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For several years, the Blackhawks<\/a> and Sharks\u2019 front offices have moved in relative lockstep.<\/p>\n Both franchises opted for scorched-earth rebuilds, tore down their rosters, endured some horrendous seasons to get top picks, drafted the two best young studs in the NHL and accumulated the two best prospect pools around them.<\/p>\n This season, however, the first signs of divergence have emerged. The first divergence is in the standings, where the Sharks appear to have an advantage \u2014 although the meaningfulness of that advantage is up for debate.<\/p>\n Entering Saturday, the Sharks \u2014 with 58 points in 52 games \u2014 trailed the Ducks, who held the last wild-card spot, by just one point with two games in hand. The Hawks, with 51 points in 55 games, sat well behind, albeit still on pace for significant improvement upon last season.<\/p>\n However, both the Sharks and Hawks entered Saturday with the exact same number of regulation wins: 16. The difference between them entirely stems from overtime\/shootout success, which is usually considered more luck than skill. The Sharks are 11-4 in post-regulation games while the Hawks are 5-9.<\/p>\n The Hawks\u2019 minus-30 goal differential has fallen behind the Sharks\u2019 minus-16, but the two teams\u2019 expected-goals ratios during five-on-five play are nearly identical at 44.3% and 44.5%, per Natural Stat Trick. (Last season, their ratios were 43.0% and 44.0%, so both have improved.)<\/p>\n The Sharks are the lone opponent the Hawks have not yet faced this season, but that will change Monday at the United Center in the penultimate game before the Olympic break. The two teams will meet twice more in April.<\/p>\n The second divergence is in philosophy. Sharks general manager Mike Grier seems to believe his team\u2019s playoff contention window has opened, and he has shifted into \u201cbuyer\u201d mode.<\/p>\n Grier recently traded two second-round picks to the Canucks for rental forward Keifer Sherwood, a 30-year-old pending free agent whom nobody realized the Sharks would be interested in.<\/p>\n Now Grier has pushed the Sharks into the sweepstakes for Rangers star Artemi Panarin, a 34-year-old forward who would likely require the equivalent of multiple first-round picks (in either pick or prospect form) to acquire.<\/p>\n Rangers star Artemi Panarin is a reported Sharks trade target.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/p>\n Carmen Mandato\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Hawks GM Kyle Davidson, on the other hand, is absolutely not about to begin parting with any future assets for short-term additions. He will be a seller as usual ahead of the trade deadline, especially since he needs to move out a couple veterans to clear late-season roster spots for prospects like Anton Frondell and Nick Lardis.<\/p>\n As Davidson reiterated<\/a> for the umpteenth time in December, he plans to \u201chand things over to the young players and let them run with it.\u201d Only once the dust has settled, \u201cover the next year or two,\u201d will he determine what holes could be filled with trade additions.<\/p>\n A sizable portion of the Hawks\u2019 fan base reacted negatively<\/a> to that Davidson interview, raising a fuss about how slow his rebuild has been. They fear the Hawks are wasting Connor Bedard\u2019s early years and instilling a potentially hard-to-shake losing culture.<\/p>\n The truth is, however, that Hawks fans as a whole are more satisfied with the rebuild right now than they were a while ago \u2014 likely because they\u2019re now getting to witness young players\u2019 development at the NHL level with their own eyes.<\/p>\n In a Twitter\/X poll of 2,238 Hawks fans Thursday, 59.8% answered that they believe the rebuild is \u201cmoving at the right pace,\u201d rather than too fast or too slow. That\u2019s up from 53.0% in an October 2024 poll<\/a> that posed the exact same question with the exact same wording.<\/p>\n What’s your big-picture opinion about the current state of the Blackhawks’ rebuild?<\/p>\n \u2014 Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) January 29, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n Perhaps public opinion has shifted even since December, considering the Hawks entered the Christmas break in a 3-12-2 nosedive but have gone a respectable 8-8-3 <\/b>since (although they have now lost<\/a> five straight). <\/p>\n Or perhaps it\u2019s a vocal minority that\u2019s displeased with the rebuild and a silent majority that\u2019s pleased. Hawks defenseman Connor Murphy brought up that possibility this week while discussing<\/a> how supportive and patient the fan base has been, at least toward him.<\/p>\n It would be interesting to see how Sharks fans would answer that question about rebuild pace. Anecdotally, many of them seemed alarmed by the Panarin report, arguing it would be unwise to sacrifice long-term talent for a short-term upgrade \u2014 even one of Panarin\u2019s caliber \u2014 at this stage.<\/p>\n Only 1.3% of Hawks fans answered that the rebuild was \u201cmoving too quickly.\u201d Would a more significant percentage of Sharks fans choose that option now, in light of the Panarin intrigue? Perhaps so.<\/p>\n\n