Battles for Blackhawks’ forward jobs will continue into season, even with Landon Slaggert on waivers
The Blackhawks entered training camp with 24 players in their NHL group, knowing they’d need to eventually cut one.
They made that decision Sunday, placing forward Landon Slaggert on waivers, per PuckPedia. The Hawks will hope to slip Slaggert through to Rockford along with deep-depth forward Dominic Toninato, who joined him on waivers.
That means the Hawks will presumably bring 13 forwards, eight defensemen — including both Kevin Korchinski and Ethan Del Mastro — and two goalies to Las Vegas for the season opener Tuesday.
That roster isn’t necessarily a finished product, though. Coach Jeff Blashill has brought up every day recently that it was difficult for players to stand out or move themselves up or down the hierarchy during this shortened training camp and preseason.
He expects the competition for spots on the roster — as well as for specific roles within it — to continue well into the regular season.
“There will be guys that are continuing to vie for where they really sit within the team all the way through October,” Blashill said.
Among the forward group, those borderline guys battling for jobs are most notably Andrew Mangiapane, Teuvo Teravainen and Jordan Greenway.
Slaggert, assuming he isn’t claimed off waivers, will be first in line for a call-up, with rookie AJ Spellacy also in contention. But once Connor Bedard returns, somebody else could end up on the chopping block.
Slaggert was proud of his training this summer, during which he gained 10 pounds to get up to 198 — which he thinks will help him in puck battles — and worked on his first touches, including receiving passes and picking pucks off the walls more cleanly.
Those haven’t been strong suits in the past, as he has been more of a speedy, hard-working disruptor with minimal puck-handling ability. After 102 NHL appearances, the odds of him breaking out are decreasing.
Greenway, when healthy, probably has the most secure spot of those borderline forwards as a big, physical presence on the fourth line.
But he struggled to stay healthy the last two seasons with the Sabres and missed the second half of this camp with a lower-body injury, although Blashill expects him to be available Tuesday.
Teravainen’s descent into healthy-scratch territory, meanwhile, will probably raise some eyebrows around the league. The 32-year-old Finn is coming off the worst year of his career and entering the last year of his contract, so it wouldn’t be surprising if the Hawks explored trade options.
As long as he remains in Chicago, one advantage he offers is special-teams experience on both sides. He played well in the Hawks’ preseason finale Saturday, using his stick to break up plays.
“When Teuvo plays confident, he’s moving his feet. And when he’s moving his feet, he’s a really good player,” Blashill said. “He’s smart defensively [and] offensively. When his confidence is down, he tends to stand still with the puck more than anything else.”
Mangiapane is hoping to rebound from his own frustrating, unproductive and injury-riddled 2025-26 season. He made just 10 appearances with the Hawks after the Oilers traded him in March, and he spent the first few months of the offseason simply healing up.
But he’s only 30, and he’s only two years removed from a 40-point season. Repeating that production might be unlikely, but scrappy style and puck-pursuit skills could be useful. He unlocked something in Anton Frondell and Tyler Bertuzzi in the preseason finale.
“Last year, there were a lot of little things going on in my life,” Mangiapane said. “I’m happy to put all that behind me and really focus on hockey and getting my game back to where it used to be.
“Me being tenacious and hard working leads to that. [It’s about] getting to the front of the net, getting grade-A scoring chances and hopefully scoring a few.”