In the sixth of a 32 part series leading up to the start of the 2025-26 National Hockey League regular season, we will look at the key off-season transactions made by all NHL organizations with an overall grade. Here are the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Blackhawks made two notable acquisitions to their forward group in the offseason. They have added left winger Andre Burakovsky of Klagenfurt, Austria and center Sam Lafferty of Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania.
Andre Burakovsky
The Blackhawks are Burakovsky’s fourth NHL franchise as he previously played five seasons with the Washington Capitals from 2014 to 2019, three seasons with the Colorado Avalanche from 2019 to 2022, and the last three seasons with the Seattle Kraken from 2022 to 2025. In his NHL career to date, Burakovsky has won two Stanley Cups. He won with the Capitals in 2018, and the Avalanche in 2022. Burakovsky was traded from the Kraken to the Blackhawks for centre Joe Veleno of Kirkland, Quebec on June 21. In Chicago, he is projected to be a first line left winger and play with former first overall pick Connor Bedard of Vancouver, British Columbia, and Ryan Donato of Boston, Massachusetts.
In 79 games for the Kraken this past season, Burakovsky had 10 goals and 17 assists for 27 points. He was a -3 with 12 penalty minutes, one game-winning goal, eight power-play points, 115 shots on goal, three faceoff wins, 27 blocked shots, 33 hits, 18 takeaways, and 38 giveaways. The game winning goal came on April 5 in a 5-1 Kraken win over the San Jose Sharks. Burakovsky scored from defenseman Adam Larsson of Skelleftea, Sweden and Jared McCann of Stratford, Ontario at 9:26 of the second period and put Seattle up 2-0 at the time.
Sam Lafferty
Lafferty is returning to Chicago after playing two seasons there from 2021 to 2023. He was traded from the Buffalo Sabres to the Blackhawks for a sixth round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft. In addition to the Blackhawks and Sabres, Lafferty has played for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Toronto Maple Leafs and Vancouver Canucks. In Chicago, he is expected to be on the Blackhawks’s fourth line with left winger Oliver Moore of Mounds View, Minnesota and right winger Landon Slaggert of South Bend, Indiana.
Last season in Buffalo, Lafferty had four goals and three assists for seven points in 60 games. He was a -15 with 28 penalty minutes, 50 shots on goal, 79 faceoff wins, 16 blocked shots, 89 hits, five takeaways, and 22 giveaways.
Blackhawks Grade
Everyone knows Chicago is rebuilding, and now have former Detroit Red Wings Jeff Blashill as the new bench boss. The Blackhawks hope Burakovsky can make a difference in playing with Bedard. Let’s be realistic. Burakovsky only had 27 points last season. Lafferty, only had seven, and won’t make a difference either. Chicago could have done better, and did nothing to improve their defensive group or goaltending. They get a grade of D-.
