For the last 22 years (12 with The Hockey News), Dobber has reviewed each team from a fantasy hockey standpoint and graded them.

The 23rd annual review will appear here on Dobber Hockey 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 considered when examining the depth chart and evaluating the potential of the players on it.

Enjoy!

** Be sure to pick up your copy of the 2025-2026 Fantasy Hockey Guide **

Gone – Joe Veleno, Philipp Kurashev, Alec Martinez, T.J. Brodie, Andreas Athanasiou, Pat Maroon, Anders Sorensen (Head Coach)

Incoming – Andre Burakovsky, Sam Lafferty, Dominic Toninato, Jeff Blashill (Head Coach)

Impact of Changes – Incoming head coach, Jeff Blashill, was in Detroit for seven seasons between 2015-16 and 2021-22, in which Detroit made the playoffs once. The most goals a player scored during his time there were 31 and 32 by Dylan Larkin, and only Tyler Bertuzzi (30) and Andreas Athanasiou (30) reached 30 goals or more.

Only nine players had 20 goals or more. He was brought in to improve the overall play of the young players, not to let them open up offensively. Hopefully, the players see an improvement in production as a result, but Blashill's track record for offense isn't great.

Blashill was an assistant coach the past three seasons in Tampa Bay, where they didn't advance past the first round in each of those years.

How did young players develop under Blashill in his seven years with Detroit? Some prominent prospects who debuted under Blashill were Larkin, Anthony Mantha, Tyler Bertuzzi, Filip Zadina, Filip Hronek, Dennis Cholowski, Michael Rasmussen, Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider.

It's a bit of a mixed bag, as Larkin, Bertuzzi, Hronek, Raymond and Seider flourished while Mantha and Rasmussen became NHL regulars. Cholowski and Zadina haven't fared as well up to this point.

It shows what type of young player Blashill might give the opportunity to going forward in Chicago.

Will Connor Bedard, Frank Nazar, Oliver Moore, Anton Frondell, Nick Lardis, Sam Rinzel, Kevin Korchinski, and Artyom Levshunov be given the freedom to make mistakes or kept on a tight leash?

Andre Burakovsky should be given the opportunity to play in the top-six, but he might need to compete to get on the first unit of the power play. The forwards on the unit should come down to Bedard, Ryan Donato, Tyler Bertuzzi, Nazar, Teuvo Teravainen and Burakovsky.

Sam Lafferty and Dominic Toninato were both brought in for forward depth. Lafferty should slot in on the fourth line, while Toninato will need to battle to get a few games in the NHL as a fourth-liner.

By choosing not to dip into free agency, the Blackhawks are allowing their young players an opportunity in 2025-26 to play regular minutes and contribute at the NHL level.

Ready for Full Time – Frank Nazar, Oliver Moore, Landon Slaggert, Colton Dach, Sam Rinzel, Ethan Del Mastro, Kevin Korchinski, Artyom Levshunov

Nazar played 53 games in 2024-25 as a rookie and put up 12 goals and 14 assists (0.49 pts/g). He should be given an opportunity to be the second-line center and should see 70 games in 2025-26. He could get 20 goals, 20 assists and 250 faceoff wins.

Moore turned pro after his 2024-25 college campaign ended with the University of Minnesota. The 19th overall pick in 2023 finished his college career with 21 goals and 45 assists in 77 games. He played nine games with Chicago after signing and had four assists. Given the choice between playing sporadically on the fourth line in the NHL in 2025-26 or getting a lot of ice time in the AHL, I think the Blackhawks will elect for the latter for at least the first 20-30 games and let his play decide. His route could be similar to Nazar’s last year where he spends a couple months in the AHL to start and if he excels, he’ll get to the NHL on a full-time basis.

Slaggert has played 49 NHL games over the past two seasons with Chicago and has three goals, seven assists, 41 hits and 20 blocks. He's not going to provide much in the way of fantasy production, but he could compete for a regular role in 2025-26 in the bottom-six.

Dach played 25 games for the Blackhawks in 2025-26 and had two goals, five assists and 86 hits. His AHL production has been a little surprising in 81 games with 23 goals and 30 assists over two seasons. Injuries are his Achilles heel as he hasn't played more than 62 games at any level in any season. He's an intriguing fantasy prospect as his style leads to lots of hits but that puts him at risk for injuries. He could battle for a regular role in the bottom-six in 2025-26. He could produce 10-12 goals and assists with 150-200 hits if he played 70 games.

Rinzel was a teammate of Oliver Moore at the University of Minnesota, and they both left at the same time to turn pro. Rinzel played 79 college games with 12 goals and 48 assists. He was very impressive in nine games with the Blackhawks, posting five assists, 12 hits and five blocks while averaging 23:22 per game. Of his five points, three were on the power play. He should be in the running to be the top PP quarterback in 2025-26 as well as in the top four on defense.

Del Mastro played 24 games in 2025-26 for the Blackhawks and posted two goals, four assists, 40 hits and 21 blocks while averaging 18:19 per game. He won't offer much in the way of fantasy other than hits if he plays 70 games. He will battle for a bottom-pairing role in 2025-26.

Korchinski played 76 NHL games for Chicago in 2023-24 and struggled with just 15 points. He played 16 NHL games with two points and 56 AHL games with 27 points in 2024-25. The 7th overall pick in 2022 doesn't appear to have the inside track to be a top-four defender or the top quarterback with the Blackhawks entering into 2025-26. This year is crucial for his development. He needs to be an NHL regular or look for Chicago to move him.

Levshunov was a rookie in 2024-25 and won't turn 20 until the end of October. The 2nd overall pick in 2024, played 52 AHL games with 22 points and 18 NHL games, putting up six points, 19 hits and 20 blocks. While he might not be a big point producer, he could generate 25-35 points and 100 hits and 100 blocks if he plays 75 games in 2025-26.

Fantasy Outlook

Chicago improved from 2023-24 to 2024-25, earning 23 wins to 25 and scoring 2.73 goals per game (26th in the NHL) compared to 2.17/g (32nd). Their power play went from 16.6% (28th) to 24.9% (7th). Their shots on goal didn't improve as it went from 26.3/g (31st) to 24.5/g (32nd).

If they can improve their offense at even-strength and maintain their power play, we should see an overall increase in production.

The team was led in goals by Ryan Donato (31) and had Bedard (23), Bertuzzi (23) and Ilya Mikheyev (20) reach twenty goals as well.

Nazar (12), Burakovsky (10) and Lukas Reichel (8) are all capable of getting there as well in 2025-26, with Nazar being the most likely.

Donato might be hard-pressed to duplicate in 2025-26 but should get to 20 tallies again.

Bedard led the Blackhawks with 67 points, followed by Donato (62) and Teravainen (58). Bertuzzi had 46 points and has only exceeded 48 points once in his career, so expect that as his ceiling.

Bedard should continue to improve but is not yet set to break out past 90 points, so expect 70-80 points.

Donato should come down a little into the 45- to 55-point range. Teravainen is in the 50- to 60-point range year in year out. Nazar should be able to reach 45-55 points in 70-80 games, while one of the young defenders (Alex Vlasic, Kaiser, Rinzel, Levshunov or Korchinski) should benefit from the departure of Seth Jones and produce 35-45 points on defense.

Bedard led the team in power-play points with 29, followed by Teravainen (24), Bertuzzi (20), Donato (14), and Vlasic (12).

If Bertuzzi doesn't get PP time, his production is concerning at just 26 ES points in 82 games. 

Reichel is a dark-horse candidate in what surely must be a make-or-break campaign for him as a member of the Blackhawks. He could still surprise with 20 goals and 40-50 points, but could also be traded in the first few weeks after continuing to struggle in the NHL

Chicago has some excellent young players who should become regulars in the next year or two, and this team should start improving in the overall standings. They might still be two or three years away from the playoffs.

Fantasy Grade: C+ (last year was a B-)

Prior offseason grades for Anaheim, Boston, Buffalo, Calgary, and Carolina can be viewed here.