Blackhawks vs Sharks: Lineup, Notes, Predictions and more

In just a few hours the Chicago Blackhawks will welcome fans for the 2024-25 NHL Season. Tonight’s home opener should be exciting.

The Blackhawks faceoff against the San Jose Sharks for a big matchup at the United Center. San Jose enters tonight’s game still chasing a win to start the season, for the Blackhawks this game is all about welcoming the home crowd to the new look Blackhawks.

Blackhawks Projected Lines:

Nick Foligno — Connor Bedard — Teuvo Teravainen

Taylor Hall — Philipp Kurashev — Tyler Bertuzzi

Ilya Mikheyev — Jason Dickinson — Joey Anderson

Patrick Maroon — Lukas Reichel — Craig Smith

Alex Vlasic — Seth Jones

Wyatt Kaiser — T.J. Brodie

Nolan Allan — Connor Murphy

Petr Mrazek

Arvid Soderblom

Scratched: Ryan Donato, Andreas Athanasiou, Isaak Phillips

Injured: Alec Martinez (lower body)

Sharks Projected Lineup:

William Eklund — Mikael Granlund — Tyler Toffoli

Alexander Wennberg — Klim Kostin — Fabian Zetterlund

Luke Kunin — Will Smith — Barclay Goodrow

Carl Grundstrom — Nico Sturm — Ty Dellandrea

Jake Walman — Cody Ceci

Mario Ferraro — Jan Rutta

Henry Thrun — Matt Benning

Vitek Vanecek

Mackenzie Blackwood

Scratched: Danil Gushchin, Givani Smith, Jack Thompson

Injured: Macklin Celebrini (lower body) Shakir Mukhamadullin (lower body), Thomas Bordeleau (lower body), Logan Couture (lower body), Marc-Edouard Vlasic (upper body)

Notes:

Unfortunately, the Blackhawks got some bad news ahead of tonight’s game. Defenseman Alec Martinez was placed on injured reserve with a groin injury. As a result, the Blackhawks called up Isaak Phillips. Nolan Allan will get back into the lineup with Martinez missing the game.

Additionally, tonight’s game is all about the return of Lukas Reichel on the Hawks fourth line. Reichel’s preseason left much to be desired as Luke Richardson chose to scratch Reichel through the opening road trip. Ahead of tonight’s tilt with the Sharks, Blackhawks head coach Luke Richardson spoke of the importance of getting a complete game out of Reichel, especially with the puck on his stick.

“Confidence with the puck, when he get’s it. It can’t just be one and done,” Richardson said. “He’s gotta make a play or put it in an area where his teammates can make a play.”

Predictions:

The San Jose Sharks are short handed. Macklin Celebrini is missing time and the Sharks injury report shows this team is missing some players. I think tonight could be a big home win for the Hawks. Last year the Hawks were 16-21-4 at home – improving that record starts tonight against the Sharks.