{"id":678039,"date":"2026-06-01T15:03:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T15:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/678039\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T15:03:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T15:03:14","slug":"the-blackhawks-have-tough-decisions-ahead-on-kevin-korchinski-and-their-young-defense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/678039\/","title":{"rendered":"The Blackhawks have tough decisions ahead on Kevin Korchinski and their young defense"},"content":{"rendered":"

There should be more news to share about the Chicago Blackhawks over the coming weeks, but hopefully, these mailbags (and a \u201cwhat I\u2019m hearing<\/a>\u201c) helped pass the time.<\/p>\n

You can read the first part here<\/a> and the second part here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here is the third part:<\/p>\n

What do you believe needs to happen with the team before players WANT to play for the Hawks again? Any chance you\u2019ve heard from agents about what the Hawks need to do to get their attention? \u2014 Pete A.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think this is a major narrative around the Blackhawks. There might be a few players who passed on them because they were looking to win at a later age and the money wasn\u2019t much different from what they were getting elsewhere. I just don\u2019t think the Blackhawks have been that aggressive over the last few years. They\u2019ve offered mostly shorter-term deals and haven\u2019t broken the bank. So, I think Davidson can control a lot of that. Overall, though, I don\u2019t get the sense that Chicago is an undesirable destination. The arena is still packed. It\u2019s a large market but not overwhelming. Players are treated well. There are young and emerging players. Winning would obviously make it more attractive, but I don\u2019t sense it\u2019s a huge issue.<\/p>\n

How do the Blackhawks compare to other organizations as far as how hands-on they are with their prospects? The sense I get is they try to stay relatively uninvolved while players are with their junior or college teams, but are there other NHL teams that are more hands-on?<\/p>\n

The Blackhawks operate like most teams with their prospects. They are in contact with them consistently throughout the season. They talk with them, go over video and discuss their training on and off the ice. They also visit plenty in person. There just isn\u2019t a lot of on-ice contact during the season. A junior team is more likely to provide that sort of access. I know when Kevin Korchinski was in the WHL, the Blackhawks would visit and work with him a lot. The contract stuff is probably where you get the sense they\u2019re not hands-on. They might not talk about contracts, which they\u2019re more likely to discuss with agents anyway, but there is still a lot of contact.<\/p>\n

Any chance Connor Murphy signs w\/the Blackhawks? He certainly showed he still has a lot left by his Edmonton performance. \u2014 Ray B.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t foresee Murphy coming back. They were quite happy with his play last season, but I think the Blackhawks will be looking for more of a puck-moving defenseman.<\/p>\n

San Jose and Chicago are both trying to rebuild through the draft. San Jose still needs high-end defense, which we know takes a while to develop. Chicago has high-end defensive prospects that need game experience. I don\u2019t see either team winning a Cup any time soon, so does a complete teardown work? \u2014 Ken K.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s too early to say. The Blackhawks\u2019 forwards seem to be coming along. They could have Connor Bedard, Frank Nazar, Anton Frondell, Roman Kantserov, Nick Lardis, Oliver Moore and Ryan Greene in top-nine spots next season. Their 2026 first-round pick could be in that mix, too. The defense was always going to take longer. It\u2019s so rare for a team to put so many young defensemen out there at the same time, and you saw why last season. The Blackhawks obviously need those defensemen to take steps. I just don\u2019t know if it\u2019s realistic for those defensemen to develop as quickly as fans want them to. Artyom Levshunov will be 21 next season, and Sam Rinzel and Korchinski will both be 22. They obviously need to improve, but it\u2019s still going to be a process. The Blackhawks could probably use Vlasic to take on more responsibility and add a higher-end veteran defenseman.<\/p>\n

How risky would it be to trade Korchinski? If the Hawks are gonna be aggressive, he seems like one of their more obvious trade pieces. \u2014 Andrew L.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think Korchinski has much value right now. If you\u2019re another team, you\u2019re probably thinking, first, it\u2019s not a given he can consistently play in the NHL, and, second, he has to be put through waivers if you want to develop him in the AHL. The Blackhawks may not want to give up on Korchinski too soon, but it would be equally risky for a team to acquire him.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Ethan Del Mastro. (Michael Reaves \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

I was hoping you could provide some insight into the situation with Kevin Korchinski and Ethan Del Mastro. My understanding is that both are restricted free agents and both players\u2019 waiver exemptions have been exhausted. It has been frequently speculated that Davidson will look to add a veteran to a room that doesn\u2019t have anyone over the age of 25. Adding a vet and bringing back those RFAs would put them at eight defensemen for the 23-man roster. Do you think the Hawks keep 8 D on the roster? Would del Mastro make it through waivers to move him to Rockford? Or is there a chance Davidson trades away Korchinski, Del Mastro or another young defender? How do you see things going with that group this summer? \u2014 Shawn M.<\/p>\n

It\u2019ll be interesting to see what Davidson does here. I do think Del Mastro is likely the odd man out to start the season. They were hoping to see more at the end of the season, and he probably wasn\u2019t good enough. I assume he\u2019ll get through waivers and can be assigned to Rockford. I don\u2019t think they\u2019d try that with Korchinski. They\u2019ll likely carry seven defensemen. Would they play seven defensemen? Would they sit Korchinski? I think the Blackhawks are still working through those questions.<\/p>\n

Why don\u2019t the Blackhawks look into bringing prospect Jack Pridham\u2019s dad into the front office with his valuable, extensive experience in Toronto? Couldn\u2019t they use another knowledgeable AGM? He agreed to leave (mutual decision), so he is interested in other teams. \u2014 Raymond K.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t envision the Blackhawks hiring him. Chris O\u2019Hearn already does things Pridham would do. I do wonder how Jack Pridham\u2019s situation unfolds. The Blackhawks expected him to go to college when they drafted him. He\u2019s a potential candidate to not sign with the Blackhawks and become an unrestricted free agent, as I wrote this week<\/a>.<\/p>\n

How are the Hawks planning to handle Kantserov\u2019s transition to the U.S.? I know he\u2019s been working on his English, but do they have a translator on staff, or do they intend to bring in another player that speaks Russian to help him (similar to Panarin with Tikhonov)? While I previously thought that might be Mikheyev, it doesn\u2019t seem like re-signing him is a guarantee. \u2014 Patrick R.<\/p>\n

They\u2019d like to re-sign Ilya Mikheyev, and I think that\u2019s still possible. I also think Kantserov\u2019s English has improved a lot over the last few years. I haven\u2019t talked to him recently, so I\u2019m not sure where he\u2019s at now. I used an interpreter to talk to him for the last two years, and the interpreter was needed much less in the second year. He understood most of what I said. I\u2019m sure it\u2019s something the Blackhawks are discussing, but I haven\u2019t heard any details just yet.<\/p>\n

I remember last year, there was an unfounded rumor that the Hawks were interested in Mason McTavish. Looks like he had a down year. Wonder if KD looks at him this year. It just seems like the Hawks will be in the same position again next year without adding someone. And I just can\u2019t see the Hawks getting Knies\/Robertson\/Thomas; it just probably isn\u2019t happening. I also wonder if it\u2019s just better to trade with San Jose to ensure we get Stenberg, maybe that is the big move? \u2014 Rick W.<\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t heard anything specific on McTavish. He fits the type of player the Blackhawks could use, but he\u2019s coming off a really rough season. Analytically, he was one of the league\u2019s worst five-on-five defensive players. He\u2019s at a fixed price of $7 million for the next five years. That could be good or bad. As for San Jose\u2019s No. 2 pick, a trade is certainly worth exploring.<\/p>\n

Not really a topical question, but I would love more information on the Blackhawks\u2019 analytics group. How is it used and how does it stack up to those of other teams? Chicago could have selected Tulsky instead of Davidson as their GM; how different would that have been? What kind of lasting impact, if any, did Jeff Greenberg have on that front? Perhaps this kind of info is too proprietary. But even a broader article on analytics as applied differently within the NHL would be interesting. \u2014 Louis S.<\/p>\n

The Blackhawks are pretty quiet about how they use their analytics team, but they do have one of the larger groups in the NHL. I believe that was something owner Danny Wirtz pushed. I get the sense that Carolina Hurricanes GM Eric Tulsky is more analytics-driven than Davidson. Davidsdon is probably more of a hybrid between analytics and scouting. I know he likes to get out and scout players, and that helps drive his decisions. Greenberg definitely helped build the Blackhawks\u2019 analytics system. He brought in Ryan Kruse, who was impactful in that area. Kruse oversees the department now. I\u2019d like to do a deeper story on it. It\u2019s just a matter of access.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There should be more news to share about the Chicago Blackhawks over the coming weeks, but hopefully, these…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":678040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[4824,385,99],"class_list":["post-678039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-chicago-blackhawks","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=678039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/678040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=678039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=678039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=678039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}