What the Blackhawks, Maple Leafs & Rangers Need to Become Relevant Again
Three of the biggest Original Six teams have had terrible seasons. We reveal one thing each team must do to find relevancy again.
Let’s face it. As the NHL passes through the 2026 NHL Trade Deadline, one thing is notably clear. Three of the league’s most prominent teams are a complete mess.
The Chicago Blackhawks, Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Rangers are not going to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2026. Whether you want to admit it or not, the NHL is better when these three Original Six teams are playing well.
For the Blackhawks and Rangers, this is not the first season in which it’s been a rough go of it. For the Maple Leafs, it’s a fall from grace the season after seeing Mitch Marner head to the Vegas Golden Knights.
All three teams need to have tough conversations about the direction they’re going in. Clear steps need to be outlined to show everyone that they’re on the way back to being in the playoff conversation.
What makes these three teams fascinating is that not only are they in different places in the hockey cycle, aka their place in how close they are to being a contender, they each are actually not too far away from getting into the conversation.
That’s what we’re going to focus on today. What one major move or direction do the Blackhawks, Maple Leafs and Rangers need to make in order to return to being relevant in the contender discussion? But first, a quick review of each team and why we’re here.
Awful 2025-26 Seasons
Let’s start with the Blackhawks. They played well in spurts but ultimately lost to the last place Vancouver Canucks on Friday night.
At just 2-6-2 in their last 10 games, the Blackhawks have one of the NHL’s worst goal differentials at -35. While they have some key players in places, the team has a lot of important decisions to make and questions to consider. They are last in the NHL in shots on goal per game and among the worst in overall offense.
For the Maple Leafs, they started Saturday 10 points behind the Bruins for the second wildcard in the East. They already traded Nicolas Roy to the Colorado Avalanche. Scott Laughton and Bobby McMann also have new homes.
Many people thought the Maple Leafs would have to depend on defense and goaltending to win games this season. At 3.42 goals against per game, the fifth-worst mark in the NHL, even a respectable 3.14 goals per game wasn’t enough to mask their issues in their own zone.
The Rangers not only occupy the basement in the Eastern Conference, they do so by a wide margin. They entered Saturday’s Battle of the Hudson trailing the New Jersey Devils by eight.
Artemi Panarin is already gone. Vincent Trocheck was ultimately not dealt. Not even Igor Shesterkin could overcome all the issues. Losing Shesterkin and Adam Fox to injuries took away what little chance they had to start with.
The good news about a hard salary cap league is that there are paths to being good again in a shorter amount of time. The Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Islanders and Boston Bruins can all testify to that this season. Each would be in the playoffs if they started today.
What’s it going to take for the Blackhawks, Maple Leafs and Rangers to do the same?
Blackhawks: Bedard Can’t Do It Alone
Excluding Tyler Bertuzzi’s 26 goals and 46 points this season for the Blackhawks, this fact should open everyone’s eyes who follow the Blackhawks. Connor Bedard’s 32 assists is more than anyone else on the team has points. Andre Burakovsky has 30 points this season. The offense has been very “offensive” to say the least.
