The Blackhawks haven’t been in action since Feb. 4 due to the lengthy Olympic break currently in progress, but they’re back on the ice Tuesday for practice (except for Teuvo Teravainen, who is still competing for Finland). When games start up again next week, they’ll have 25 games left in a pretty unique season. Only four of those will be played before the trade deadline, and once the dust settles and Chicago’s roster is “finalized,” the home stretch will fly by.
Assuming the Blackhawks don’t find their way back into playoff contention, the end of the season can seem like an afterthought, but these games will be anything but. Chicago will be keeping an eye on three players in particular and look for them to end their seasons on a high note.
Artyom Levshunov
Levshunov didn’t finish the first “half” of the season strong, becoming a healthy scratch before the Olympics to reset his game. He’ll likely be back in the lineup when things get going next week, but what will his game look like? The former second overall pick is brimming with potential, and should be a staple down the line both defensively and quarterbacking the power play, but he’s also a minus-27 on the season (a number inflated by a minus-five park in his most recent game against the Penguins). Assuming Connor Murphy and maybe Matt Grzelcyk leave at the deadline, the Blackhawks will count on production from Levshunov. If he can get back on track, Chicago will feel much better about its future.
Nick Lardis
Likely the next man up from Rockford if the Blackhawks need scoring help down the road, Lardis looked great in his month-long first stint with the team last month. His talent is almost entirely on offense, so Chicago will be looking to round out the rest of his game. If he can score at a decent clip during the end of this season, the Blackhawks will have found themselves a top producer they can start to build around in the top six.
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Oliver Moore/Ryan Greene
Before the Olympic break, we were seeing Frank Nazar and Connor Bedard often on the same line, with Nazar taking faceoffs to help Bedard fully recover from his earlier injury. The expectation coming out of the hiatus is that the two will each center their own lines, making things interesting down the middle of the ice for the Blackhawks. If one of Jason Dickinson or Nick Foligno is shipped off at the deadline, that leaves one center spot open for Moore and Greene to battle for. Which player will get the longer look? Both will be looking to use the opportunity before next season, and both will be worth keeping an eye on over the last 25 games.
