Blackhawks Wrap: Conventional Wisdom

Instead of a Cinema Blend, this Blackhawks wrap will be more of a conventional one, instead of trying to force something with hockey news being slower due to August’s lack of hockey. As it goes in sports, it’s frowned upon when “forcing” a play and often backfires. Rather than force what has been a steady and fun comparison of hockey and film, it’s sometimes simpler to use conventional wisdom to stay the course.

A Slow August Leads to the Slow Build of Blackhawks 2023-24 Season

It’s only a month until the preseason starts the cycle of a season, filled with games and hope that things will be better than they were a season ago. Further, it’s the fun of seeing what will happen as prospects graduate to the big club and the others scatter amongst different leagues.

Hope is the underlying theme–of continued growth and the hope that the Blackhawks will return to the glory years of the 2010’s where Stanley Cup Championship parades were as common as the warm weather that greets Chicagoans every summer.

The focus of the week at CHN has been prospects, from ranking to watching those participating in the World Juniors Summer Showcase.

That theme will be strong until the players begin skating around in anticipation of the season. The preseason will take hold, final cuts made, and another season played.

Conventional wisdom tells us there will be more downs than ups, but that’s to be expected in a rebuild. That same conventional wisdom promises that if the prospects keep making the progress they are, the pendulum will swing back to those days when the start of warm weather was followed by a parade celebrating another Stanley Cup season.

CHN Top 10

1. In the wake of his father’s passing, Danny Wirtz is named the new chairman of the Chicago Blackhawks
2. The Summer Showcase revealed some Red White and Boom from Americans Frank Nazar, Oliver Moore, and Gavin Hayes
3. How did the NHL Network rank the top 10 Blackhawks prospects and where might they be a little off?
4. Speaking of prospects, boy oh boy are the Blackhawks looking good for the future after some pre-research and cognitive dissonance by CHN during the ranking.
5. The top ranked Blackhawk really shouldn’t come as a surprise
6. #2 won’t be a prospect for much longer and has been trending that way for at least a season
7. The Blackhawks haven’t had a cornerstone defenseman since Duncan Keith, and Brent Seabrook were patrolling the blue line. Perhaps CHN’s third best Blackhawks prospect will step into the void
8. The fourth and fifth best Blackhawks prospects in the system are quite similar and a razor’s edge from one being better than the other–regardless of how you slice it
9. He might not be on the list yet, but Martin Misiak heading to Erie might help him climb in the prospect pipeline
10. Blackhawks Two Truths and a Lie: Admit it, you know you want Kevin Korchinski starring in Chicago this season. But is it a possibility?