On Sunday night, the Blackhawks lost a game to the Los Angeles Kings. Early in the third period, forward Ilya Mikheyev put his speed on display while killing a penalty. He was in the process of creating a potential scoring chance — skating 1-on-3, I might add — when he got tripped. Mikheyev went into the boards hard behind the LA net and left the game. He did not return.
Ilya Mikheyev has not taken a shift since sliding into the boards hard here: pic.twitter.com/W4xX1L5UKC
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) October 27, 2025Mikheyev’s status was left at day-to-day by Blackhawks head coach Jeff Blashill after the game, saying the team would hopefully know more on Monday. Mikheyev was seen leaving the United Center without any noticeable bandages/sling/wrap on his right arm.
Hopefully that’s a good sign that the injury wasn’t serious. Because Mikheyev has become the most valuable defensive winger in the entire NHL.
Ilya Mikheyev’s Value
Mikheyev’s speed makes him dangerous in all situations. Thru Thursday’s game in Tampa (the most recent game included in NHL EDGE stats when I’m writing this on Monday morning), Mikheyev’s 27 speed bursts between 20-22 mph rank in the 95th percentile in the NHL.
That speed was a question mark during his two injury-plagued seasons in Vancouver; it impacted his production on the ice without question has he worked his way back from a season-ending ACL injury suffered in January of 2023. That led the Canucks to feel the need to get his contract off their books, which has benefitted the Blackhawks tremendously since he was acquired before the 2024-25 season.
Mikheyev’s legs were back under him last year and he rebounded to have a terrific season. He scored 20 goals and had a career-high 34 points. And he received a vote for the Selke Trophy, which is given to the best defensive forward in the NHL.
Wingers getting considered for the Selke is hard to do. Marian Hossa was one of the best defensive forwards of his generation and he never won the award. It’s been given almost exclusively to centers. So Mikheyev even getting a single vote — especially on a team with a bad record — was both a surprise and a worthy acknowledgement of his performance defensively.
Starting his second season in Chicago, Mikheyev has been phenomenal.
Perry Nelson-Imagn ImagesThru Sunday’s game against the Kings, the Blackhawks have spent 60:39 killing penalties in nine games. Mikheyev has been on the ice for 36:30 of that short-handed ice time. That’s more than 60 percent of the Blackhawks’ penalty killing time. It’s also more than 15 full minutes more than any other forward on the Blackhawks thru nine games (Teuvo Teräväinen is second at 21:43).
Mikheyev is averaging 4:03 per game of short-handed ice time. That leads all NHL forwards entering Monday’s action by 30 seconds per game. His total short-handed ice time (36:30) is more than four minutes more than any other forward in the entire NHL entering Monday.
According to NHL.com, Mikheyev has generated six short-handed individual shot attempts (SH iSAT) and three short-handed shots on net already. His six SH iSAT ranks third in the entire NHL entering Monday’s action behind Calgary’s Blake Coleman and Monteal’s Jake Evans, both of whom have played ten games to Mikheyev’s nine.
The Blackhawks’ penalty kill ranks tenth in the NHL thru Sunday’s action at 85 percent. The Hawks have allowed six power play goals against. Opponents have scored three power play goals while Mikheyev has been on the ice.
Among players who have appeared in at least eight games thru Sunday, Mikheyev’s on-ice even strength goals for percentage of 85.7 is tied for fourth-best in the NHL.
I’ll point out again at this point that the Blackhawks not only got Mikheyev from Vancouver with a second-round pick in 2027 for a fourth-round pick in 2027 (which they just got back on Friday in the Lukas Reichel trade), but they also got the Canucks to retain 15 percent ($712,500) of Mikheyev’s cap hit for the two years he’ll be in Chicago.
Mikheyev being healthy this season will play a huge role in the Blackhawks taking the step forward competitively that they want to (and fans expect). His play defensively has allowed the coaches to focus other players’ ice time and efforts on other aspects of the game early in the year. If he continues to make the impact that he has early on, Mikheyev should be worthy of more than one vote for the Selke Trophy this year.
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