Inside look at Chicago Blackhawks

NHL.com is providing in-depth roster, prospect and fantasy analysis for each of its 32 teams from Aug. 1-Sept. 1. Today, the Chicago Blackhawks.

The Chicago Blackhawks rebuild continues, but adding Connor Bedard should accelerate the process, and the highly touted center is ready for it.

"I can't put it into words," the 18-year-old center said June 27 after the Blackhawks selected him with the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft.

"Growing up, obviously that was when they were going on their runs, winning (Stanley) Cups, and I was watching a lot of them. You see the United Center going crazy and all of Chicago getting behind them. Original Six and so much history there. I really can't put it into words and I'm so excited to be part of the organization."

The Blackhawks have qualified for the playoffs once in the past six seasons (2019-20) and last season traded away franchise icon Patrick Kane and also announced they would not be re-signing longtime captain Jonathan Toews.

Enter Bedard, who led the Western Hockey League with 71 goals, 143 points, 360 shots on goal, 2.51 points per game and 1.25 goals per game in 57 regular-season games with Regina last season. He also had 23 points (nine goals, 14 assists) in seven games for Canada, which won gold at the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship in January.

With Kane and Toews gone and Bedard expected to make his NHL debut at 18 years old, the Blackhawks wanted to re-establish a veteran presence, and to that end acquired forwards Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno in a trade with the Boston Bruins for defensemen Ian Mitchell and Alec Regula on June 26.

It's an opportunity for each to take on more responsibility, especially Hall, who will go from a third-line presence for the Bruins to a first-line assignment with Bedard.

"Coming to a new team, a fresh start, Nick and I are excited to get more opportunity, more chance to earn ice time and a bigger role," Hall said. "At this point, I can say for myself, that's really exciting.

"Just building something from the ground up, being a part of that, establishing a culture, having some young guys around to push you is never a bad thing either. My family members were a little caught off guard. Having a baby in October, having to shuffle things, but overall, really exciting thing and can't wait for the fall."

The Blackhawks also acquired forward Corey Perry in a trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning for a seventh-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft on June 29 and signed him to a one-year, $4 million contract the next day. Perry is also coming in to play a mentor role, much like he did with the Montreal Canadiens, where he helped forwards Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield in 2020-21.

"We had a veteran presence there but there are a lot of young kids there," Perry said July 7. "(It was) just talking to them, day-to-day stuff. This league's not easy, especially when you're 18, 19, 20 years old coming into the League. You have to get your feet wet, try to figure out where you fit, and I just try to help with them."

There will still likely be growing pains this season with new acquisitions adjusting to coach Luke Richardson's system and prospects adjust to the NHL, including forward @Lukas Reichel, 21, center Cole Guttman, 24, and defenseman Wyatt Kaiser, 20. But the Blackhawks feel they're going in the right direction.

"You never know with injuries or other situations you come across," Richardson said July 1, "but I do believe the organization is getting better and over the course of this year and next year we'll get younger. But I think last year our work ethic set a tone and the players we're drafting are fast and they're aggressive and they want it.

"So they're going to be eager and that'll fit right into our work ethic and we'll start adding that high-end talent as they're ready to play. We'll move up hopefully faster than people think we will. We just have to make sure we're getting better every day and not (be) satisfied that we got better today and take the foot off. We've got to keep going."