Yahoo Sports Taylor Hall Gives Insight Into Blackhawks' Power Play Units & Competition This Season
The Chicago Blackhawks are hoping to improve in many areas after a bad season and many off-season additions. Part of the improvement will have to come on the power play where the team finished 28th last season at 16.6%.
Additions like Tyler Bertuzzi, Teuvo Teravainen, and a healthy Taylor Hall are going to do wonders for the effectiveness of the man advantage in 2024-25 and Hall himself discusses what the units may look like and how the ice time will be divided.
Hall said, "It's hard to tell right now because we're still split up and it's hard to tell what the units are going to be, but there's definitely a lot more options and I really feel like we're going to have a better second unit this year. Whoever those guys are, it's not just going to be one unit and then the last guys get 30 seconds or whatever."
While some teams that have deadly top units and/or weak depth have that going for them, the Blackhawks can throw another solid group of five out there early if nothing is going for the top unit.
As it stands, the top unit should consist of Connor Bedard, Philipp Kurashev, Seth Jones, Bertuzzi, and Hall. But the second unit isn't going to be something to just overlook either. This group should include Lukas Reichel, Kevin Korchinski, Andreas Athanasiou, Nick Foligno, and Teravainen.
As Kurashev is being tried at center because of his past time spent playing down the middle, he may be taking draws on the top unit. This frees Bedard up to go to a shooting lane earlier without worrying about winning faceoffs. That is also not Bedard's strong suit yet and will take time to improve against NHL talent.
Bertuzzi will sit net-front while Jones stays along the blue line and Hall slots in lower on either side of the ice. While the players who would be playing on the top power-play unit may get split up, the top option to even get an early look on the top unit would be Teravainen. He scored nine goals on the power play in two of the past three seasons and has 47 power-play goals and 151 power-play points in his career.
Also being a player the Blackhawks want as an option at center, Reichel may line up there more often than not on the second unit. This allows Foligno to get in front of the net and Athanasiou to utilize his shot, and if necessary, his speed.
Related: Blackhawks' Coaching Staff Have Great Idea of Where Athanasiou Will Play in 2024-25
Hall is correct in saying, "I think we're going to have a lot of internal competition and a lot of players that, whether you're on unit one or two, you're going to have a chance to make plays and play well."
If Teravainen is going to move up to the top power-play unit, someone in a similar role to his will have to move down. That would be Hall. Bertuzzi can't easily be replaced with his net-front presence and for now while Korchinski develops, Jones' spot on the top unit is safe.
A potential breakout player in Reichel and offensively-minded Korchinski can really add some pop to the second unit and there will be a top unit caliber player playing with them as well. By the looks of it, the second unit can be productive on the man advantage for the Blackhawks this season and with injuries and slumps, I can see a few different looks throughout. There is little chance the Blackhawks don't improve upon their very subpar power play from last season.
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