Connor Bedard’s supporting cast grows as Tyler Bertuzzi eyes a career year and Sam Rinzel prepares for top-pair duties. Discover which Windy City stars will anchor rosters.
Training camps are opening across the league, which means puck drop is right around the corner, and fantasy hockey drafters are officially on the clock. It's been anything but a quiet summer, with blockbuster trades, marquee free-agent signings and full-scale roster shakeups still settling into place.
To help you get ready, we're breaking things down team by team, calling out a sleeper worth stashing late, a breakout candidate poised to take a leap, and a bust who may cost more than he's worth on draft day. Up next: the Chicago Blackhawks.
Chicago's season started with real promise but collapsed down the stretch, with the Blackhawks finishing 29-39-14 for 72 points, the second-worst mark in the league.
Through the first two months, Connor Bedard looked like a completely different player, putting together 44 points in his first 31 games and establishing himself as one of the league's premier young scorers, before a fluke shoulder injury on December 12 derailed both his season and the team's momentum.
With Bedard now locked up and Frank Nazar emerging as a legitimate secondary scoring option after breaking the 40-point mark for the first time, Chicago's front office hopes this offseason finally marks the last time the organization finds itself picking near the top of the draft.
Sleeper: Tyler Bertuzzi
After a solid 58-point campaign this past season, Bertuzzi sees his line get stronger with the addition of Patrick Kane alongside Bedard. The team's top line will be lethal when healthy, and Bertuzzi stands to benefit greatly in a role similar to what Gabe Vilardi enjoys in Winnipeg alongside Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor.
Some are worried about how Bertuzzi will fare if Kane, who is 37 entering the season, goes down with an injury. But Bertuzzi was solid enough with Bedard alone to put up nearly 60 points last season, and with Kane joining the unit, he could get back to numbers resembling his career-best 2021-22 campaign in Detroit, where he posted nearly a point-per-game average with 62 points in 68 games.
A near point-per-game pace is a real possibility for Bertuzzi, and he's ranked as low as outside the top 226 players. Still, be on your toes: his average draft position is as high as inside the top 140 picks, a range that's fair for a potential 65-plus point player, which would mark a career year for the 31-year-old Sudbury, Ontario native.
Breakout: Sam Rinzel
The Blackhawks' subtle additions could pay off big for Rinzel. The 22-year-old is set to keep playing top-pairing minutes alongside newcomer Bowen Byram, giving him his first skilled defense partner, while a deeper top six, boosted by Kane joining Bedard and continued growth from Frank Nazar and Anton Frondell.
The additions should open up more assist opportunities for Rinzel, who enters a contract year, with 30-plus points this season likely putting him in line for a payday. Rinzel is going just inside the top 225 picks on average, though his ADP has climbed as high as 131st overall, nearly 100 picks ahead of his ranking, signaling other drafters are buying the breakout too.
Taking him at 131st overall feels aggressive next to defensemen typically drafted right after him, like Ekblad, Toews and Edvinsson, but compared to the tier below, including Jake Walman, Colton Parayko and Olen Zellweger, Rinzel offers considerably more upside, making him a worthwhile target in the 12th-to-14th-round range.
Bust: Anton Frondell
The hype around the former third-overall pick is captivating, as he'll be given top-six minutes in his first full NHL season after a stellar finish that saw him record nine points in 12 games following his call-up.
But the cost is steep with some outlets ranking him as high as inside the top 110 players, ahead of established names like Nikolaj Ehlers and Mathew Barzal, both of whom cleared 70 points last season.
Expecting a 19-year-old to top 70 points in his rookie campaign isn't realistic, and even his average draft position of 140th overall is too rich, going off the board ahead of players like Barzal, Joel Eriksson Ek and Dylan Strome, all of whom will more than likely finish with more Fantasy points.
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