murphy was tagged with a roughing penalty for basically hugging Sergachev in an egregious sequence.
Bedard did draw a holding penalty shortly after on Utah forward Kevin Stenlund — whom he embarrassed with a highlight-reel goal last season when Stenlund played for the Panthers — but then Bedard was called for hooking Jack McBain in the second period.
Utah impressions
The NHL’s newest city seemingly has taken to hockey quickly. The crowd at the Delta Center was raucous Sunday against the Canucks and again Tuesday, even though many of the upper-bowl seats can’t see the near-side goal.
One thing that has stood out to Hawks players is how warm the arena is.
“I was sweating in morning skate,” Bertuzzi said. “I usually never do.”
After getting benched for the last period and a half against the Maple Leafs, enigmatic forward Lukas Reichel was a healthy scratch, with just-recalled Colton Dach replacing him.