10 Thoughts About This Blackhawks Bunch

An inside look into the latest opinions surrounding the Blackhawks

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to “10 Thoughts About This Blackhawks Bunch.” The basis of this premium segment is simple. It will be a recurring post each month of 10 opinions, and nothing is off-limits. Considering hockey never sleeps, it could be 20 thoughts, but 10 will have to suffice for now.

Without further ado, here are my thoughts about the Blackhawks for the month of January. It is February now, but the sentiment stands!

1. Rookie Defenseman’s Got Game

The month of January was not a good one for the Blackhawks. They had even more injuries, including Connor Bedard getting a fractured jaw, and they entered the All-Star Break with a 4-game losing streak. In fact, they only won 3/14 games this month. Not pretty.

But do you know what has been pretty for the Blackhawks? Alex Vlasic’s play!

The 22-year-old defenseman has been holding down the fort on the first pairing with Seth Jones while also leading the team in plus/minus for defensemen, being a plus-2, and is second in ice-time (behind Jones), averaging 21:12 minutes a game.

He has been a very pleasant surprise because defensemen usually take a while to develop, so the fact that he is having so much success early on is an excellent sign of things to come.

Alex Vlasic, Chicago Blackhawks (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Hopefully, he can keep up his great play when the team returns from the All-Star break.

2. Blackahwks Heard Around the League

The Athletic came out with their 2024 NHL Anonymous Player Poll on Jan. 31, which is always a fun read to see what fellow players have to say about an array of topics, and the Blackhawks had some surprising nods.

For the topic, “Who is the most overrated player in the league?” Seth Jones got 1.98% of the vote. I would assume that has something to do with his contract.