<p>BUFFALO, N.Y. — The <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/blackhawks" target="_blank" >Blackhawks</a> have played a lot of poor hockey over the last four years.</p><p>But arguably the worst hockey they've played throughout this lengthy rebuild has come most recently, during their final 21 games last season and first two games this season.</p><p>They've won just six of those 23 contests, getting outscored 66-43 during five-on-five play. And somehow they're lucky that goal differential isn't worse.</p><p>They've actually generated 40.1 expected goals while allowing 66.9 expected goals, equating to a ghastly 37.9% expected-goals ratio (per Natural Stat Trick) — by far the worst of any NHL team during that span. </p><p>That's considerably worse than their 43.8% ratio during the first 61 games of last season, than their 42.5% ratio in 2022-23 (when they were tanking to get Connor Bedard) and their 42.3% ratio in 2023-24 (when they finished with 52 points) — not that any of those were good.</p><p>This descent into never-before-seen depths coincides with the complete youth takeover of the roster — the arrival en masse of the highly touted youngsters the Hawks underwent this rebuild to accumulate.</p><p>In one sense, that shouldn't be too surprising. Young players need time to develop and acclimate to the NHL, and the learning curve usually tends to be steeper defensively than offensively.</p><p>In another sense, it's terrifying: <i>You're telling me this is the future we've been longing for?</i></p><p>It will take more than two games (or 23) to determine whether the Hawks' youth can right the ship and establish an upward trajectory. Even after a <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/blackhawks/2026/10/02/blackhawks-mammoth-adversity-already-bowen-byram" >humiliating</a> 6-0 loss Thursday against the Mammoth, messages from the locker room reiterated resilient confidence and belief.</p><p>At least for now, however, the Hawks seem to be seriously missing — far more than expected — the stabilizing powers of defense-first veterans Jason Dickinson, Ilya Mikheyev and Connor Murphy.</p><p>The chaos that has reigned since their departures has demonstrated their stoutness more vividly than anything they did during their tenures. That's often how it goes with stabilizing presences; they're underappreciated until they're gone.</p><p>Per HockeyStats, Dickinson's defensive impacts ranked in the 97th, 95th and 99th percentiles league-wide over the last three seasons, while Murphy ranked in the 85th, 85th and 97th percentiles. </p><p>Mikheyev, during his two seasons in Chicago, ranked in the 94th and 44th percentiles defensively and in the 98th and 100th percentiles in terms of penalty-killing. Hawks teammates labeled him the NHL's best killer last season, and the analytics agreed.</p><p>Hawks coach Jeff Blashill has argued that NHL defensive analytics aren't advanced enough yet to be trustworthy, but in these cases, the percentiles match the "eye tests."</p><p>The Hawks did get good value when trading Dickinson and Murphy <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/blackhawks/2026/04/02/blackhawks-oilers-contrast-connor-murphy-jason-dickinson-winning" >to the Oilers</a> in March, although they got nothing for Mikheyev after holding onto yet failing to sign him (before he joined the Lightning in free agency).</p><p>The Hawks then attempted to roughly replace Mikheyev with Cole Smith and Murphy with <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/blackhawks/2026/09/26/blackhawks-ian-cole-nhl-landon-slaggert-jeff-blashill" >Ian Cole</a>. A Dickinson doppelganger was never acquired; the idea was that a youngster like Oliver Moore or Ryan Greene could grow into his role.</p><p>Smith and Cole have solid track records: their defensive impacts ranked in the 90th and 68th percentiles last season, respectively. But there's no guarantee they'll mesh with the Hawks as well as Mikheyev and Murphy did.</p><p>And the 2026-27 Hawks have only four other players (Moore, Teuvo Teravainen, Jordan Greenway and Alex Vlasic) who graded above-average defensively last season.</p><p>Granted, Dickinson, Mikheyev and Murphy are all in their 30s — and varying degrees of injury-prone — and weren't viable long-term solutions. For the Hawks to become playoff contenders, they'll absolutely need some kids to evolve into strong defenders of their own.</p><p>It might've been helpful to keep a few proven veterans to shelter the kids for a little longer, though. The absence of that umbrella is glaringly obvious now.</p>
Blackhawks missing stabilizing powers of Jason Dickinson, Ilya Mikheyev, Connor Murphy 2026
IUSTITIA.BG – Investigations 2009-2026 2026-10-02 20:19:16
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