For GM Kyle Davidson, here's what matters for the Blackhawks' 2024-25 season

How does this Chicago Blackhawks season matter? Thats the question I sat down to contemplate ahead of Tuesdays season-opening game against the Utah Hockey Club .

In one way or another, they all usually matter.

As bad as the Blackhawks were in 2022-23, that season mattered because it was all about failing enough to have a shot at drafting Connor Bedard .

Mission accomplished.

Last season was largely about Bedards development in his first year, introducing a few other prospects to the NHL and losing enough to have another early NHL Draft pick.

The season didnt go exactly according to plan, but it wasnt too far off.

Bedards development looks on track.

Alex Vlasic took a massive leap.

Time will tell on the other prospects.

Blackhawks management expected the team to win more but likely wasnt crushed when it didnt and ended up with Artyom Levshunov with the No.

2 pick.

Advertisement Which brings us to this season.

Coming off last seasons 31st-place finish, general manager Kyle Davidson said this season would be about taking the next step and being more competitive.

Of course, thats all relative.

The Blackhawks could have been 45 points better last season and still not made the playoffs.

Davidson likely ensured that wouldnt repeat itself by loading up with veterans.

The Blackhawks should easily exceed their 52-point total of last season.

Sure, the preseason wasnt encouraging, but that probably should have been somewhat anticipated.

With so many veterans who have been through plenty of preseasons, and most of them with roster spots locked up, it didnt feel like a group with much urgency in the preseason.

Two weeks from now, maybe its a different story, but the Blackhawks seem as if theyll win enough this season.

What enough is might not be enough for Blackhawks fans, who have been waiting since 2017 to return to the playoffs (excluding being the 12th seed in 2020), but it should be enough for what Davidson seeks to accomplish this season.

So, heres what actually matters this season.

Lets start with the evaluation of Luke Richardson as the head coach.

Davidson needed to raise the talent level within the roster to fairly assess Richardson as a coach.

Davidson might not have provided Richardson with a Stanley Cup-contending team, but there are enough true NHL players on the roster for Richardson to feel like hes coaching an NHL team.

He can have different expectations of players.

He can practice differently.

His in-game strategy can change.

And with that, Davidson can better gauge whether Richardson should be the Blackhawks coach of the future.

After this season, the Blackhawks have an option on the fourth and final year of Richardsons contract.

This season might play a part in that decision.

Richardson has less of a player development burden with fewer young players on the roster, but his priority still has to be doing everything he can to further develop the organizations most important young player: Bedard.

This season is again primarily about Bedards development.

NHL history tells us if you have a player on your roster who can potentially win multiple Hart trophies, which is where the bar is at for Bedard, your team is probably a Stanley Cup contender.

In other words, the greater Bedard is in a few years, the greater the Blackhawks likely will be, regardless of how many prospects pan out.

Davidson knows that, too.

He handed out his largest UFA contracts to date when signing Tyler Bertuzzi and Teuvo Teravainen in hopes of assisting in Bedards development.

Advertisement How Bertuzzi and Teravainen play this season and the coming seasons matters, too.

The Blackhawks invested in both players to be around as the rebuild turns the corner.

Most of the other players on this seasons roster probably wont be.

Lukas Reichel is one of the few other young players to watch this season, but it appears the Blackhawks patience with him is already thin, as hell likely be a healthy scratch in the season opener.

Whenever Wyatt Kaiser returns to play, hell be another player to keep an eye on.

The Blackhawks think of him as a defensive staple of the future.

But aside from that small group of young players, nearly all the other signed players considered vital to Davidsons rebuild will begin the season with the Rockford IceHogs in the AHL.

Kevin Korchinski and Frank Nazar were sent there after long looks in the preseason.

Levshunov, who has been injured, is expected to join them when healthy.

Those are the most notable names, but there will be plenty of others whom Davidson envisions as part of the Blackhawks next great team.

Colton Dach , Paul Ludwinski, Samuel Savoie , Landon Slaggert and more are in that next tier.

Not since the 2007-08 IceHogs have the Blackhawks had so many highly touted prospects together in the AHL.

That team had two first-round picks, three second-round picks and five more players who played on the Blackhawks Stanley Cup-winning teams.

IceHogs coach Anders Sorensens job is arguably as important as anyones within the organization this season.

He has to get Korchsinki, Levshunov and Nazar ready to be full-time NHLers by next season.

The prospects matter everywhere again, too.

The Blackhawks are likely to bring in even more to the NHL by the end of the season.

Oliver Moore, a 2023 first-round pick, is the one to watch this season.

He should be a top-six forward within the next couple of years.

Hell be a sophomore at Minnesota and will likely turn pro after his college season.

Its also possible his Minnesota teammate Sam Rinzel (a sophomore defenseman) and Boston University junior forward Ryan Greene will sign after their seasons and play in the NHL this season.

The Blackhawks have high hopes for all three.

The Blackhawks will also be closely watching the development of 2024 first-round picks Sacha Boisvert and Marek Vanacker, plus Nick Lardis, AJ Spellacy and Roman Kantserov this season.

Lardis and Kantserov could be in the NHL within the next few years, with the others only slightly behind.

Advertisement Finally, what Davidson wont say aloud but still matters is the Blackhawks finishing low enough in the standings this season to gather another high draft pick.

The 2025 draft is expected to be loaded with high-end forwards, and the Blackhawks could use another one.

If the team can improve 20 points in the standings and still wind up with a top-five pick, thatd be Davidsons perfect world.

As long as the Blackhawks dont surprise everyone and put themselves in a playoff race, Davidson will also want to be active at the trade deadline to move players on expiring deals.

Hell be hoping someone like Taylor Hall has some value.

This all probably doesnt excite many Blackhawks fans.

No one wants to hear their AHL team is probably more important to their NHL team in the big picture.

But thats the reality.

As mentioned, Davidson had his reasons for bringing on so many veterans and creating a tougher path to the NHL for his young players.

Next season and the season ahead, that could pay off.

For now, it probably just leaves fans frustrated.

But this season still matters.

(Photo of Artyom Levshunov at the 2024 NHL Draft: Stephen R.

Sylvanie / Imagn Images).

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