For the last 23 years (13 with The Hockey News) DobberHockey has reviewed each team from a fantasy-hockey standpoint and graded them.

The 24th 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 we take into consideration when looking at the depth chart and the player potential on that depth chart.

Enjoy!

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Gone

Ilya Mikheyev, Andre Burakovsky, Sam Lafferty, Louis Crevier, Matt Grzelcyk

Incoming

Patrick Kane, Jordan Greenway, Cole Smith, Bowen Byram, Ian Cole, Connor Mackey

Impact of Changes

The two big additions are Kane and Byram. Let's start up front.

It is no secret that there has been a distinct lack of scoring talent for Connor Bedard to play with. Over his three seasons with Chicago, Bedard's two most common forward line mates are Philipp Kurashev, who signed with San Jose last year and still doesn't have a contract for 2026-27, and Ryan Donato, who was relegated to third-line duties last season. Kane turns 38 years old in November, and he still is the most skilled winger that Bedard has had to date. Kane's elite playmaking gives Bedard a goal-scoring boost at all strengths and gives the Blackhawks a boost on the power play. We have to wait a month(ish) for Bedard to return from his offseason surgery, but in his fourth year, and with Kane on his flank, Bedard should start scratching the upside of his fantasy potential.

The trade for Byram, and subsequent contract extension, remains a bit of a head-scratcher, but even if Byram doesn't improve, he's a number-2 or number-3 defenceman in the league, but Chicago's top blue liner. It is a big improvement for them as it is, and if Byram takes another step forward, it gives them a genuine top-pair blue liner capable of running their power play they lost when they traded Seth Jones. If Byram steps into that role, we're looking at a 24- to 25-minute blue liner with top PP time. Even if Chicago doesn't take a big step offensively, the sheer volume of minutes means Byram has 50 points in his sights with room far beyond that if things go well.

Adding Ian Cole is intriguing because he's not the player he was 3-4 years ago, but he's still a good defensive defenceman, and that's something the Blackhawks need, especially with Connor Murphy being traded at the Deadline. Cole has some depth multi-cat value but provides a security blanket for young blue liners like Artyom Levshunov and Sam Rinzel. It also should help the Chicago goalies a bit, but they need more than Cole replacing Murphy for a noticeable defensive impact.

Ready for Full Time: Anton Frondell, Roman Kantserov, Oliver Moore, Nick Lardis, Sam Rinzel

These five young skaters have combined for just 176 career NHL games, and none have more than 63 to their name (Rinzel). As a team that started their rebuild a few years ago, now is the time for their draft picks to start making an impact. Levshunov is excluded here because he has over a full season's worth of games (86), but should be noted, nonetheless.

Frondell and Kantserov highlight the list. The Dobber Fantasy Guide has Frondell projected for 23 goals and 65 points in 82 games while Kantserov carries a 26-goal, 55-point projection. That means they're both depth options in any type of format outside of the shallowest of leagues, and there's clear upside beyond those projections as both look to be future stars, especially Frondell.

The question is where they line up. It seems very possible that both Frondell and Kantserov start in the top 6, but only one will be on the top line with the expected duo of Bedard/Kane. Getting top 6 minutes is great, but there's a big difference between skating with Bedard and Kane or skating with Frank Nazar and Tyler Bertuzzi. Additionally, Frondell was used as a centre in his brief stint at the end of last season. With Bedard's injury, does he start at centre in 2026-27? If he does, he could very well have top line and top PP billing for the first month of the season, then top 6 and top PP billing afterwards. That is a lot of ice time for a very talented rookie.

Both Moore and Lardis had very good AHL production in limited action and both are expected to be big producers in the future. For now, the top 6 is full, but both Bertuzzi and Kane have two years on their contracts. The future is bright; it's just not right now for Moore and Lardis.

Rinzel was given every opportunity to run Chicago's top power play last year and couldn't hang onto the role. We have to wonder if he ran with the opportunity whether they make the Byram trade, but he didn't, and they did, so even if he's a full-time NHLer, he's likely in the bottom half of their depth chart at even strength and on the second PP unit. That just isn't a role conducive to fantasy success on a team that won't be offensively elite.

Fantasy Outlook

Once Bedard returns, the Blackhawks should start to take off. Moore and Lardis finding their strides will be important depth, but if Frondell and Kantserov are as advertised, and Bedard finds chemistry with Kane, the Blackhawks have a more skilled top 9 forward group than they've had in several years. Just a 10% improvement at 5-on-5 would bring them from a fringe bottom-5 team to below average. Not great, but not terrible, and not being terrible is a big upgrade for them.

With Bedard set to miss a month of action, there's no one on this roster likely to be a top 50 fantasy pick, but that doesn't mean there isn't value to be had. Frondell's current Yahoo! ADP is outside the top-125 picks. To return value at the draft spot, he needs something like 25 goals, 35 assists, 200 shots, and 15 power-play points. That is lofty for a rookie, but his projection in the Fantasy Guide is 23 goals, 42 assists, and 221 shots. Kantserov is going much later and the same idea applies.

Byram is being drafted around the top 30 defencemen. At that level, something like 10 goals, 40 assists, 20 power-play points, and 140 shots are needed. His projection in the Fantasy Guide shows 10 goals, 42 assists, and 125 shots. His ADP seems like a fine landing spot, and there's clear upside beyond the projection if Chicago has a big offensive jump.

More goal scoring would be a huge boon to goalie Spencer Knight. Last year, 41 goalies made at least 30 starts, and Knight finished 39^th by win percentage (35%) despite ranking 17^th by save percentage and 25^th by goals against average. Dustin Wolf in Calgary had worse ratios but a better win percentage (42%). A better offence could get Knight to 25 wins, and that would make him a top 20 fantasy goalie. He is also going around the top 30 of his position, and that looks like another good draft value opportunity.

Chicago's entire season comes down to their young players making a positive impact. If Frondell and Kantserov live up to their hype, Moore and Lardis provide scoring depth, and Rinzel and Levshunov are difference-makers in their respective roles, the Blackhawks should be a much better team for fantasy managers. If they don't, then it's just more of the same. Considering the Fantasy Guide has six Blackhawks projected for at least 50 points (Bedard, Kane, Kantserov, Frondell, Bertuzzi, and Byram) where just two reached that mark last year (Bedard and Bertuzzi), the bet is on them taking a sizeable step in their offensive attack.

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

Check out the rest of the Dobber team previews here.