The Chicago Blackhawks season ends with a whimperVincent Pariseon April 30, 2022 at 1:00 pm

In the final game of the season, there were some things to like. We don’t know the future of Dominik Kubalik but he scored his 15th goal of the season on the final day. Alex Vlasic collected his first career assist on the goal. Tyler Johnson’s very disappointing (because of injury) season ended with an assist on the goal as well.

The second Chicago goal was scored by Dylan Strome. He is one of the more intriguing players on the roster right now as he has shown to be very good when given the opportunity. Do they trade him or do they keep him? It will be one of the biggest storylines of the offseason.

The Chicago Blackhawks had a bad year in 2021-22 and are happy it’s over.

Like most games this season, the Hawks weren’t able to close out the win as Casey Mittelstadt scored in overtime to give the Buffalo Sabres the win. That is a team that finished the season strong and should feel good about their future.

This season has had some good individual performances from certain players. Alex DeBrincat led the team with 41 goals. That is the second time he has eclipsed that plateau of 40 and now he is considered one of the best pure goal scorers in the National Hockey League.

Patrick Kane led the team in scoring with a remarkable 92 points. He is still one of the very best players in the NHL and the Hawks wasted another elite year of production from him. It is sad that he won’t be in the playoffs again.

Of every team that didn’t make the playoffs, he was tied for second in points with Kyle Connor of the Winnipeg Jets at 92. They only trailed JT Miller of the Vancouver Canucks who ended the season with 99 points which led all non-playoff teams.

With contract issues going into 2022-23, the Hawks have a lot of big decisions to make. Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane are both heading into their final year. Alex DeBrincat is also in that boat but he is due for a significant pay upgrade.

It is going to be a very interesting offseason for Kyle Davidson as it will be his first as a full-time GM. He has a lot of work to do in order to get this team back on a championship path. There are a lot of things to consider which will be addressed as the offseason progresses.