{"id":545334,"date":"2026-03-26T00:20:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T00:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/545334\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T00:20:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T00:20:09","slug":"blackhawks-need-to-find-young-forward-who-can-take-over-jason-dickinsons-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/545334\/","title":{"rendered":"Blackhawks need to find young forward who can take over Jason Dickinson’s job"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHILADELPHIA \u2014 For as encouraging overall as the Blackhawks<\/a>\u2019 win Tuesday over the Islanders was, the lopsided third period highlighted one new weakness in their lineup.<\/p>\n

For years, the Hawks have direly lacked firepower in the top six but always had a reliable checking line to lean on, at least whenever Jason Dickinson was healthy.<\/p>\n

During Dickinson\u2019s four years in Chicago, he emerged as legitimately one of the best defensive centers in the NHL, and Ilya Mikheyev emerged last season as an excellent right-hand man for him.<\/p>\n

Now, Anton Frondell\u2019s arrival and Nick Lardis\u2019 growth \u2014 not to mention Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar\u2019s returns to full health \u2014 have juiced up the top six, which is starting to resemble its likely 2026-27 composition. Roman Kantserov\u2019s arrival next fall will inject even more offensive juice.<\/p>\n

But at the same time, Dickinson and Nick Foligno\u2019s trade<\/a> departures have decimated the defensive stoutness of the bottom six. Analytically, Mikheyev\u2019s even-strength defense has also taken a step back this season, even though he has thrived on the penalty kill. Teuvo Teravainen\u2019s play across the board has dipped, too.<\/p>\n

When the Islanders pushed hard Tuesday<\/a>, the Hawks discovered they didn\u2019t have a line they could rely on to possess the puck, tilt the ice, squash scoring chances and disrupt the home team\u2019s momentum \u2014 things Dickinson usually found a way to do.<\/p>\n

The third line of Ryan Donato centering Mikheyev and Andre Burakovsky got caved in; chances favored the Islanders 8-1 during their five-on-five ice time. Bedard\u2019s line fared no better in best-on-best shifts.<\/p>\n

Slotting Teravainen into Burakovsky\u2019s place might help a little bit, but there\u2019s simply no evidence Donato \u2014 whose defensive analytics have always been subpar, even during his career season \u2014 can be an effective checking center on his own.<\/p>\n

During Donato\u2019s three-year Hawks tenure, he has been successful next to Dickinson (plus-five goal differential) and next to Bedard (plus-two), but he has struggled mightily apart from them (minus-30). His scoring-chance ratio with Dickinson was 51.9%; without him it\u2019s 41.7%.<\/p>\n

So which Hawks forwards \u2014 specifically which young forwards \u2014 will step up as their defensive anchors moving forward? <\/p>\n

That question seems to be on the front of coach Jeff Blashill\u2019s mind. He brought up Tuesday that \u201csomebody, ultimately, is going to have to be a guy that learns to play against the other teams\u2019 best.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhoever that is, I don\u2019t know that yet,\u201d Blashill added. \u201cYou can sometimes use your top two lines for that, but that taxes them a lot. Most teams throughout the league that have had success [haven\u2019t done that]. Even when they have a great player like [Panthers star Aleksander] Barkov, [Anton] Lundell filled that spot most of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oliver Moore\u2019s defense was better than expected<\/a> this season, but his injury prevented the Hawks from getting a substantial look at him in a checking role.<\/p>\n

Ryan Greene\u2019s defense was acclaimed coming out of college, when he was heralded as a Dickinson-type player, but he also hasn\u2019t gotten much experience in an NHL checking role this season due to his unexpected chemistry with Bedard.<\/p>\n

Blashill mentioned Sunday wanting to give Greene some time at center (presumably third-line center) down the stretch, but after he opted Tuesday to bump Burakovsky instead of Greene off Bedard\u2019s line to make room for Frondell, he was noncommittal about the Greene-at-center idea.<\/p>\n

Landon Slaggert has solidified his lineup spot this season with decent defense and penalty-killing, but it\u2019s unclear if his upside exceeds that of \u201cfourth-line utility guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sacha Boisvert, who will likely debut Thursday against the Flyers, is another candidate \u2014 as is AJ Spellacy, who will compete for an NHL job next fall. But although their physicality and grittiness will be welcome in the lineup, those traits don\u2019t necessarily translate to defensive effectiveness.<\/p>\n

This question could linger for a while.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Anton<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Frondell earned an assist on Ilya Mikheyev\u2019s go-ahead goal in the Hawks\u2019 eventual 4-3 win Tuesday, even though things got dicey in the third period.<\/p>\n

[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
\n \u00a0\n <\/p>\n

read<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Anton<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The No. 3 pick from last summer met the Hawks on Monday and will play on the first line Tuesday against the Islanders.<\/p>\n

[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
\n \u00a0\n <\/p>\n

read<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Oliver<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Moore\u2019s lower-body injury likely will prevent him from playing any more games this season, but plenty still can be taken from the 21-year-old forward\u2019s 51 NHL appearances.<\/p>\n

[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
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