Blackhawks 2025-2026 General Comments

[CoachFrenchy]

J.J. Wiebusch is a 6’0”, 176-pound right-shot forward in his second season with Penn State University. Undrafted to this point, he’s turning heads early in 2025-26 with 11 goals in his first 10 games — one of the hottest starts in the NCAA.

After a 33-point freshman campaign (14 G, 19 A in 40 GP) and a breakout 63-point season in Sioux Falls (USHL, 2023-24), Wiebusch has proven he can consistently produce offense at every level.

He’s not known for his physical play, but his offensive instincts stand out. Wiebusch owns a quick release, a deceptive wrist shot, and a knack for finding soft ice in scoring areas. His skating is average overall, yet he compensates with smart positioning and timing.

While there’s nothing that currently separates him enough to secure NHL attention, his goal-scoring touch and steady improvement make him a player to monitor closely. If he sustains this level of production, scouts may start to view him as a legitimate pro prospect later this season

[Mr Ricochet]

Metalhead wrote:

re: Burko

Could some of that 0.54/game be due to his injuries?
Has “coming back from” or “dealing with” injuries been an ongoing factor with him?

from NHL dot com:
“Injuries limited him to 64 games in 2016-17 and 56 in 2017-18, though he had 60 points (24 goals, 36 assists) in the 120 games he did play.”
If he’s regularly dinged, maybe that has limited his effectiveness?

Mentions of his playoff success:
“Burakovsky was one of the unsung heroes in the Washington Capitals’ first Stanley Cup championship. After missing most of the first two rounds of the 2018 playoffs with an upper-body injury,
Burakovsky scored two goals in the second period of Game 7 in the Eastern Conference Final to help the Capitals defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-0 and advance to the Stanley Cup Final
for the first time since 1998. He also had four assists in Washington’s five-game victory against the Vegas Golden Knights in the Final.”
and with the Avs:
“a pivotal overtime goal against the Lightning in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final

overall playoff stats look pretty good:
“In 93 career playoff games, André Burakovsky has 20 goals, 27 assists, and a plus-minus rating of +14.
He has also scored 3 game-winning goals in the playoffs and has 2 goals and 5 assists in 7 Stanley Cup Finals games.”

Hopefully he’s Mikheyev 2.0 for the Hawks.

MH, I don’t think Mikhayev has the same class of hands and skill as Burakovsky. We’ve seen some quick good hands outa Mik every once in while but we see that every game with Burakovsky. I have Mik as middle 6 at best and Burakovsky as a legit top 6 talent. …. And I do like Mik, a lot. When slotted on L3 he’s impactful and as we’ve seen he can slot up reasonably well.

And, T thought of that with Burakovsky that injuries had to have to be a part of why his numbers are underwhelming. But, I’m not talking about pt totals being underwhelming I’m talking about pts per game and it’s over 700 games. A huge sample size. ….. Like Haru says Burakovsky can play at pace. I’d add his feet, hands and brains all work together at pace. He can make high end plays at pace and really is a fine mate for Bedard. … I still say he’s the most skilled Hawk Bedard has skated with other than TT. Good fit and it looks like the Hawks got the good Burakovsky, so far.

And Lou mentioned he’ll hit 60 pts this yr skating with Bedard and playing on the 1 PP if he stays healthy. Agreed, and 60 might be a low number.

[Metalhead]

Mr Ricochet wrote:

MH, I don’t think Mikhayev has the same class of hands and skill as Burakovsky.

Mr. Ricochet, you mis-took my point about Burko hopefully being Mikheyev 2.0.
The similarities are in the acquisition and injury history:
1) Hawks got slightly paid to take them (Hawks moved up 4th to 2nd round in ’27 to take Mikheyev, and SEA agreed to take Veleno to get rid of Burko)
2) both were one season returned from bad injury for their previous club (Mikheyev torn ACL, returned to VAN ’23/24, Burko multi-injured incl groin tear, returned to SEA for ’24/25)
They were both arguably still recovering in their final, full season with their former team.
If Burko continues playing well (and stays healthy) it would be a very similar acquisition. (does credit go to the Hawks medical team instead of scouting people? or both?)

As for his PPG:
He is clearly not a point per game player, but you could make a case that the mature, healthy version of Burko has been better than 0.54 PPG for years.
He played 3 seasons with the Avs. He turned 25, 26, and 27 years old in the middle of those 3 seasons.
His PPG was 0.77, 0.83, and 0.76 those 3 seasons, for an avg of 0.785. Projects to 64pts/season average.
After signing w/ Seattle, he scored 39 in 49 games. 0.80 PPG, projects to 65pts/season. Again, pretty good.
He suffered a season-ending groin injury in game 49 and was never the same.
Returning the next year (’23/’24), he suffered multiple injuries and only played 49 games again:
10/21 – Upper-body out 20 games
12/07 – Upper-body out 9
01/13 – Lower-body out 4
02/29 – Lower-body out 2
Here is an article written during the ’23/’24 season in SEA: https://soundofhockey.com/2024/03/07/its-been-a-rough-road-for-andre-burakovsky-who-finally-scored-tuesday/
That 2nd season with SEA, he had a 0.33 PPG average.
His final ’24/’25 season with SEA he played 79 games with a 0.49 PPG. Could it be argued that he was still getting his game back health-wise? Much like Mikheyev in his final ’23/’24 VAN season?

I did not look into his 5 seasons in WASH with a low 0.44 PPG avg. Maybe he was just a late 1st round pick (23OA) and late bloomer?
Like I said above, if you assess the older, healthy version of Burko, around 60pts per season is who he has been for a quite a while.

🤘

[BJPHAWKFAN]

Thanks, Coach.

[Author]

Posts