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After being one of the best teams in the National Hockey League for the better part of a decade — and winning three Stanley Cups to prove it — it's been a trying rebuild for the Chicago Blackhawks. The Hawks have missed the postseason in each of the last five years, and finished dead last in the Central Division all of the last three.
Despite drafting franchise cornerstone Connor Bedard at No. 1 overall in 2023, Chicago has been unable to compete for anything other than getting out of the division basement, which has been a losing battle. The team has won just 74 games over three regular seasons, and that can't be easy for a fanbase that isn't too far removed from the glory days of Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane.
Heading into the 2025-26 campaign, Toews will be returning to the league and joining the Winnipeg Jets, while Kane will play his third year with the Detroit Red Wings. Neither player has had much success since leaving the Windy City, and the new crop of young players on the Hawks roster are now trying to do what the two former superstars did early in their careers: turn a middling franchise into one that can compete for Lord Stanley year in, year out.
Although that will be much easier said than done — and Chicago is probably still a few years away from legitimate playoff contention — GM Kyle Davidson and the front office have built an exciting pipelines of top prospects. And a few of them are looking ready to take the next step at the NHL level. Here are three such players who could be in for a breakout in 2025-26.
Frank Nazar looks poised for a big year
Identifying the player on the Blackhawks' 2025-26 roster with the most breakout potential is a relatively easy task. Frank Nazar is fresh off ripping up the 2025 IIHF World Hockey Championship; the 21-year-old tied with Utah Mammoth's Logan Cooley as the leading scorer at the tournament with six goals and 12 points in just 10 games. Nazar has been loving international hockey, helping USA win gold at the World Juniors in 2024, and following it up with another first place finish with the big boys this May.
Selected 13th overall by the Hawks in the 2022 NHL Draft, Nazar dominated for two seasons with the United States development team before doing the same with the Michigan Wolverines, headlined by a point-per-game NCAA campaign in 2023-24. Nazar also played three games for Chicago that season, chipping in his first NHL goal.
But it was last year when the Mount Clemens, Michigan native really showed his high-end skill set. Playing for the American Hockey League's Rockford IceHogs to start the year, Nazar amassed 11 goals and 24 points in 21 games before getting the call up to the big leagues. He didn't play in the AHL again and probably won't.
Nazar was excellent over 53 games for a terrible Chicago team, posting 26 points and even getting some time on the first powerplay unit alongside Bedard. That is almost certainly where he will begin the 2025-26 season, and DailyFaceoff has him pencilled into a 2C role, with Teuvo Teravainen and Tyler Bertuzzi on his flanks.
With nine points in his last eight games last year, and considering his true breakout on the international stage, it's time for Nazar to do the same at the NHL level. He's probably the most exciting player on this roster outside of Bedard.
And another player on Chicago's top man advantage unit, this one a defenseman, could also be headed for a standout campaign.
Sam Rinzel could be quarterbacking Chicago's powerplay
When Sam Rinzel made his debut with the Blackhawks in 2024-25, he looked like he was ready to play in the show full time. Selected just a few picks after Nazar at No. 25 overall in 2022, he played junior hockey with the Waterloo Black Hawks of the United States Hockey League before putting together two excellent campaigns as a University of Minnesota Golden Gopher from 2023-25.
Rinzel got into nine games with the Hawks in 2024-25 and recorded an impressive five assists in that span — including an assist in each of his final four games of the regular season. The 21-year-old could soon be leading one of the youngest blue lines in the NHL, with no one besides Connor Murphy (32) above the age of 24.
Also part of the 2024 gold medal winning Team USA at the World Juniors, Rinzel is going to get a huge opportunity this season, and based on a short sample size, he is going to make the most of it. With Seth Jones now out of the equation, the Chanhassen, Minnesota native could be quarterbacking the powerplay, which is exactly where DailyFaceoff has him. He'll also likely play on the top pairing beside Alex Vlasic.
On a unit that features Bedard, Nazar, Bertuzzi and last year's breakout forward Ryan Donato, Rinzel could have a great 2025-26 season — and might even earn some fantasy consideration as the year goes on.
Is Spencer Knight ready to take the next step?
While it might take a couple more years of growing pains, there is a ton of hope for the future of the Blackhawks, especially now that they have their goaltender of the future. After being drafted 13th overall by the Florida Panthers in 2019, Spencer Knight played in Sergei Bobrovsky's shadow in Sunrise, while spending some time both in the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program, and with the AHL's Charlotte Checkers.
Unfortunately for Knight, he wasn't on the active roster when Florida won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2024 and 2025. But what he has now is an excellent opportunity to be a bonafide starting netminder, and help steer Chicago back to contention. The 24-year-old got his feet wet with the Original Six franchise in 2024-25, turning in a spectacular 41-save performance in his Hawks debut after being traded from the Panthers, and finishing with five wins in 15 starts.
After a full, healthy offseason in Illinois, Knight should be even better next year as he looks to prove his first-round selection six years ago wasn't a fluke. While both Arvid Soderblom and Laurent Brossoit should challenge for starts, the net is undoubtedly Knight's to lose. And if he has the breakout season that he has the talent to produce, the Blackhawks may very well not finish dead last in the Central for a fourth consecutive campaign.
