The Chicago Blackhawks may not be in the place the team or fans had hoped for in Year 2 of Connor Bedard, but there are some bright spots to the season to this point.
There are three Blackhawks players in particular that have had pleasantly surprising seasons that need to be recognized here. In no particular order, Ryan Donato, Alex Vlasic, and Arvid Soderblom are who deserves the attention for their play through 32 games.
Ryan Donato
Donato always had a lot of skill and the ability to produce given the opportunity. The problem is that he never got that chance at the NHL level. In eight seasons in the NHL, the only times he was given over 14 minutes of ice time per game, he produced. These came as a 21-year-old with the Boston Bruins, a 22-year-old with the Minnesota Wild, and a 28-year-old (this season) with the Blackhawks.
Donato scored five goals and nine points in 12 games with the Bruins in 2017-18, four goals and 16 points in 22 games with the Wild the following season after being traded, and has 11 goals and 18 points in 30 games with the Blackhawks this season.
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It is Donato’s fifth team in the NHL, but he has found a place where he is valued and rewarded for his strong play. He leads the team in goals and is third in points after Teuvo Teravainen put up two huge games and jumped over him into second.
Donato has jumped around lines this season and has been utilized where he’s needed, but that hasn’t hurt his production overall. With all of the new additions, he wasn’t expected to surpass his offense from last season (12 goals and 30 points), but he’s well on his way to blow by those marks.
Alex Vlasic
Vlasic is in his second season as a full-time NHL player. He opened a lot of eyes last season and continues to do so for the Blackhawks in 2024-25. His value has shot up even further with the absence of Seth Jones on the back-end as Vlasic has stepped into the role of number one defenseman by logging the most ice time, playing against top talent, being on the top power-play, and killing penalties.
Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images
Vlasic is fourth on the team in points and has already tied his goals (two) and points (16) total from last season in less than half of the games. The 23-year-old is playing more than two more minutes per game than he did last season and his discipline has improved significantly.
There were some big shoes to fill when Jones went out and Vlasic has done a stellar job stepping up at this stage of his career. The Blackhawks having him under contract for five more years at a great price looks very good.
Arvid Soderblom
Expectations weren’t high for Soderblom this season after the Blackhawks signed Laurent Brossoit to compete with Petr Mrazek for starts. With Brossoit’s injury, Soderblom made the Blackhawks and hasn’t looked back.
He didn’t play a ton early in the season, but put up good numbers when called upon nonetheless. Mrazek recently got injured and it forced Soderblom to step up, which he has, winning three of his last four games.
Related: Soderblom Off to Great Start as Blackhawks’ Starter
Soderblom is in the NHL to stay regardless of what the original plan was for him this season. After finishing last season with a 3.92 GAA and .879 SV% in 29 starts (32 games played), the 25-year-old has a 2.70 GAA and .909 SV% in 11 starts (12 games). He had a quality start percentage of 35% last season and has vastly improved that to a 65% this season.
After Soderblom wasn’t expected to play a part for the Blackhawks this season and it wasn’t looking good for his future in Chicago or even the NHL, that all changed very quickly.
The hope is that Donato, Vlasic, and Soderblom can continue their strong and surprising play for the Blackhawks this season and other areas of the team can improve. The season isn’t lost, but the future holds more surprises.
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