Before Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar’s injuries, before his own injury, before the winning voodoo wore off and the Blackhawks fell out of a playoff race nobody legitimately expected them to be in, Hawks captain Nick Foligno swore this team had the ability to do “something special.”
That seems to be off the table now. Although overcoming playoff odds currently set around 2% would indeed be special, it’s also inconceivable.
Despite steadier play lately in the week since the Christmas break, the Hawks are still 5-13-3 over their last 21 games and have gone back to being generally ignored by the rest of the NHL — as Bedard’s exclusion from Team Canada’s Olympic roster evidenced.
They’re 11 points ahead of their pace last season but only three points out of last place in the standings. They’re last in scoring-chance ratio during five-on-five play (per Natural Stat Trick), and they’ve fallen down to 29th in actual goal differential, too.
As the team prepares for their 41st game Saturday at the Capitals — the midpoint of the season — the organizational focus has already begun shifting toward the March 6 trade deadline. They have six veterans on expiring contracts to potentially shop around.
Beyond that lies the draft — scouting is well underway, as their odds of landing another top-five pick increase with every loss — and the upcoming arrival of top prospects Anton Frondell and Roman Kantserov. General manager Kyle Davidson is a patient man who sticks to his plan.
So what does Foligno, three games into his return after missing 19, think about the state of affairs now?
He, like every active player, isn’t closely following the prospect pool or management’s long-term plan, but instead solely thinking about the group of 20-some players he spends every day with. Does this Hawks team still feel special?
“I just feel like we are different,” Foligno said Thursday. “Obviously results matter, and I’ve always said I’m not a big ‘moral victory’ guy. But when I look around the room and I look at what we’re trying to accomplish and how we’re going about it, I love the process way more. That’s why I’m encouraged by our team.
“I don’t feel like this is [like] years previous where we’re still trying to figure out who we are. We know what makes us successful, and we’ve just got to get to that more consistently. The reality is you’re going to have these ebbs and flows in the season with the youth that we have. Guys are not used to playing in these moments, but they’re gaining valuable lessons, and you’re encouraged because of how much they are [learning].”
Right around this time last year — following the Winter Classic embarrassment — the Hawks had several soul-searching conversations about trying to nail down a team identity.
Their identity is much more obvious now, as Foligno noted. Their forward corps are one of the league’s fastest, and their defense has both size and mobility. Coach Jeff Blashill has installed specific systems that maximize their team strengths.
GOAL: Oliver Moore finds Nick Lardis for a one-timer that finds the back of the net. What a play pic.twitter.com/7VeuDCgepV
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) December 31, 2025
There’s also a prevailing sense of unity, work ethic and positivity that didn’t exist before. The youth that’s already present, with much more on the way, likely contributes to that.
“I find that there’s a purposeful intention every time we step on the ice from every guy,” Foligno said. “Our film sessions are really good: they’re on-point and direct in how we’re going to get better. The one-on-one details from our coaches to talk to the players: ‘This is what we need.'”
“You can see every guy’s game getting a little bit better. Case in point: Oliver Moore was fantastic [Tuesday against the Islanders]. He’s starting to find his role and how he’s going to impact games. You get encouraged by that. Now the consistency has to follow — so Oliver’s got to do it again [and again] — but that’s where you get excited about and see the process and how it’s helping these players and us continue to get better.”
There’s more psychological resilience, too.
“The beauty of our team is we don’t really get caught up in what’s gone on,” Foligno added. “We’re quick to learn from it and then apply it.”
Getting Bedard and Nazar back in the lineup in January would almost certainly help the win/loss results justify the optimism more. But this season surely has plenty of twists and turns left in it. Think about how many have already occurred, and then remember that this is only the halfway point.
Blashill admitted he and his staff have wondered about how the rest of the season will go, about whether the Hawks will gradually improve because their youngsters have “a lot of growth potential” or eventually hit a wall because their youngsters have never endured the grind of an NHL schedule for this long before.
It will be interesting to find out which trajectory occurs, and it will be interesting to continue hearing Foligno’s thoughts down the stretch of what’s likely his third and final season as captain.