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Luke Richardson has just announced major lineup changes involving Connor Bedard and more

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Joshua Deeds
November 14, 2024  (6:43 PM)
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The Chicago Blackhawks have an offense problem, Connor Bedard's productivity hasn't been optimized with the right linemates.

Also, the Blackhawks loaded up on talent during the offseason in an attempt to take a step forward for the 2024-2025 season.

They haven't performed up to expectations, andLuke Richardson has gotten ire from fans for his juggling of the lines.

To give you an idea of the desperation from the bench, here's who Bedard has spent the most time with this season.

From Ben Pope's piece: «Of Bedard's roughly 242 minutes of five-on-five ice time, he has spent 57% of that time with Teuvo Teräväinen, 42% with Nick Foligno, 27% with [Philipp] Kurashev, 18% with Lukas Reichel, 16% with Ryan Donato, 13% with Taylor Hall, 9% with Ilya Mikheyev and 7% with Tyler Bertuzzi

Richardson has changed the lineup ahead of the game with the Seattle Kraken tomorrow night at 10 PM.

«It's our job to do that, but as a player, you have to find a way to get pucks to the net, no matter who you play with and that's your job and it's our job to find who maybe works the best in whatever scenario,» Richardson said. «Kurshy probably had a slower start to the season than he would like. I know he did some video with the coaches this week and worked on the skills coach on some aspects of his game and I think he took a step last game. I think it wasn't just his goal in overtime, I think his overall game is much better, so maybe that gets him back with Connor and even Teuvo and sometimes maybe Nick. I think there's a rotation there depending on what we need against a certain team. And that might be a good thing, they might be excited to be back together and they had some good chemistry last year and some good success. So, it's something definitely to look at, for sure.»
The positive? Kurashev and Bedard have legitimate chemistry from last season. As evidenced below with MoneyPuck, Bedard's best pairing last season had an XG of 50.9%.

image


Joining them will be Teuvo Teravainen:



Natural Stat trick will illustrate whose been a better partner for Bedard(hint it's not Lukas Reichel):

Teräväinen - 139:01 TOI, 48.11 CF%, 53.96 SF%, 5 goals for
Foligno - 101:03 TOI, 47.42 CF%, 54.37 SF%, 4 goals for
Kurashev - 64:55 TOI, 45.08 CF%, 51.61 SF%, 1 goal for
Reichel - 43:52 TOI, 26.25 CF%, 31.58 SF%, 0 goals for
Donato - 38:45 TOI, 41.67 CF%, 39.13 SF%, 1 goal for
Hall - 32:37 TOI, 50.0 CF%, 51.61 SF%, 2 goals for
Mikheyev -21:12 TOI, 35.71 CF%, 36.84 SF%, 1 goal for
Bertuzzi - 17:33 TOI, 63.41 CF%, 68.75 SF%, 2 goals for

This could indicate that Luke Richardson is getting a clue about who works best with who. Teravainen was a key piece of the top line during the start of the season and helped the Blackhawks and Bedard clinch the win against the San Jose Sharks earlier in October.

Could this be the end-of line juggling for the Blackhawks? We get that Richardson needs an optimal lineup, but negative past chemistry is not a sound strategy, especially when the Hawks employ analytics nerds.

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