Alex Vlasic - Dec. 15 Chicago Blackhawks Media Availability postgame

The Chicago Blackhawks are 10-19-2 through 31 games (38% of the season). While it isn't a specific point in the season to be looking at the paces the players are on, we find ourselves here regardless.

Coming off a big 5-3 bounce-back win over the New York Islanders, we are going to look at where the Blackhawks players sit and what they are on pace to hit this season, both with their current games missed and pace over a full 82-game season. I will only take players who have played at least 10 games, so Frank Nazar, Kevin Korchinski, Louis Crevier, and Isaak Phillips won't be counted.

All stats in the table are based on if every player were to play all of the remaining games.

There are some interesting things to note from the projections. First, while Connor Bedard would finish with more points than he did in his rookie season, he is still set to regress in goals. If he continues on his pace and ends with a sub-20 goal season, that would tie him with Teuvo Teravainen, Taylor Hall, and Nick Foligno while finishing below Ryan Donato and Tyler Bertuzzi. That's what the stats are telling us, but I think Bedard still ends the season stronger than he started. His shooting percentage has to go up.

Donato is set to shatter his career highs in goals (16) and points (31) and he hasn't even played every game this season. He is one of the most impressive stories for the Blackhawks this season.

Alex Vlasic has really stepped up in Seth Jones' absence and is projected to finish with a great offensive stat line. He is playing as the number one defenseman and both playing on the top power play and penalty kill. The young d-man has taken a big leap forward from an impressive 2023-24 breakout season.

Teravainen, Hall, and Bertuzzi are all set to regress from their previous seasons and the struggles from this supporting cast is a reason why goals aren't coming for the Blackhawks. There are signs of the offense starting to come, but until it does, we can only look at what these veterans have done instead.

Last season Foligno recorded his most points in a season since 2016-17 and the prediction was that his numbers would drop off this season with more competition for playing time. Surprisingly, that hasn't been the case and the captain is right on par with his goals and points from last season, albeit in a projected seven more games by season's end.

Jason Dickinson's regression offensively was expected given the players brought in. He finished last season tied for the team lead with 22 goals and was great defensively.

Two surprising seasons in a bad way have been from Philipp Kurashev and Pat Maroon. Kurashev more so though. After a breakout with 18 goals and 54 points, he sits at three goals and five points. He is tied for 16th on the team in points. Maroon, on the other hand, has just one goal. He will likely end up playing more games this season than last (51) and could pop a couple more goals, but he hasn't been in on the offense as much as the Blackhawks have needed, even given the veteran is on the fourth line.

There are a few bright spots and time to turn things around for the rest of the team, so we'll have to continue watching trends and seeing the progression of the Blackhawks this season.

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