ANALYSIS: Blackhawks Close Out Trying Season with OT Loss in Buffalo

A trying season for the Blackhawks has officially come to a close with a3-2 overtime loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Friday night in New York.
From on-ice struggles early in the year to turnover off the ice at the two most visible positions in hockey operations to an organization as a whole trying to move into the future a better one than it has been in the past, the 2021-22 campaign will only be remembered as the start of a new era of Blackhawks hockey.
"You don't want to make excuses when you look back on a season like this, but there were so many things that made it feel like we were working against the grain, always," captain Jonathan Toews told reporters earlier this week in his final media availability of the season. "You can go down the list, just things we need to work out as a group."

POSTGAME LINKS
GAMECENTER: CHI at BUF
RECAP: Blackhawks Fall to Sabres in Overtime, 3-2
HIGHLIGHTS: Blackhawks at Sabres
GALLERY: Blackhawks at Sabres
"This year coming in, it really seemed like we made some moves to get ourselves back into that playoff picture," Patrick Kane said. "It didn't really work out, especially with the start we had. I think that really hurt us… Obviously it didn't work out, but I still think there are some good pieces here and some guys that we can really build off."
Those pieces, that building off of are the future. The team officially in a rebuild under new general manager Kyle Davidson, it will be a deliberate and meticulous road back to the top for the Original Six franchise -- a journey that will not be completed overnight.
"We needed to go through this for whatever reason," Toews added. "I think we all can kind of take those learning opportunities from it about getting better individually. I see us all improving quite bit. I don't think it's fair to put pressure on us going forward, but I think we can come out of this better as individuals and as a team going forward."
Chicago's final record of 28-42-12 gave the team a final point percentage of .415 on the season -- the lowest rate since the 2005-06 campaign (.396). Over the following two summers, the Blackhawks drafted Toews and then Kane, the start of the route to the franchise's most successful era. The team hopes they're currently at the start of a similar trajectory in the years to come.

CAREER YEARS

Despite the on-ice struggles, several Blackhawks put forth career numbers over the course of 82 games.
- Alex DeBrincat tied a career mark with 41 goals and set new single-season highs in assists (37) and points (78). He was also the only Blackhawks player to appear in all 82 games. - Patrick Kane tied a career-high with 66 assists and put forth his third-highest scoring campaign with 92 points. - Dylan Strome overcame an opening few months in and out of the press box with a career-best 22 goals. - Seth Jones set a career mark with 46 assists. - Caleb Jones played in the most games of his career (50) while setting new career-highs in goals (5), assists (10) and points (15). - Kirby Dach, despite a self-described disappointing year, set highs in goals (9), assists (17), points (26) and games played (70). - Philipp Kurashev set career marks with 15 assists and 21 points in his second NHL campaign. - Newcomer Sam Lafferty totaled a high in assists (8) and tied a career-best 13 points in his season between Chicago and Pittsburgh. - Jake McCabe tied a career-best with four goals, while eclipsing previous highs in assists (18) and points (22). - Riley Stillman, in his first season appearing in over half a team's games (53 this year) set marks in goals (2), assists (10) and points (12). - MacKenzie Entwistle (55 games) and Reese Johnson (37 games played, missing another 32 games on IR), plus newcomers Taylor Raddysh (74 games) and Boris Katchouk (59 games), all became NHL regulars for the first time in their rookie campaigns.