Chicago Blackhawks opening night roster is officially here

The Chicago Blackhawks just had a wild summer. It was one that clearly was about rebuilding the franchise into a contender again through the draft and developing prospects. They made three first-round picks when they were supposed to have zero a week prior.

They saw names like Alex DeBrincat, Kirby Dach, and Dominik Kubalik leave which is a lot of talent heading out the door. They still have guys like Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, and Seth Jones playing for them but it is unclear how long they will be there.

It is obvious that the team has its sights set on the 2023 NHL Draft Lottery. Winning it would land them a generational talent like Connor Bedard but they would still get a great player near the top of the draft regardless because it is an outstanding draft class. All they need to do is be bad.

Well, based on their freshly dropped opening night roster, it is pretty obvious that they are going to be bad. This year is about developing the young guys in the NHL and other leagues that they are playing in around the world along with evaluating the veterans that they do have.

The 2022-23 Chicago Blackhawks are certainly going to have a tough season.

Forwards

• Andreas Athanasiou
• Colin Blackwell
• Max Domi
• Jason Dickinson (VISA nonroster)
• Mackenzie Entwistle
• Reese Johnson
• Tyler Johnson
• Patrick Kane
• Boris Katchouk (IR)
• Jujhar Khaira
• Philipp Kurashev
• Sam Lafferty
• Jalen Luypen (IR non-roster)
• Taylor Raddysh
• Buddy Robinson
• Jonathan Toews

Defense

• Jack Johnson
• Caleb Jones (IR)
• Seth Jones
• Jake McCabe (IR non-roster)
• Ian Mitchell (IR non-roster)
• Connor Murphy
• Alec Regula
• Filip Roos
• Jarred Tinordi
• Alex Vlasic

Goalies

• Petr Mrazek
• Alex Stalock

This is a very interesting team. There are a lot of players that could be traded off around the 2022 NHL Trade Deadline. Andreas Athanasiou, Max Domi, and Petr Mrazek might all be people that garner some interest if they have solid years playing on this bad team.

As mentioned before, the futures of Kane, Jones, and Toews are very interesting. Toews and Jones are each hard to trade because of their contract numbers. Toews only has this year left which makes it a little bit easier but Jones is a more impactful player right now.

For Kane, he should be able to get the Hawks a huge haul because he is still a supreme offensive player. It is just a matter of the organization’s willingness to make that type of move. If they really want to enter “tank mode”, they will make a trade like this.

Jason Dickinson is dealing with VISA issues. There is a vacant roster spot available for him when that gets cleared up. He will join the team right when that happens. There are also, as you can see, some players that are starting the year on the Injured Reserve.

With the goalies that they have along with pretty bad skater depth, they might finish at or near the bottom of the NHL standings. That might be tough to watch during the season but it is something that would certainly help them in the future.