WINNIPEG, Manitoba — There will come a day when we stop doing this. A day when we no longer compare, when we no longer look for analogs, when we no longer try to force Connor Bedard-shaped pegs — or are those Frank Nazar-shaped? — into Patrick Kane-shaped holes. A day when the Stanley Cup years finally ride the synaptic road back to long-term memory and the brain finally bumps the past for the present.
That day isn’t here yet. In fact, the Blackhawks’ nondescript 6-3 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night was a reminder that as far as the Blackhawks have come, there’s still so much farther to go. Regression comes for everybody, and it came for Spencer Knight and the Blackhawks’ team defense, particularly in the second period. Hardly the way you want to start a six-game, 12-day road trip, but it happens. Especially to young teams still finding their way.
That glorious day when the present overtakes the past is getting closer, but nostalgia’s a tough one to shake, especially when it’s lining up right across from you. Indeed, it was hard not to focus on the jarring sight of Jonathan Toews’ No. 19 slightly italicized and ringed in baby blue. It’s not as galling as Patrick Kane in New York Rangers blue or Detroit Red Wings red, and it’s different than Duncan Keith in Edmonton Oilers orange. For one, Chicago is getting numb to seeing its erstwhile heroes in another city’s colors by now. But more significantly, that Toews is even back in the league at 37, after two years of semi-retirement, is a gift to the hockey world. Even to Blackhawks fans, who seem on the whole to be genuinely happy that Toews is looking and feeling well.
But still. It’s so weird.
Even for Toews himself.
“There’s still a connection to the organization and the city of Chicago and I think there always will be,” he said before the game. “Chicago was my home for a long time, and it’s days like this that you get to stop for a second, reflect, look back. … You start to think that things are never going to change, or at least you just assume that’s the way things are with every organization. But then things change really fast and then here we are.
“I’ve always said I’m very thankful for how things went in Chicago. It was definitely a dream.”
A dream that’s slowly, finally beginning to fade. It’s been more than 10 years since Toews and Kane held the Stanley Cup aloft on the United Center ice, Toews’ right hand on the base, Kane’s left hand on the bowl: the capstone image of a golden age of Blackhawks hockey. Chicago — its fans, its organization and yes, its writers — has clung to that era as tightly as Toews and Kane clung to the Stanley Cup in that famous photo, because there’s been so little else to get worked up about. Certainly no other fan base will feel sorry for Blackhawks fans, but man, what Blackhawks fans wouldn’t give to be nitpicking a coach’s decision about who plays right wing on the fourth line again rather than checking out who’ll be available at the top of the draft in June.
Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane lifted their third Stanley Cup in 2015. (Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
These Blackhawks aren’t there yet, but they do seem to be a little ahead of schedule. Instead of jockeying for position with the San Jose Sharks for the best odds at drafting Gavin McKenna, they’re jockeying with the Jets — the reigning Presidents’ Trophy winners — for playoff positioning. Given where they’ve been the last few years, that’s borderline astonishing. It’s still way too early to start dreaming again, as Thursday night reminded us, but the fact fans have to guard against getting ahead of themselves is progress in and of itself.
Even if this early success — 5-1-1 in their previous seven games — isn’t sustainable, these Blackhawks are far more entertaining than teams of recent vintage. They’re younger, they’re faster, they’re more tenacious, they’re more fun. They’re better. And it’s tempting to go back to the well and start comparing these Blackhawks to the Blackhawks of 2007-08, the rookie season for both Toews and Kane, or 2008-09, when they announced themselves to the league with a run to the Western Conference final. Even Joel Quenneville made that comparison when he came through town a week and a half ago — for both his Ducks and these Blackhawks.
It’s just too easy to say that Bedard has that Toews drive, that Nazar has that Kane showmanship. We start wondering who’ll be this generation’s Duncan Keith (Sam Rinzel? Artyom Levshunov?) and this generation’s Niklas Hjalmarsson (Alex Vlasic? Wyatt Kaiser?) and this generation’s Patrick Sharp (Nick Lardis? Roman Kantserov?) and on and on.
That’s what you do after a decade of futility. You hold the past tightly, because the present isn’t any fun and the future seems so distant. But even though Toews and Kane are still roaming NHL rinks, that past is pretty far back now. Bedard was 9 years old when the Blackhawks won the third Cup of that era. Let that sink in.
“I remember those last two Cups pretty well,” Bedard said, meaning 2010 was so long ago that infantile amnesia is a factor. Oof.
Of course, Bedard is a hockey historian, like Kane before him (dang it, did it again). He knows exactly what Toews means to the NHL, to Chicago.
“I grew up watching him a lot,” he said. “We’re excited to play him, as well. We’re excited to see him. It’s obviously a great story, him coming back, and everyone’s happy for him. It’s good to see a guy like that back playing.”
There’s still one more nostalgia hurdle to get past, when Toews visits the United Center on Jan. — wait for it — 19. That’ll be the big one, for both Toews and for Chicago. On Jan. 20, it’ll be time to move on, to leave the past in the past. And if the Blackhawks are still in the thick of things, if they’re still playing fast, fun and effective hockey, it’ll be that much easier to do so — to let Bedard and Nazar be the first Bedard and Nazar, not just the next Toews and Kane.
As long as there are nights like Thursday, when the Blackhawks look somewhat outclassed by a true contender and the growing pains are as evident as they are inevitable, the past will still hold sway in our minds — its appeal undeniable, unignorable. But if everything goes right in the years ahead, if Chicago is absurdly fortunate enough to live that dream Toews talked about yet again, there’ll come another day in the distant future when we’re looking for the next Bedard, the next Nazar, as the nostalgia cycle starts all over again.
Hey, Chicago can dream.
Game observations
1. The Winnipeg media spent much of the morning skate talking to the Blackhawks and Jeff Blashill about Chicago’s defensive prowess. And why not? Chicago entered the night allowing the third-fewest goals per game in the league. But those who’ve watched the Blackhawks on a nightly basis know Spencer Knight has been masking some familiar defensive deficiencies. After all, you don’t have a league-leading 13.27 goals-saved-above-expected in seven games if you’re not facing some pretty good scoring chances.
Knight, who’s been spectacular, was probably due a night like Thursday. Winnipeg beat him early and often, and Knight let in some uncharacteristic soft goals, like Mark Scheifele’s unscreened shot in the second period and Josh Morrissey’s point shot midway through the third (on which Toews got the secondary assist). Knight didn’t get much help, either, as Blackhawks defensemen got caught flat-footed and too far up the ice on a few occasions.
Spencer Knight was perhaps due for a night like Thursday, when the Jets put six past him. (Terrence Lee / Imagn Images)
“We remind them on a daily basis when we’re not playing good defense, for sure,” Blashill said before the game. “Our guys are in a spot where they’re ready to be coached and we’ve shown on a consistent basis things that are leading to chances against, things where we’re not checking good enough. We recognize we’ve gotten very good goaltending this year from both guys, so that does allow us to learn some of these lessons while still winning hockey games. … And they get it. They know. They know how good our goaltending’s been, they know that we still need to get way, way, way better. They know those things. I’m most impressed with their mindset more than anything else.”
2. It didn’t help that the Blackhawks were without Ilya Mikheyev, who skated in the morning but was unable to play for the second straight game due to an upper-body injury. Compounding matters, Jason Dickinson didn’t play in the third period. Mikheyev and Dickinson are the Blackhawks’ best two defensive forwards and the heart of the all-important checking line.
Dickinson, who already missed three games this season with the same nagging injury, is questionable for Saturday’s game against Edmonton, Blashill said. He hopes Mikheyev will be back for that one. Even though the Blackhawks were on the road, Blashill said he would have tried to match up Dickinson and Mikheyev against Winnipeg’s vaunted first line of Kyle Connor, Scheifele and Gabriel Vilardi.
“They’re just really good players,” Blashill said “We’ve got a lot of young talent, but you still need those guys that know how to manage their shifts and go against other teams’ really good players. It’ll be something we’ll have to deal with.”
3. Louis Crevier got way too aggressive in the neutral zone in the first period, allowing Scheifele to blow by him and tee up the first of Vilardi’s two goals, this one on a two-on-one. It was a common theme on Thursday night. Blashill said he wants his defensemen gapping up laterally rather than moving north in the neutral zone.
“Actually, that shift was great — we had a great shift and then they come down two-on-one and score,” Blashill said. “That’s the maturing process for our team. (When) you work so hard to have a good shift, create those kind of things, you can’t give up those easy chances.”
4. André Burakovsky scored the prettiest Blackhawks goal of the season, and surely one of the best in the league, in the third period, briefly cutting the deficit to two goals. In front of the net, he spun to corral a Bedard pass from up top on the forehand, then, while still spinning, went between his legs and beat three-time Vezina Trophy-winner Connor Hellebuyck top-shelf.
we like this🙂 pic.twitter.com/19KN8w0XrH
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) October 31, 2025
The goal came two minutes after an Alex Vlasic tally and got Chicago within 5-3. But Winnipeg’s Kyle Connor answered right back with a beauty of his own, roofing a backhander past Knight to seal the win.
“It was a good goal, but at the end of the day, we didn’t win the game and that’s what’s most important, obviously,” Burakovsky said. “Would be better if we won, for sure.”
5. One positive Blashill took from the game was the Blackhawks’ push-back in the third period when down 5-1. Chicago had led or been tied through two periods in nine of its first 10 games, and only trailed Los Angeles by one entering the third.
“I thought our guys came out and fought hard,” Blashill said. “That was one of the things I was interested to see in terms of the character of our group — were we gonna lay down or were we gonna come out and play? And I thought we did a good job of that. Against this team, it’s hard to come back from that. We certainly made a fight for it. That part, I was excited about.”