CHICAGO -- The Blackhawks' plan for the future is easy to decipher when you look at their pool of forwards and defensemen.
With their forwards, they're building around Connor Bedard, and general manager Kyle Davidson has drafted enough forwards in the first three rounds over the last three years, with likely even more coming in the next draft, to allow himself some margin for error. If you missed Scott Wheeler's pipeline rankings, he placed the Blackhawks fourth in the league, and a majority of the players he wrote about were forwards. Between Frank Nazar, Sacha Boisvert, Marek Vanacker, Oliver Moore, Nick Lardis, Roman Kantserov, Ryan Greene, Colton Dach, John Mustard, Jack Pridham, A.J. Spellacy, among others, the Blackhawks should hit on enough forwards.
With the defense, Davidson prioritized that position. Kevin Korchinski, the seventh pick in 2022, was Davidson's first selection as GM. Davidson took another defenseman in Sam Rinzel in the first round later in that draft. Davidson again put defensemen first in last year's draft and selected Artyom Levshunov with the second pick. You add in Alex Vlasic, a 2019 second-round pick, the first young player to get a long-term deal from Davidson, and Nolan Allan, Ethan Del Mastro and Louis Crevier, all young players who have seen NHL time this season, and the Blackhawks seem to have a plan at that position, too.
But what about goalie? What's the plan there?
From everything I've heard, the Blackhawks don't necessarily have a definitive plan and aren't concerned about it.
Yes, they'd love for one of their young goalies to hit. Davidson used a second-round pick in 2023 to make Adam Gajan the first goalie drafted that year, but it'll likely be three or four years before the Blackhawks have an idea of how he's developing. Gajan, 20, is a freshman at Minnesota Duluth this season and hasn't played since late November due to an ankle injury. In the 12 games he did play this season, Gajan had an .882 save percentage. Gajan has a lot of positive attributes including size and athleticism, but he'll need time.
Drew Commesso, another Blackhawks goalie prospect, wasn't drafted by Davidson, but is another past second-round pick by the organization. The 22-year-old Commesso spent three years at Boston University and is in his second season in the AHL. It's been a rocky season for him. He's been good at times, struggled in others and has a .900 save percentage in 21 games. The Blackhawks expect him to be back in Rockford next season.
Which brings us to the 25-year-old Arvid Söderblom. Söderblom had a rough first NHL season in 2023-24 but given another opportunity this season due to Laurent Brossoit's injury issues, Söderblom has rebounded largely thanks to his improved rebound control. Even though he was on the losing end in Wednesday's 4-3 overtime loss to the Edmonton Oilers, Söderblom was again stellar in net, denying the Oilers on some golden scoring chances. The Blackhawks didn't lose because of him.
It's still too early to say whether Söderblom is the Blackhawks' future goalie when they turn the corner on the rebuild. He has done well enough this season that Davidson will undoubtedly re-sign him again and see what happens next season. Söderblom has a chance.
Davidson won't be sweating whether Söderblom, Commesso or Gajan develops into that No. 1 though. It'd be easier on him if one or more panned out, but Davidson's rebuild doesn't hinge on having that elite goalie. It was notable when the Blackhawks didn't get involved when Yaroslav Askarov became available from the Nashville Predators. That could have been Davidson's swing at a future goalie star. It's just not how Davidson is structuring his future team.
The Blackhawks are going to pay their forwards and defensemen in the years to come, but they aren't penciling in a $10 million goalie. Unless someone internally becomes elite, the Blackhawks likely won't possess that top-tier goalie. Davidson isn't likely to sign or trade for one or devote a first-round pick. The Blackhawks ultimately want a solid goalie, but it doesn't have to be one who steals games consistently, just one who doesn't lose them games.
History tells us you can win big with those types of goalies as long as the rest of the team is elite. And if Davidson can't find that kind of goalie within the organization, he probably shouldn't have trouble finding it elsewhere. Davidson just has to make sure the rest of the team is at the level it needs to be.
* Jason Dickinson's left leg injury looked like it could be bad when it happened during Wednesday's game, and interim coach Anders Sorensen confirmed as much after the game.
"It doesn't look good," Sorensen said of the injury.
Sorensen said the Blackhawks would have more information Thursday.
* The Blackhawks are well beyond moral victories, but they played one of their best overall games in Wednesday's overtime loss. They had more shot attempts, shots on goal, scoring chances and high-danger chances than the Oilers. The Blackhawks' 56.41 expected goals percentage was their highest since Dec. 19 and the fourth highest since Sorensen took over as coach.
* The Blackhawks' line of Ryan Donato, Bedard and Landon Slaggert was a big reason for the Blackhawks' analytical success. Despite often going up against Connor McDavid's line, Bedard's line had a 14-7 edge in shot attempts, 6-3 in shots on goal, 8-3 in scoring chances and 1-0 in goals while on the ice.
* Donato has to be catching some Stanley Cup contenders' eyes with his play as the trade deadline approaches. He produced another goal and assist Wednesday. He has 16 goals and 16 assists in 51 games.
* Seth Jones had been trending better, but Wednesday was a tough game for him. He was on the ice for the Oilers' three five-on-five goals and their game-winning, power-play goal in overtime.