Blackhawks fans won’t agree with this early points prediction — yet

I said once that I like this Chicago Blackhawks lineup more than most. Maybe it's because I like watching young teams progress. Or, maybe it has something to do with the fact we saw multiple surprise teams last season.

Nobody had much faith in the Montreal Canadiens, if you want the prime example. But they outdueled, outclassed, and outpaced teams they were supposed to lag behind. And this season? Montreal's gonna be good, so never doubt a lineup because it looks bad on paper.

And trust me, the Hawks don't look so good compared to just about everyone in the Central. Next to a 'what was he thinking' trade with Zack Bolduc, to the Habs of all teams, Doug Armstrong still has the Blues trending in the right direction.

The Winnipeg Jets and Dallas Stars are still strong enough, and the Utah Mammoth could be the sleeper - even if they weren't half-bad last season. As for the Nashville Predators? I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if they rebounded from an awful year.

So the Hawks have their work cut out for them, but it also wouldn't surprise me if we had a team that surprised just about everyone else in the Windy City. No, not a playoff team. I won't get unrealistically bold. But one that will play about as well as the 2024-25 Utah Mammoth (or Hockey Club) did? I can see it.

The Blackhawks are capable of an 89-point season even with a bleak lineup

Realistically, the Blackhawks are a 70-75-point team heading into 2025-26, and some may even mark them down further. But here's why I'm making this 'bold' prediction that they will hit their ceiling: Connor Bedard's heading into Year 3, and sooner than later, that chemistry with teammates will develop.

Chemistry with Teuvo Teravainen and Tyler Bertuzzi. And with Andre Burakovsky here and Ryan Donato returning, this isn't a bottom-feeder team. It's why I wrote earlier in the month that silence shouldn't account for surrender.

No, the Blackhawks didn't do anything to get any better in terms of adding talent to their team. But by retaining talent like Donato, leadership guys like Nick Foligno - whether or not he's wearing a 'C' is irrelevant - and taking homegrown talent to another level, this is a situation I'm not ignoring.

Most casual fans will scoff because the Hawks didn't treat the offseason like franchise mode in an EA Sports video game. Okay, who cares? Some teams added talent and improved. Others, like the Boston Bruins and Buffalo Sabres out east, regressed. The Hawks kept things even.

Bigger seasons from most involved will lead to more W's, points and stolen wins

You saw a lot of prospects last season getting more ice time than they ever had, When you take that into account, you look at last season and say, "We should've known that there was no other way to put it. This was going to be a terrible hockey team."

It's funny what a little more NHL experience can do for a team. And that's where we see the Blackhawks now. No, fans won't agree with me because right now, this is a speculative article and they're tired of the Hawks letting them down every year.

But more experience and growing pains equal more mistake-free hockey. Yeah, the playoff drought will continue, and yeah, 70-75 points is what you're most likely getting. All of that said, I'll say 89 points for all the reasons mentioned above. No reckless assumptions, but if and when the dominoes fall correctly, 89 could be the magic number.