We are so close to getting the Chicago Blackhawks back

2021 was a very trying year for the Chicago Blackhawks. However, they have been a much better team since firing Jeremy Colliton and hiring Derek King to be the new head coach. They need to be the best team in the league to come back and make the playoffs but they have certainly been playing some respectable hockey.

Unfortunately, the National Hockey League took a little bit of a pause thanks to COVID-19. It came right before and after the three-day Christmas break that was already built into the schedule so it feels like forever since we have seen the Blackhawks play.

Their last game was a 4-3 overtime loss to the Dallas Stars on December 18th. That would be their last game of 2021 but they didn’t know it at the time. Now, after a long stretch of time, we are so close to having them back in our lives.

They will kick off the news year in style with a day game against the Nashville Predators on New Years Day. It should be a great matchup against a Predators team that deserves a lot of respect for the way that they have played this season. It should be a great game between two teams desperate for very different reasons.

The Chicago Blackhawks are so close to coming back into our lives.

Fans of the team may miss them a lot but they can be sure that they are getting them back as good as new. There are a couple of players dealing with some COVID stuff but they will be back in short order. For the most part, the Hawks have been one of the healthier teams this year. Hopefully, that continues going into 2022.

There are off-ice challenges for every human being in the world right now. However, the Blackhawks are going to face some on-ice challenges as well. They need to win at a very high clip in order to even get back in the race and that still might not be enough. The hole that they dug themselves in might be too steep. You can’t make the playoffs in October but you can certainly miss them.

Watching players like Patrick Kane, Alex DeBrincat, Seth Jones, Marc-Andre Fleury, and Jonathan Toews amongst others is always a treat for different reasons. There are also some young kids in the organization that should be showing their stuff soon enough as well. 2022 is a big year for the Hawks and their development as an organization.