For the last 20 years (12 with The Hockey News) Dobber has reviewed each team from a fantasy-hockey standpoint and graded them.

The 20th annual review will appear here on DobberHockey throughout the summer. This is not a review of the likely performance on the ice or in the standings, but in the realm of fantasy hockey both for the season ahead as well as the foreseeable future. Offensively, will the team perform? Are there plenty of depth options worthy of owning in keeper leagues? What about over the next two or three years? These questions are what I take into consideration when looking at the depth chart and the player potential on that depth chart.

Enjoy!

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Chicago Blackhawks

Gone: Jonathan Toews, Caleb Jones, Jujhar Khaira, Anders Bjork, Ian Mitchell, Alec Regula, Andreas Englund

Incoming: Connor Bedard, Taylor Hall, Corey Perry, Nick Foligno, Ryan Donato

Impact of Changes: After a successful year of tanking, the Chicago Blackhawks lucked out and won the draft lottery to secure a potential generational talent in Connor Bedard. This is an NHL ready player who has the potential to make this a quick rebuild, though no one should expect this season to be a winning one. They added some veteran leadership in Corey Perry and Nick Foligno, along with established journeyman Taylor Hall to help this young team develop and keep games interesting.

This team should see a "Bedard-effect", where the top line and top power play will see increases in chance generation and goals scored. Whoever lines up with Connor Bedard will see a big boost in production. While some of these players will benefit from playing with Bedard on the offensive side, they will still be heavy minus players. As far as defense is concerned, similar results to last year should be expected. They ranked 29^th in shots against last season and 28^th in goals against.

Ready for Full Time:

Bedard can be a true generational talent. After posting 71 goals and 72 assists for the Regina Pats last year, he has nothing left to prove in junior. The Blackhawks will give him every opportunity to develop and thrive in the NHL. Point-per-game is not out of the question as above 17 minutes of ice time a night is a reasonable expectation. Bedard had a whopping 6.3 shots on goal per game in the WHL last year. He should continue to put the puck on net when he gets the opportunity. 300+ shots is a real possibility.

With two seasons of close to a point-per-game pace in the AHL, Lukas Reichel should make the jump and play a full season with the Blackhawks this year. He impressed last year when he was called up for 23 games, scoring 15 points in that span. He also picked up the pace to finish the last eight games with eight points. With Bedard entering the organization, Reichel's stocks have gone way up. It would be wise for the coaching staff to build some chemistry with their two top forward talents, so he should get a shot to play with Bedard at either even strength and/or on the top power. Whether he keeps that spot for a full season, will be up to their chemistry as there are a few others who could thrive in those spots (Taylor Hall, Taylor Raddysh, Philipp Kurashev, Andreas Athanasiou).

After scoring 30 points in 39 games in the AHL last season, Cole Guttman was called up and scored a beautiful first goal of his career, with an end-to-end rush in his 3^rd game. He totaled 4 goals and 6 points in 14 games, before having season ending shoulder surgery. He should be ready for training camp this season. At 24 years of age, this undersized prospect (5-9, 167lbs) will have to impress this season to ensure he is part of the Blackhawks plans moving forward. He has strong faceoff numbers and is respectable on the defensive side, which could earn him a middle-six spot on this developing team for the future.

Fantasy Outlook:

This team will score more goals this season as a result of the Bedard effect. A few players should greatly benefit from playing with him. On the forward side, fantasy value will be found in whomever is lining up with Bedard at even strength and on the top power-play unit. Hall and Reichel seem like the best bets to play with Bedard at even strength. Taylor Raddysh is also intriguing as he was extremely efficient on the power play last year and should get a look on that top unit right away. The Blackhawks may want to try the 25-year-old Raddysh out with Bedard at even strength to see if Raddysh can take one more step in his game to keep up with Bedard and find some long-lasting chemistry.

On the defensive side, Seth Jones should benefit. He should return to 50+ points again, finding more success on the top power-play unit and having a few more even strength assists, after his having his lowest total of even strength assists per 60 last year since 2016, when he was on Nashville. With similar shots, hits, and blocks to last year, he'll be a top 15 fantasy defenseman again. If Jones were to go down to injury, whoever gets that role on the top power play will be a worthy waiver add. This could be one of the younger D in Wyatt Kaiser or Filip Roos. Jarred Tinordi and Connor Murphy can provide some value in bangers categories, but they won't see many points.

There will be plenty of saves for Petr Mrazek, and any other goalie that gets some starts, whether it be Arvid Soderblom, Jaxson Stauber, or Drew Commesso. If you're in a league that values volume and saves, the Blackhawks goalie that gets the bulk of the starts could provide some value, but if you're in a standard categories league that counts wins, save percentage, and goals against, all of these goalies will provide negative value to your roster. Steer clear.

Fantasy Grade: C (Last year was a D-)