The friendly confines of Wrigley Field will play host for next season’s Winter Classic in January 2025, as first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times. The Blackhawks will face off against the St. Louis Blues in a rematch of the 2017 Winter Classic, which saw the Blues win 4-1 in St. Louis’ Busch Stadium.
The NHL is hoping for a ratings boost after the league’s two newest teams, the Vegas Golden Knights and the Seattle Kraken, faced off in the least-watched Winter Classic game since it became an annual event. The regular season opener of the rebuilding Chicago Blackhawks, which marked the NHL debut for first overall pick Connor Bedard, garnered more views, making the 2024 Winter Classic matchup the first not to be the most-watched regular season game of its year.
Despite their ongoing rebuild, fueled by three consecutive seasons of shameless tanking, the Blackhawks have remained a consistent TV draw this year, thanks to their young star. This makes the decision to grant them a Winter Classic game in Chicago not all that surprising, despite the once-proud franchise not cracking the .500 mark since the 2019-2020 regular season and not winning a playoff round in nine seasons.
What makes the decision even less surprising is that the Blackhawks without a doubt remain Commissioner Gary Bettman’s darling team, despite the franchise’s recent struggles and controversies, including mishandling one of the worst scandals to involve an NHL organization in recent memory.
No team has played in more outdoor games than Bettman’s favorite Blackhawks, and there were even rumors that the NHL rigged last year’s draft lottery in order to put Bedard in a larger market as opposed to the two cities favored to pick first, Anaheim and Columbus (Don’t believe it? Check out this extremely reliable article from trusted hockey source “Canucks Daily” – complete with ‘new evidence’).
The Blackhawks are just 1-5 in their previous outdoor games, including an 0-4 record in Winter Classics, while the Blues are a perfect 2-0 in their only two outdoor games, including a 6-4 Winter Classic win in Minnesota in January 2022, a game that was minus-5 degrees at puck drop. According to @stlbluesviews on Twitter, the Blues own the best goal differential (+5) and have the most goals scored (10) in Winter Classic history, despite only playing twice.
While fans will have to wait nearly a year for this outdoor matchup to take place, both fanbases will have plenty to keep them busy for the rest of this season, with Blues fans watching their team hang on to a playoff spot, and Blackhawks fans anxiously monitoring their teams draft lottery odds – a ritual that has likely become second nature for them at this point.
C. Ross Danforth, (slightly biased) Contributor, The Undefeated