Blackhawks' power play struggles despite extra practice

The team's NHL-best penalty kill makes it difficult to replicate game conditions in practice

Feb. 1, 2026 at 4:55pm

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The Chicago Blackhawks' power play has gone 10 consecutive games without a goal, despite the team's efforts to improve it through extra practice. The challenge is that the Blackhawks' own NHL-leading penalty kill makes it difficult to replicate game conditions during those practice sessions, as the penalty killers are instructed to make it as difficult as possible on the power-play unit.

Why it matters

The Blackhawks' power-play struggles are concerning, as the team's ability to capitalize on power-play opportunities could be a key factor in their success this season. The team's coaching staff is trying to find ways to improve the power play, but the strength of the penalty kill is making it difficult to make meaningful progress.

The details

The Blackhawks' power play has fallen to 19th in the NHL in power-play percentage (19.4%) after climbing as high as seventh earlier in the season. Coach Jeff Blashill has considered creating an NFL-style scout-team penalty kill for the power-play unit to practice against, but has not yet implemented that idea. The team has also adjusted its practice routine, having the power-play unit first work on breakouts without any penalty killers before bringing them in for the next rep.

  • The Blackhawks have gone 10 consecutive games without a power-play goal.
  • The team's power-play drought is the franchise's longest since February 2012.
  • The Blackhawks are just five games away from the NHL's longest power-play drought during the salary-cap era.

The players

Landon Slaggert

A Blackhawks player who takes pride in making it difficult for the power-play unit during penalty-kill practice.

Jeff Blashill

The Blackhawks' head coach, who is considering creating an NFL-style scout-team penalty kill for the power-play unit to practice against.

Sam Rinzel

A Blackhawks player who has taken over quarterbacking the top power-play unit after being called up, and is hoping to provide a different look to help the struggling unit.

Connor Bedard

A Blackhawks player who has moved to the left flank of the top power-play unit, which has made the unit more dangerous, though they have still failed to score.

Tyler Bertuzzi

A member of the Blackhawks' top power-play unit, along with Frank Nazar and Teuvo Teravainen.

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What they’re saying

“It's our job [as penalty killers] to make it hard on them, because that's what they're going to be seeing in a game. You don't want to give them an easy way out or anything. We take pride in trying to knock the puck off their stick, limit their entries and stuff.”

— Landon Slaggert (suntimes.com)

“You're always trying to debate if you [should] almost use a mock penalty kill, which [runs a] more similar system to what we're going to see, as opposed to our penalty kill, which is a little bit different than what we're going to see. But you also don't want your killers to work on habits that are the opposite of what we want them to do in the game.”

— Jeff Blashill, Blackhawks head coach (suntimes.com)

“I can come up with speed, try to push those [killers] back farther and then get the puck in [our forwards'] hands.”

— Sam Rinzel (suntimes.com)

The takeaway

The Blackhawks' power-play struggles highlight the challenge of improving a unit when the team's own penalty kill is so dominant. The coaching staff is exploring ways to better simulate game conditions in practice, but the strength of the penalty kill makes it difficult to find an effective solution.