Kevin Korchinski had a rough night last night. The biggest low-light moment was probably him misreading the forecheck and making a poor pass that turned into Anze Kopitar’s first goal of the night. But here’s the thing: Korchinski is going to have these moments. We knew that when he made the opening night roster. He’s 19. Korchinski has been getting better in recent weeks and showing a lot of growth, but there are times when a really good veteran team is going to take advantage of a young defenseman. Give LA credit and remember this is about Korchinski’s development.
These learning moments aren’t losing a Western Conference Final series; they’re maybe improving the Blackhawks’ odds of winning the draft lottery. As I said in September, Korchinski did everything he needed to in the WHL. Going back wasn’t going to teach him tough lessons like the second period did on Tuesday night. He’s going to be better for these rough nights in the long run. If Duncan Keith’s rookie season was televised and anyone cared that the Blackhawks existed in 2005, you would have seen moments like this before. Of course, Keith was 22 at that point…
In the middle of the third period last night with the Blackhawks chasing four, Colin Blackwell went down in a lot of pain. As players have returned from injuries and the Blackhawks’ coaches have mixed up lines looking for something that clicks, the one line Luke Richardson hasn’t touched has been Blackwell, Jason Dickinson and Joey Anderson. Blackwell has been a really good energy guy since returning from his back injury. I hope he’s okay but that didn’t look great.
Landon Slaggert got bumped up to the Dickinson line with Blackwell out of the lineup to finish the third period. I wouldn’t mind him staying there for some run if Blackwell misses time.
I’m so glad Charlie clipped these passes because Connor Bedard was really competing last night. The first pass in this, a wraparound to Philipp Kurashev, is just silly that he would conceive that pass, much less attempt it and/or pull it off. The Hawks lost again, but Bedard put a point on the board.
The NHL’s GM Meetings are happening in Florida right now, and there was a long list of suggested rule changes/tweaks that surfaced yesterday.
On Tuesday, the Big Ten announced their postseason individual honors. Former Notre Dame captain (and current Blackhawks left wing) Landon Slaggert and Minnesota’s Sam Rinzel and Oliver Moore each received recognition while Michigan’s Frank Nazar III was honorable mention. The Blackhawks’ prospects showed well in the B1G this season, including three of the conference’s top ten overall in assists.
Hockey Canada announced Rick Nash will serve as the general manager of their team at this year’s World Championship. That’s neat.
This was… something…
And here’s Torts’ explanation for his captain being a healthy scratch:
Nobody in the NHL is hotter than the Nashville Predators, and they’re Fry the Coup Nashville Hot right now. The Preds hung an 8-spot on the Sharks last night to match the franchise record point streak at 15 games.
Finally, it’s NCAA Tournament time for the men’s and women’s teams around the country (and wallets like mine). I do love it when there’s money on the board between teammates as their previous teams battle. I’m sure we might hear some chirping from Alex Vlasic when Boston University is a high seed in the Frozen Four brackets this coming weekend. So which Bulls have a specific interest in their brackets?
NEWSLETTER
