Rebuilds take time. A lot of time.

The Chicago Blackhawks found themselves in the league’s bottom three for the fourth straight season, allowing them to add a high-end blue-chip piece with this year’s fourth pick to a growing core of Connor Bedard, Artyom Levshunov and Anton Frondell.

There may come a day when those four pieces make up the scariest core in the league. But that day is not today, and after last season, it doesn’t feel that close to tomorrow either. It’s clear there is still a lot of work to do with a lot of holes left to fill.

Here’s where the Blackhawks stand going into the 2026-27 season. All projected values are age-adjusted based on each player’s profile of comparable peers.

What the Blackhawks have 

The good news is the forward group is starting to come together.

Connor Bedard’s offensive game is on the right track after scoring 30 goals and 75 points in 69 games, a 36-goal and 89-point pace. It would not be a shock to see those numbers expand further, given the help that’s growing around him and the level he flashed before getting injured in December. Prior to that, Bedard was scoring at an electric 50-goal and 116-point pace.

Bedard is already an offensive star at 20 with a lot of time to grow out the rest of his game. The emerging presence of Anton Frondell and Frank Nazar should help with that next season.

While we only have a tiny sample of 12 games to go off with Frondell, scoring 2.61 points per 60 at five-on-five makes for an incredible audition. There are a lot of red flags pointing to unsustainability (35 percent xG, 16.1 percent on-ice shooting percentage) and expectations should be tempered because of that. But that immediate execution at such a young age gives him genuine top-six upside in the short term.

That puts less pressure on Nazar, who no longer needs to be Bedard’s sidekick and can thrive as support. From March onward, he scored 17 points in 23 games. The same goes for Tyler Bertuzzi, who turned things around nicely in his second season with Chicago. While he likely won’t be around for this team’s peak, he adds a needed element to the team’s current forward core.

Between the pipes, Chicago looks set for the next decade with Spencer Knight. Once billed as one of the league’s best future goalies, Knight looked the part in his first full season with Chicago, saving 14.2 goals above expected. That ranked 11th in the league and he projects to be a top-10 goalie next season.

What the Blackhawks need 

The Blackhawks still need a lot. The chart doesn’t lie. But the difference between where they were four years ago and where they are now is that they actually have players who could fill those holes.

Bedard is the obvious solution to become the franchise forward and was headed in that direction prior to his shoulder injury. If he doesn’t continue to evolve into that, the Blackhawks may as well scrap their whole plan.

The bigger unknown is who the Blackhawks’ franchise defenseman will be. Levshunov was taken second in 2024 with hopes he’d become one, but it’s still not clear whether he will after a huge learning curve for him during his first two pro seasons. That was also the case for Sam Rinzel and Kevin Korchinski, two more first-round picks. Rinzel shone when he broke into the league late in the 2024-25 season, but he couldn’t maintain that consistency in his first full pro season. The Blackhawks still have high hopes for all three players, but they need time.

How Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill decides to assemble his lineup next season might provide some better answers to the rest of the holes. Blashill experimented with Frondell at center late this season with the thought he could be the Blackhawks’ best two-way center. That could free up Bedard and Nazar more. The Blackhawks also liked rookie Oliver Moore at center, so that could also move someone unexpected to the wing. Nick Lardis finished the season on Bedard’s wing and showed off some of the scoring touch that led to him scoring 70-plus goals in the OHL.

The Blackhawks are hopeful forward prospect Roman Kantserov, the first 21-year-old to lead the KHL in goals since Kirill Kaprizov, signs and immediately joins their top six next season. As Kantserov and Lardis reveal what they can become in the NHL, that could have a minimal or major impact on the Blackhawks’ trajectory.

Adding another high-end forward to their roster pool in the 2026 draft certainly wouldn’t hurt. If somehow winger Ivar Stenberg falls to them at fourth, that would probably be ideal; the Blackhawks are also really high on center Caleb Malhotra. GM Kyle Davidson has also mentioned the possibility of adding a proven forward through trade or free agency. That’s probably still more unlikely than likely, but there is a chance. There is also a chance the Blackhawks devote their top draft pick this year to another defenseman.

Internal youth development is likely where the Blackhawks are going to make their biggest strides. Outside of Bertuzzi, most of their other veterans are likely role players. Ryan Donato’s production returned to an ordinary level after his 31-goal breakout season. André Burakovsky went from being Bedard’s most consistent linemate to a healthy scratch due to how far his game dropped off. Teuvo Teräväinen endured his worst NHL season. Ilya Mikheyev, who could still be re-signed, is a reliable penalty killer with some offense to his game. He’d be the only player whose value would qualify in the depth core as a “defensive forward.”

The big question

Can any of their young defensemen take a major leap next season?

The Blackhawks’ rebuilding approach began with a focus on defensemen first. It wasn’t surprising considering Davidson’s two most valued advisors, Norm Maciver and Brian Campbell, are former NHL defensemen and, along with Davidson, witnessed firsthand how good the Blackhawks defense had been during their recent Stanley Cups. When the Cup window shut, it was defense that crumbled first.

And so the Blackhawks drafted Korchinski at No. 7 with their first draft pick under Davidson in 2022, used another first-rounder that year on Rinzel and then chose Levshunov over forward Ivan Demidov with the second pick in 2024. Add in Wyatt Kaiser, Alex Vlasic, Louis Crevier and Ethan Del Mastro, and the Blackhawks have seven drafted defensemen 25 years old or younger who they view as potential NHLers.

It’s a strategy that may work and could even provide defensive stability for the next decade, but it’s also one that relies on development, patience and time. There are no guarantees either. Outside of Matthew Schaefer and Lane Hutson, there aren’t many defensemen drafted in the last four years thriving in the NHL.

The Blackhawks have positioned themselves well with several blue-chip tickets, but it is mildly concerning that not a single one came anywhere close to a top-four level last season in terms of measured value. Rinzel’s minus-5.4 Net Rating being the highest of the bunch is not ideal. Levshunov, the team’s brightest hope, being at minus-13.0 for the third-worst mark in the league is even less so. Even this early in their development, the league’s brightest generally looked a lot better, leaving Levshunov behind the curve. There’s still star-level upside, but he needs to correct course quickly toward an almost-uncharted path.

The Blackhawks lived and died with their young defense this season, perhaps suggesting that environment had a lot to do with those dire results. The Blackhawks did win games with Levshunov, 20, and Rinzel, 21, playing significant minutes, showing why the Blackhawks are so high on them. They also lost games because of them. Most teams don’t try to break in so many young defensemen at once. Young defensemen often develop in the shallow end and develop from there. The Blackhawks threw their best bets into the deep end, and asking them to sink or swim makes for a difficult place to excel.

Rinzel spent time in the AHL this season. Levshunov sat for a stretch of games before the Olympic break. When the Blackhawks went with all young defensemen down the stretch, there were a lot of mixed results. Korchinski, 21, had probably his best NHL stint. Crevier, 25, finished the season strong. Kaiser, 23, received praise from Blashill for his late-season play. But they all had their share of mistakes, too. The power play hadn’t been consistent enough with any of them quarterbacking it, so Bedard took over the role late in the season.

Blackhawks management is banking on those young defensemen to take another step and become the players they envisioned when drafted. How soon? That’s the unknown. And given the current level they’ve shown, the Blackhawks need them to take substantial steps to get the rebuild on track.

It wouldn’t be surprising if Davidson brought in a puck-moving veteran defenseman this offseason to add some consistency to the group and create a less-taxing environment. But outside of that, the Blackhawks will load up their defense with those young players next season and continue their development in the NHL. The Blackhawks would like to ideally have someone jump out and mesh with Bedard the best. Levshunov and Rinzel are the favorites, but Korchinski and Kaiser shouldn’t be counted out.

A season from now, the Blackhawks should know much more about that entire group. Someone needs to start swimming or the entire rebuild might start sinking.

If one of Chicago’s young defensemen can take meaningful strides next season, the Blackhawks will be on the right track. Two or three and everything might click at once. None of that is out of the question, given the pedigree of everyone involved.

But there’s a chance that the growing pains continue and no one emerges as The Guy, which, even this early, can cast some doubt on the rebuild’s ultimate ceiling.

The clock isn’t ticking in any meaningful way; Chicago has time. But as things begin to potentially click up front and in net, it is time for some defensive flowers to start blooming.