8 ft 6? Vlasic must be a beast 😂

Unrelated, but Shannon you’re an enabler. I just counted my jersey collection and I’m at 72. See you in the looney bin brother

Reichel was sent down to rockford for those 15 or so games he missed with the big club. He returned looking like a man on a mission in my estimation. He was skating faster, passing better and even scored a couple on the final stretch of the season. He seemed to have pulled it back together to wrap up this year.

From the perspective of a Hawks fan who watched every game, even the 8-1 blowouts: - No shot Richardson gets fired this summer. He's had dog water rosters to deal with and even then he's shown he can get them competing. They just need better players to be consistent. If the Hawks finish at the bottom of the NHL again, then Luke will be on the hot seat - Reichel really struggled for a lot of the season then got sent down to Rockford for a bit. Once he was back up he looked like a new player. He'll get an extension soon to keep proving himself - ALEX VLASIC - While Mrazek had absolutely no business being as good as he was, Soderblom was not good at all. Davidson said all G positions will be open for competition so we'll see how that turns out - Bedard was out of control once he got back from injury. He'll be very exciting to watch next season Keep up the good work Shannon!

No chance Bedard doesn't get the Calder. A lot of people jumped on the Faber bandwagon, which is nice, and the kid should have a good career, but Bedard lived up to his billing.

I'm very excited about the future for our Blackhawks. But we still have like two or three more years of absolute pain.

The Hockey Guy, Your videos are fantastic! I just had to subscribe!

There is a 0% chance either Richardson or Davidson is going to get fired. They had some really crippling injuries, and they did the best they could while missing several of their key veterans for dozens of games. You also did not put Gavin Hayes or Nick Lardis on your prospects list. They both have been big goal scorers in the OHL.

I don’t see Tinordi coming back. He fell off a cliff this season and is in the way of 3-5 NHL-ready D prospects (Kaiser, Crevier, Phillips, Del Mastro, and Nolan Allen).

As a Rockford native, hearing you talk about Rockford is so weird every time. Hitting too close to home there THG!

Hidden Camera? Don't you realise Gary has got your set bugged. :)

Very excited for the seasons to come this was a tough year, especially on the road. Here’s to better days!

Marcel Marcel!! Hope springs eternal.

Love that jersey!

insightful video. not a Hawks fan but curious as to what thier objectives are.

Beautiful Jersey. What a surreal season Kane had in Detroit. Some players' careers seemed to be blessed by the gods. so clutch in OT wins. one after another. unreal!

That jersey looks NICE! Love the colours on the feathers Edit: noticed it's actually the same colours pretty much as usual, but the intricacy of the feather design makes it look so different and more fancy.

Can't wait for the Taylor Hall lottery buff to kick in next month.

I really don't if Shannon is sarcastic with all those 8 footers 😂

Blackhawks fan, thanks for this video. Watching the end-of-season pressers from the players, Tyler Johnson is all but gone, he wants to play meaningful games again. Most Chicago fans and pundits will tell you Tinordi is a traffic cone. He's a traffic cone with some physicality. Zaitsev was unimpressive. Vlasic played on the top D pair w/Jones and was second in D minutes to Jones. A huge bright spot in a crappy year. Davidson said they will be better next year, they have to be. The question is how much better? He will not sacrifice the future for the present.

It blows my mind that Chicago's drought is more or less in line with Detroit's.

Do you plan to cover Worlds in may? Team Canada roster looks amazing so far.

Thank you for the Vlasic shoutout, he was incredible as a rookie being out best shutdown defenseman

You also missed Brett Seney, Jaxson Stauber who broke the franchise record for consecutive wins in Rockford from 7 to 14 games straight, Hardman also had a career year for Rockford. Rockford also had good chemistry going with Seney, Guttman, Pitlick on the same line, which could easily be a great 3rd or 4th line in Chicago as all 3 have NHL experience.

Good video as always. As a Hawks fan I would mention that for a stretch of the season they had more cap on LTIR than on the ice too. Doesn't mean they're a playoff team by any stretch, but it's just a lot of guys getting plugged in for roles. Needing Sanford, Beauviller, Pitlick, Megna, etc...

Great breakdown Shannon! Always impressed at how knowledgeable you are of teams across the league. I would be surprised to see the Hawks in contention for a WC spot next year, but best case scenario maybe they have a season like the Coyotes this year where they’re in it through the new year before ultimately falling off. Bright future ahead, though!

Thank you HG. Much needed, & a somewhat, positive outlook for the Charlestown/Chicago Blackhawks. Reichel is a major concern. They've had a exact same issue with Kubalik, Pius Suter & a few other good/top prospects in the very near past. The Hagel trade is going to sting for a very, very long time. He was the absolute, epitome of a Windy City greasy grinder.

Gotta eat a lot of Chicago style pizza to grow to 8 feet!

“Unless you ask the internet who says they have a 100% chance” truer words have never been spoken

Interested if they make waves prior to the draft, who they target to bring in

You got vlasic an extension

Appreciate your work, as a Chicagoan and Hawks supporter this was very well done. I do not think they bring back any of their ufas.

It sounds like Davidson wants to use some money this off-season to get better and spend some money to do so. The Hawks had massive offense problems. Not being able to control the puck in the offensive zone hurt the defense as much as it shows how bad the offense was. AS a result I think the Hawks will try to get 2 more top 6 wings. A better offensive weapon to play with Bedard and someone skilled enough that Nazar and any other of the kids playing with them won't fail because they are left on an island like Bedard kind of was for most of the year. Not necessarily superstars, but 6-7 mill for solid options. Get another 1-2 bottom 6 forwards. People don't realize Bedard was on the ice for nearly 20 min/night. Less ice time with more effective ice time by being able to trust your 3rd and 4th lines. These shouldn't cost an arm and a leg, but are important additions. I could see them trading Seth Jones. Retain some of his money and get another few draft picks/players. He is over priced for what he is on this team and i feel the Hawks could get a better fit in free agency for close to the same cost. He had 31 points this year, and 37 points the year before. He has a cap hit of 9.5 million over the next 5 seasons. WTF? That contract might be too much to trade away.

does stamkos to the hawks make sense or is most likely to stay in tampa or maybe go to Detroit as of right now

Future is bright for young hawks

Reichel was solid after his stint in Rockford.

Agreed on crevier and some of the prospects. Crevier is 6’8 which is just fucking huge to be on the ice and I actually didn’t hate his game all that bad when he was up with the hawks. Although he’s an rfa he’s only 22 and Richardson has praised that he’s adapted to the speed of nhl well. I believe he comes back on a 2 year deal. He’s definitely more of a project compared to vlasic which is a similar build

What is Tinordi style ?

Luke ain’t getting fired

This is only the end of year 2 of the rebuild lol this is not over yet. Give it like 2-3 years.

We should have had a better record. Tons on injuries , losing Hall in the beginning of the year and Perry booted off the team. AA hurt most of the year. Defense is getting better. Vlasic is a stud. Lots of $ available and drafting top 4. Next year should be better

Do they have a captain?

If teams wanted to clear cap and the players agreed to go, i could see chicago being able to take on a contract like Taveres or dubois, though with dubois history i don't know how well it'd work there.

What are the compares for the next few years, who do the hawks have? Kane ( Bedard ) Ladd ( Kurashev ) Brouwer ( Dickinson ) Canpbell ( Jones ) Hjarlmasson ( Vlasic ) Seabrook ( Korchinski ? ) Crawford ( Mrazek ? ) Missing.....A Toews, a Hossa, a Sharp, a Keith, a Versteeg, a Shaw, a Bolland, a Rozival. That's a lot of holes, but a good free agent signing this summer and two two good ones in 25 will be a big help. They should be able to have a few hits from previous drafts and the upcoming ones to fill out the roster.

Shannon hits it right on the head. If not for the COVID year, it's a 7-year playoff drought when half the league makes it. They also haven't been even close to making it sans-COVID. Hilarious people think this team didn't deserve Bedard or they don't deserve Celebrini. Could be the worst team in the league in that stretch.

They have good, young talent to go w/ Bedard and they have a capable starter in Mrazek and perhaps Stauber will challenge Soderblom for back-up duty. But Jones’ ridiculous deal will hurt Chicago’s attempts to add important pieces going forward (someone like Foligno but a bit younger, etc.) and make no mistake Chicago was still quite bad even w/ Bedard (minus-44 along with Kurashev) so the Blackhawks will go through at least two more painful years of seeing how their picks and already-there talent looks THEN they can possibly start thinking of building toward better days.

Good thoughts on the team. My question is why do you think Coach Luke might be on the way out?

Which Hawks prospects (not including Bedard) have a legitimate chance to become stars? Maybe Nazar and Korchinsky? Plus their top pick this year. One thing this gentleman didn’t mention is that the Hawks have a boatload of extra picks this year and next, including two extra first rounders.

I went to a few games in Rockford this year and Louis Crevier will probably never sniff an NHL roster again. He didnt get much playing time with the hawks when they had him up this year and he looks lost most of the time in the AHL. He's massive but that's about all he's got going for himself.

Realistically, I'm hoping the Hawks are seriously competitive and fun to watch in the 2025-26 season, shooting for the playoffs. But my heart is hoping for a team we can have fun cheering for as soon as next season.

Can someone tell me how the NHL favors the Hawks when the club has had TWO number one overall picks in the last SIXTY years? I know the content creator doesn't believe that, but damn!

stamkos is the dream for hawks fans this offseason. tanev and domi, solid plan b.

Most of our UFAs this offseason will be gone, mercifully. A lot of them were plugs we picked up when we had half our forwards injured or removed from the team. Blackwell will probably be back as he's not terrible. Hardman will probably be kept around for Rockford. TyJo is gone and I'm so glad. Dude sucked all season long when he needed to step up as a vet. Soderblom is done in Chicago. He was absolutely awful after what was supposed to be a break-out year for him. I don't see Commesso or Stauber coming up from Rockford yet. They want them more seasoned. Gajan isn't, either; he's way down the goalie depth chart. Hawks will pick up a veteran UFA backup tendie for sure. Reichel will get a last chance deal. If he doesn't improve, he'll more likely than not be packaged at the deadline next year. Don't expect the Hawks to blow up the UFA market this season unless the Leafs go crazy and swap Marner for Jones or they convince Marchessault to come here. They'll grab some pieces, but their intent is to go all-in next year when the big names like Draisaitl and Rantanen hit the market.

Having only one Johnson or none is normal.

Getting Hall back and a couple free agents + subtracting guys like Tinordi, Raddysh, Megna, and Zaitsev should have them winning more games right off the bat next year. I think that’s the next step in “building” phase is just not putting guys out there that you’d swear are there to make the team lose they’re so bad.

I'd like to see the Hawks draft Cole Eiserman! With him and Bedard on the same line, wow! Other than that, you're pretty spot on Hockey Guy. (Cringing) I'd like them to dump Foligno, Donoto, the Johnson's and move on from Seth Jones.

Hopefully, the kid will learn to keep his head up. I was at that game he busted his face and it was BRUTAL.

I want to like the Hawks but them jumping 5 spots to get Kane and then jumping to get Bedard just annoys me. They lucked into a dynasty and now lucked into a superstar player.

We need Marcel Marcel asap in chicago!😅

100 percent chance. 😂😂😂😂😂

They got 39 points last year and this year they got 52 points

You must have loved Fedor Fedorov.

Love that Jersey

Reichel is the biggest head-scratcher. There are times out there when he shows skill that looks like he can compete at the NHL level. But because he's slight of size, he becomes very easy to knock off the puck and looks like a child out there. Where this teams needs to improve is on the blue line. and they appear to have some big, solid, young defensemen who are ready to make an impact.

You skipped some of the more interesting prospects in the pipeline like Nick Lardis, Roman Kantserov, Martin Misiak, Gavin Hayes, and Ethan Del Mastro. Overall great job though and keep up the good work.

They'll beat the odds again and get the #1 overall pick again. Gary told me ;)

Draft Eiserman or demidov at 2 Drop both Johnson’s and Raddysh Do anything to trade jones away Give the kids a chance to play and look at some decent FA’s

The Blackhawks.

Did Chicago's coach get fired halfway through creating this video?

Just adding a quality backup will help make difference !!! Soderblom is TERRIBLE !!!

Perhaps the Hawks can finish at .500 next year?

I knew it’d be rough. The Blackhawks had a hard time scoring with Kane and Toews, Debrincat and Hagel in recent years. This team needs to get out of the basement, fast

I think Bedard is so good he will force the rebuild to work, hes not just any first round pick hes a generational talent he will will them into success

You forgot to mention decimated by injuries.

Commesso is getting at least 1, probably 2 more years in the AHL dw

Appreciate your thought. Thank you.

Connor gonna have to toughen up maybe learn how to fight and check build some builk something because I noticed a lot of highlights on my feed of him getting lit up.

- Reichel I think was really good when he was allowed to play. Why Richardson cut his minutes when he was starting to play his best hockey is a mystery on it's own, but no player is going to develop and be good when they are getting 11 minutes a night. -Mrazek was far from fantastic. Compared to his counterpart maybe, but far from fantastic at the NHL level. He had some great games in there for sure, but also many subpar games. And overall finished with the 39th best GSAA/60, leaving him at around an average to slightly above average back up goalie. He will be a good mentor, but Hawks still need to seek out a future true starter. Mrazek isn't it both because of age and skill level. -Soderblom never should have been in the NHL to start with. He struggled in the AHL and never earned a spot to go up to the NHL. Then when given a change he was one of if not the worst goalie in the NHL. He didn't deserve to be in the AHL much less the NHL. Why in the world would he deserve another chance in the NHL next year?

Here i am wishing i was 8 ft tall 😂

why would you even consider the possibility of richardson getting fired any time soon lol

You and sooooo many other Blackhawk fans want Marcel Marcel to make it to the team lol.

Now add Demidov in a year

They will be better once Bettman gives the the 1st overall pick again.

Merz is a great goalie! So glad we signed him. I think next year will be a bit better. We went from the top of ladder to the bottom. Step by step. I think the hawks have a bright future. Maybe 5 years. Which seems like alot but. It could happen

are you saying 8ft tall as a joke?😅😅😅

Marcel Marceau won't score any actual goals, but he'll pantomime the celebrations!

I think Blackhawks fans are going to have to be patient. Next year should be better if Davidson could (and should) sign a couple of top six forwards. 2026 is optimistic for a Playoff spot, it all depends on how guys like Nazar,Moore, Lardis,etc develop. And Seth Jones is here for a while. He's not worth his contract, but the second half of the Season he was pretty good on this terrible team. Johnson (both), Tinordi, Megna, Zaitsev, and Blackwell are all likely gone.

Mrazek was great. Soderblum was terrible.

It COULD be a star studded draft.. if the media chooses to market some guys that way. lol. I noticed in the League UFC for MMA, their "stars" are heavily a "marketing" gimmick. Why Can't the NHL do it too? cough. zegras.

The Blackhawks are on a trajectory similar to the teams that drafted Toews and Kane back to back, and four years later won it all. I would venture to say that Chicago wins a Stanley Cup before the Leafs do. Their window of opportunity is closing fast, the core four there are all either 26 or 27, but have nothing to show for it other than great regular season stats. Kane and Toews already had three Cups by the time they were 27.

Luke Richardson is here for rhe long term he's not on the hot seat. Söderblom should be gone career record is 7-34-4 with a gaa 3.84 and sv% .883. Raddysh show to not shoot at all. Tinordi needs to go hes horrible

Chicago stripped this team down the studs, so it's going to be that much harder to back in the playoffs anytime soon, unless multiple teams in their division decide to implode. I can see them doing the same free agency short term signings they did last time, to be able to offer veterans a big short term contract and the chance to get moved at the deadline to a contender. Having some players of unusual size in the lineup is a good idea to ride shotgun with all the kids on the ice.

Too early on richardson but he did some questionable and outright dumb personell moves all season.

Just not enough nhl caliber players for ajll these teams.rebuilding with what talent pools.the league has great athlete's not equating to entertaining nhl games.

Tinordi is legit the worst player in the NHL

jarred tinordi was atrocious this year. they are not re-signing him in any universe, including this one. there's a reason he was universally given an F this year

Yes, oh yes, we are ready to hit the ground running.

If they get Celebrini, him and Bedard will be the Crosby and Malikin of the 2020's.

Aka the chicago bedard’s

Soderbloom sucks. He’s a really bad goalie. Mrazek is very underrated