Blackhawks Penalty Kill Trying To Move Forward With Young Players Taking Over

The Chicago Blackhawks have had the number one penalty kill in the NHL for quite some time. They aren’t a winning team, but that aspect of their overall game has been impressive for most of the 2025-26 season. 

Part of the PK success was the play of Nick Foligno, Connor Murphy, and Jason Dickinson. All three of them were traded away ahead of the deadline, and the penalty kill units miss them. 

On Friday night against the Colorado Avalanche, the Blackhawks gave up two power-play goals. Despite having so much firepower, the Avalanche came in with the 29th-ranked power play, but they found a way against the Blackhawks. 

That makes it 7 power play goals against over the 8 games since the trade deadline. Chicago enters an idle Saturday with the second-ranked PK at 84.1 percent. To still be in second after giving up 7 power play goals in 8 games tells you how good the kill was ahead of the deadline. 

Now, the Blackhawks must move forward with younger players taking over the kill. Special teams is an important aspect of the game, and they have a PK system that has worked well, but new faces need reps. 

"I think it's something that you continue to gain experience with," Wyatt Kaiser said of the PK. "There are going to be some stumbles and falls, but we have to learn from those and continue to move forward and get better."

Kaiser mentioned that there are certain plays that you only see in the NHL, and that seeing them and learning from them is how to get better. With stars like Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, and Marty Necas on the other side, it can take time for young players to process. 

"Some new guys are on there, but our structure hasn't changed," Ryan Greene said. "We're still trying to accomplish the same thing within the same structure. Giving up two [against Colorado] wasn't good enough; it's on us to execute better."

Ryan Greene, as a rookie, has a deep understanding of the game. He isn't a flashy player who will have all of these incredible stats, but he knows how to play well in all situations. His words echo what Kaiser said: they just need to keep learning from their triumphs and mistakes. Blashill had a similar response. 

"You need reps," Blashill said on the PK postgame. "Penalty kill is one of those things where there are so many different nuances that happen. We certainly have our structure, but I don't know any way to learn it without going through it. They're getting those reps."

Blashill also made a point that they have had multiple instances of killing off most of the penalty and then allowing one late after some great work. That will certainly impact the numbers, but he also understands that you need to kill the full two minutes to win more than you lose. 

The head coach also pointed out that they have committed to trial by fire, so the young players are going to continue getting big PK minutes as the season winds down. In that sense, moving out the veterans to make room for them was a wise choice. It's better to develop the PK now than when they are trying to win down the line. 

The commitment to being a winning player is there up and down the lineup, and they are not afraid to work on getting better.

The dip in penalty kill since the deadline is never easy to deal with, but it will be more valuable for the future of the team to see the youth take over, rather than guys succeeding who won't be there in the long term.

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