Blackhawks Week Ahead: Schedule & Storylines – Byram Update, Lineup Shakeup & More

The Chicago Blackhawks homestand comes to an end this week, but there has been a lot of frustration surrounding the team and the fans over the past couple of games.

Here’s what to look out for this week in Chicago.

Byram Remains Day-to-Day

Defenseman Bowen Byram remains day-to-day with an upper-body injury. He skated in a non-contact jersey on Saturday afternoon.

Head coach Jeff Blashill said that it was unlikely that Byram would play today against the Florida Panthers. Slightly good news for Hawks fans: the Panthers are also looking for answers.

“We need to have some conversations … and figure out how we can be better, because clearly (what we’re doing is) not good enough,” defenseman Ian Cole said. “We start the game well, come out looking good, flying, speeding fast — that’s great, but ultimately they take it to us.”

Lineup Shakeup

Andrew Mangiapane is set to return from injury against the Panthers. He’s been out since Sept. 29 and was activated from injured reserve on Friday.

Following Chicago’s loss to the Montreal Canadiens, Blashill made some changes to both the forward and defenseman lines ahead of Sunday’s game.

Mangiapane will make his return on the fourth line in place of Jordan Greenway, who will move into the top six. I find this move questionable because, while Greenway has been efficient on the fourth line with Cole Smith and Ryan Greene, I don’t think it’s worth moving him into a top-six that’s full of young talent with Connor Bedard, Roman Kantserov and Anton Frondell.

“We want to get Korch in there, give him an opportunity as well. My thing to Korch was make sure he makes quick decisions with the puck, but he doesn’t panic with the puck,” Blashill said. “When he handles the pressure he’s going to face tomorrow, he’s got to make sure he’s not throwing it around, that he knows he has great intent of what he’s doing with the puck every time he touches it.”

I do see Kevin Korchinski replacing Ethan Del Mastro in the lineup as a good thing. The Hawks’ defensemen have been struggling. Outside of Artyom Levshunov, who has improved a lot compared to previous years, there has been little to no offensive production from the defensemen.

“We’re looking to make more plays, looking to get better chances,” Patrick Kane said. “Especially once you enter the offensive zone, you don’t want to give up possession by just getting rid of it and getting a shot on net. Sometimes you think there’s a better play and there’s not. There’s definitely times where you feel like you can shoot it a bit more,” (from ‘For Blackhawks to score, they need to shoot — it can be that simple,’ Chicago Sun-Times, Oct. 24, 2026).

Bedard’s return was needed, but that doesn’t stop the idea that the team still needs more offensive production on all its lines. The top line with Kantserov and Kane is arguably the most exciting top line Chicago has had in quite some time, but it can’t always rely on the same three guys to do the same things every game.

Right now, only the Vancouver Canucks have fewer points than the Hawks. “Hockey’s about winning puck battles. It’s winning the puck. It’s about keeping the puck. We’ve got to do a much better job of that for sure,” Cole said. “All of us, all the way around… We need to take some hard looks in the mirror and make some very conscious decisions to figure out how we need to be better as a collective and certainly individually.”

Schedule This Week

Chicago wraps up its seven-game homestand against two teams having below-expectation-type runs in the first month of the season. No games are easy for a struggling team like the Hawks, and this week’s games can determine whether or not changes should occur not just on the ice but in the coaching staff.