The Blackhawks had a real, legitimate, actual practice that counts with coaches and stuff on Thursday morning.

This year’s camp will be pretty efficient. The NHL roster guys are in one group; the prospects are in another. And the NHL guys were on the ice for the first practice of the new year. We have a pretty good idea of who’s going to be on the NHL roster, with only a couple of potential battles at the end of the depth chart. Which is nice.

I’m not going to write that there was an earth-moving moment in this practice. They skated around, passed the puck, did some drills, worked on systems — the stuff you expect an NHL team to do.

It was nice to see Patrick Kane back on the ice in a Blackhawks sweater. It was interesting to watch Roman Kantserov skate with NHL players in a practice for the first time. And watching the young guys compete is always a good way to kick off a new season.

Let’s jump into some takeaways from Day One of the 2026-27 Blackhawks training camp. Here’s a rush from the “top line” from Thursday’s first practice.

MORE: Takeaways From Blackhawks Training Camp: Early Lineup, Bedard Skates, More (via Tab Bamford)

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