The Chicago Blackhawks open another season Wednesday night, and they’re not quite the same team they were last year or two years ago. This is a younger, faster group, which didn’t necessarily come by choice but happened nonetheless. What’s left is a wide variety of possibilities.
The statistics peg the Blackhawks as a likely playoff team, but not a sure thing. In his preseason predictions, Micah Blake McCurdy gave the Hawks a 64 percent chance of making the playoffs in a stacked Central Division. The Hockey News ran some stats that give them a 75 percent chance.