A rebuilding team isn't necessarily just a team that missed the playoffs the year prior, but for the rankings of those teams from last season, The Athletic put together a list ranking the top rebuilding teams that are closest to winning a Stanley Cup. The Chicago Blackhawks rank fairly high on this list, but of course it is all speculation and lots can and will change with every one of the non-playoff teams from 2024-25.
Chicago ranks fourth on this list, behind the San Jose Sharks, Utah Mammoth, and Anaheim Ducks. This makes sense. All four have young goalies who will get better and likely be able to help the teams to where they want to be. They all have multiple options as well in case someone doesn't turn out.
The Blackhawks' top young forwards include Connor Bedard, Frank Nazar, and possibly Oliver Moore, but the rest of the great crop of forward prospects aren't exactly ready yet. San Jose has Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, William Eklund, and in the same boat as Moore, Michael Misa. Utah and Anaheim are the most established when it comes to the talent up front. The Mammoth have Clayton Keller, Logan Cooley, Barrett Hayton, JJ Peterka, and Dylan Guenther, with prospects like Caley Desnoyers, Tij Iginla, and Cole Beaudin next up. As for the Ducks, the team has Leo Carlsson, Troy Terry (28 years old), Mason McTavish, and Cutter Gauthier with Beckett Sennecke and Roger McQueen soon to arrive.
In terms of established young players and the surrounding cast, I think the Blackhawks are in a good spot behind the Sharks, Mammoth, and Ducks.
Defense is an interesting one. All four teams also have a great group of younger talent. Utah has a mix of established youth and almost ready top talent with Mikhail Sergachev (27) and Sean Durzi (26) as well as Maveric Lamoureux and Dmitri Simashev nearing more NHL ice time. Chicago and Anaheim are close in this area as the Ducks don't have as many options, but they are a little more established. The Blackhawks have plenty of options and can line their entire d-core and then some with their youth.
The Ducks have breakout Jackson LaCombe, Pavel Mintyukov, Olen Zellweger, Tristan Luneau, and Drew Helleson while the Blackhawks have Alex Vlasic, Sam Rinzel, Artyom Levshunov, Wyatt Kaiser, Kevin Korchinski, Nolan Allan, and Ethan Del Mastro. The Sharks, not ready to fill their squad with the young talent just yet, have Sam Dickinson, Shakir Mukhamadullin, Jack Thompson, Luca Cagnoni, and Haoxi Wang.
As I said above, anything can happen. These teams could all be the elite of the league in a few years time or some struggle and development doesn't go as planned with everything not coming together. The Blackhawks and the other three top ranked teams are all set up very nicely to have success in the near future and extend that for many years forward.
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