The Chicago Blackhawks had their final practice on Wednesday (February 25) before embarking on a four-game road trip with NHL action returning after the Olympic break. The team plays the Nashville Predators on Thursday before playing back-to-back games this weekend (Colorado Avalanche and Utah Mammoth on Saturday and Sunday, respectively) and finally wrapping up their trip next Tuesday (March 3) against the Winnipeg Jets. These are all division rivals, making the matchups all the more important if the Blackhawks want to make the final push for a playoff spot. As far-fetched as that may seem, hockey players are a stubborn and confident breed. This will likely be their mentality until they are officially out of postseason contention.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at the latest news and rumors from the “mini-training camp” the Blackhawks had this past week.
Kaiser & Teravainen updates
Wyatt Kaiser was spotted skating before the Blackhawks practice on Wednesday. The The defenseman was placed on injured reserve February 18 (backdated to February 4) after a nasty blow to his left knee in the last game before the break. The injury didn’t look good when it happened, so it’s a positive sign to see Kaiser back on the ice so soon.
#Blackhawks defenseman Wyatt Kaiser skates for the rest of the team today pic.twitter.com/tVkYh7sGPe
— Tab Bamford (@The1Tab) February 25, 2026
Head coach Jeff Blashill said after Monday’s practice that Kaiser would not travel with the team at the start of their road trip, but he could potentially join them at some point afterward.
Related – Blackhawks embrace fresh start as practice resumes
Meanwhile, Teuvo Teravainen was back on Wednesday after returning from Italy, fresh from winning bronze with Team Finland at the Olympics.
Teuvo Teräväinen, Olympic bronze medalist: “It’s tough.” pic.twitter.com/l63EBcUdoy
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) February 21, 2026
It turns out that Teravainen had just returned the night before training (Tuesday), despite beating Team Slovakia 6-1 the Friday before. Their flight landed in New York and they were held there for a few days due to a snowstorm. No rest for jet lagged people; Teravainen will travel with the team to Nashville and is expected to play against the Predators on Thursday evening.
Blackhawks’ projected lines and pairs
Speaking of which, here are the lines and pairs deployed in practice, which is the expected lineup against the Predators.
Greene-Bedard-Burakovsky
Moore-Nazar-Bertuzzi
Donato-Dickinson-Micheev
Teravainen-Foligno-Slaggert
Vlasic-Crevier
Murphy Rinzel
Grzelcyk-Levshunov
Extras: Dach, Lafferty, Korchinski
A few things to note here about the forward lines before we get to the defensive combinations in the next section. The top two lines look very similar to what they were before both Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar were out with their respective injuries in December and January. When both returned, they were deployed on the same line, especially since Bedard did not take face-offs (a precaution due to his shoulder injury).
But now Bedard will take face-offs, making the top two lines more balanced again. Ryan Greene, Bedard and Andre Burakovsky had great success together earlier this season. But then they split up and Burakovsky in particular struggled in the run-up to the break. The hope is that this line will get back on track by playing together again.
I thought Teravainen would be put back on the second line when he returned from the Olympics, but instead he has ended up on the fourth line. This could just be to get him reacclimatized, and it’s easy enough to swap him and Oliver Moore depending on who has the hot hand. But the coaching staff has previously used Moore and Nazar together to see if they can utilize their speed together. Looks like they’re giving that another chance to see if it proves fruitful.
The third line of Ryan Donato, Jason Dickinson and Ilya Mikheyev is the Blackhawks’ shutdown trio that has been very successful together. No surprises here.
Related – Blackhawks should avoid trading Ilya Mikheyev
Finally, Colton Dach is on the outside looking in. His ice time has been less lately and he has had more problems with scratches. However, we should also keep in mind that this lineup could look a little different after the trade deadline, with some veteran forwards no longer with the team.
Defensive implications
In the wake of Kaiser being put on IR, Sam Rinzel and Kevin Korchinski were called up from the Rockford IceHogs on February 18. The two youngsters were originally deployed together, most likely just to get used to training.
But the technical staff probably wanted more of a balance between veterans and young people, which led to a change in the combinations in preparation for the actual matches. That, and wanting to get Artyom Levshunov back into the lineup after his performance scored the last three games before half time. Hence the defensive combinations below.
Vlasic-Crevier
Murphy Rinzel
Grzelcyk-Levshunov
Additional: Korchinski
Alex Vlasic and Louis Crevier were the only couple that remained unchanged. They have become a solid shutdown duo for the team. In the above scenario, Connor Murphy plays offside, but this allows both Rinzel and Levshunov to get back into the lineup.
Related – Blackhawks’ Vlasic & Crevier Build Strong Partnership as Top-Shutdown Defensive Combination
Let’s also not forget that one, or even both, of Murphy and Matt Grzelcyk will likely be traded at the deadline. At that point, Kaiser could return from injury, or Korchinski could get a shot to the left.
There are a lot of moving parts on the back end right now.
Blackhawks power play units
The Blackhawks haven’t been very successful on the power play lately, but Coach Blashill doesn’t feel the need to make drastic changes to the PP units. He indicated that the chemistry of the build is important, and that the units have no problem being dangerous if only they had better luck entering the zone. They did practice a few different entries, namely a no-drop entry and a two-drop entry (versus their usual one-drop entry to Bedard). Here’s a look at the projected power play units for the Blackhawks.
#Blackhawks power play units:
PP1:
Bertuzzi
Bedard-Nazar-Teravainen
RinzelPP2:
Foligno
Moore-Greene-Burakovsky
Grzelcyk— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) February 25, 2026
While it appears Moore will get a chance on the second line in five-on-five play, he was only filling in on the power play earlier this week. With Teravainen back, the top PP unit is the same as before the break. Moore is then on the second unit, with Dach being the odd man out.
The Blackhawks had Levshunov as the first unit quarterback and Korchinski as the second unit earlier this week, but it appears Rinzel and Grzelcyk are the best options for now.
Related – 3 Blackhawks prospects who could finish the season in Chicago
The Blackhawks are eager to get back to playing after so much time off, but this isn’t an easy road trip. Colorado currently leads the entire league, while the Mammoth, Predators and Jets hover right around the Blackhawks in the Central Division (fourth, fifth, seventh and sixth, respectively). But Coach Blashill has said a few times that he wants the team to go on a streak like many other teams have done over the course of the season.
Can they get a streak going on this road trip?! Will we see some improvements with more balanced attackers and different defensive combinations? Will someone be exchanged during the trip? All the more reason to participate.
Blackhawks hockey is finally back!
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