NHL insider forecasts doom and gloom for Chicago Blackhawks in 2025-26

The Chicago Blackhawks should be trending upward, but one NHL analyst’s bold prediction is that they go way backward in 2025-26. The Hawks got slightly better in points from 2023-24 to 2024-25, and with more assets and growth from young players, better again in 2025-26 would make sense, but it may not happen.

NHL analyst has bad news for Chicago Blackhawks

By and large, the Chicago Blackhawks sat out of any meaningful way to improve their team this offseason. They were sitting on a pile of cash, and they hardly touched it. They’re still virtually the same team as last year, if not slightly worse.

That was done on purpose to give the young players all the time on the ice. However, that is precisely why Bleacher Report’s Adam Gretz believes they will be the worst team in the entire NHL during the 2025-26 season.

“The Blackhawks will tell you the rebuild is going according to plan and that this is the year they start to find out about their young prospects,” he began. “But that’s kind of the problem.” The Hawks don’t have good enough prospects to win games by themselves right now.

“Even if those prospects and young players end up being good players down the line, throwing a bunch of rookies onto the ice together and hoping they sink or swim is going to produce some really bad short-term results,” he added.

He also added that many of these prospects will fail simply because they’re young prospects. They don’t always hit, and they even less hit early in their careers. The Blackhawks could field a lineup that includes some downright bad players.

NHL: Los Angeles Kings at Chicago Blackhawks Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Alec Martinez (25), center, celebrates his goal against the Los Angeles Kings with left wing Tyler Bertuzzi (59) and defenseman Wyatt Kaiser (44) during the first period at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Matt Marton-Imagn Image

Gretz said the bottom line is this: “This has been a lousy team for the past few years, it is still a lousy roster, and the young players are going to struggle. Once you get into that cycle of losing, it is really, really difficult to break.”

The Hawks are in that cycle, and without doing much to change that this offseason, which was the plan, they’re likely to stay in that cycle, no matter what their second half looked like in 2024-25.