We Need to Talk About Kevin Korchinski ...Middle East

Yeah, it’s about that time. We need to sit down and have a sincere conversation about development, because the opinions are flying around Blackhawks defenseman Kevin Korchinski.

Just on Thursday, I saw the panel on CHSN wondering if the Blackhawks should trade Korchinski. And the guys at CHGO had a conversation about whether he’s in Chicago or Rockford — and the perception of where he begins the coming season.

There are three ways to approach the conversation about Korchinski at this specific place in his hockey journey:

Let’s tackle those. However, while I listed them from the most specific to the most macro, I want to structure this conversation in the reverse order because I believe they funnel works both ways.

College vs. Juniors

This is a hot topic right now in the hockey world because the NCAA removed their heads from their… and changed their rule a year ago to allow CHL players to join the collegiate ranks. That was not the case when the Chicago Blackhawks selected Korchinski with the seventh overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft.

However, that doesn’t change one aspect of his development timeline that appears to be a bit of an elephant in the room — especially with the Blackhawks’ 2022 draft class.

When we go back to the 2022 NHL Draft — the first under Kyle Davidson as the permanent general manager — it appears the Blackhawks did quite well. At least it does now.

At the time, there were plenty of fans and analysts who thought the Blackhawks trading back up into the first round (a deal that also brought Petr Mrazek’s full contract to Chicago to move up a dozen spots) to select Sam Rinzel was a foolish gamble on a lottery ticket at No. 25. Well, three years later he was one of the best defensemen in college hockey, signed his entry-level deal and is now appearing set to be on Chicago’s top pair in the NHL in his first full pro season.

Now, when we or others go back and evaluate the Blackhawks’ 2022 draft class — or the entire class, as Corey Pronman did at The Athletic earlier this month — most consider Frank Nazar (Chicago’s second pick in the first round, No. 13 overall) and Rinzel (Chicago’s third pick in the first round) to be stronger prospects with higher ceilings than Korchinski, their first pick that year.

In fact, there some on social media who are already talking about Ryan Greene — the Blackhawks’ fifth pick in that draft, a second rounder (No. 57 overall) — is closer to being NHL-ready than Korchinski.

What do Nazar, Rinzel and Greene have on common? They all played college hockey.

Korchinski played one season with Seattle in the WHL after being drafted; he put up 73 points in 54 regular-season games and another 14 points in 19 postseason games that season. There was very little left for him to prove as a 20-year-old in junior.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t go to college at that time. And, as a 19-year-old, his only options were the NHL or WHL. Beginning next year, NHL teams will be able to stash one 19-year-old in the AHL per season. That rule, like players moving from the CHL to the NCAA, didn’t exist when Korchinski could have benefitted from it.

Korchinski wasn’t ready for the NHL. That was a long, hard season for him for many reasons, including his father suddenly passing away around Christmas. The Blackhawks also would have preferred he not spend most of his ice time as a rookie with a waiver pickup because of the number of injuries that impacted their roster that year. With all due respect to Jaycob Megna, he’s not who the Blackhawks’ front office envisioned helping Korchinski adjust to the professional game every night.

Korchinski is far from the only prospect in the drafts between 2019-22 who would have benefitted from college hockey. The CHL took a couple years to rebound from its COVID break. But there’s a bigger underlying issue that needs to be acknowledged.

At this point, it’s becoming increasingly clear that college hockey is quickly becoming a better development level than the CHL can provide. You still have older players in their early 20s playing college hockey. Players benefit from playing only twice each week — Friday and Saturday nights — with a full week of practices, weight room with a professional strength coach and food table provided to help their diet and weight gain efforts in the best way possible (ask Rinzel how important that was for him).

The three Blackhawks prospects who might be better prepared for the NHL to start this season spent time in college. Korchinski made the jump from the CHL at 19.

Blackhawks pipeline growth

When the Blackhawks drafted Korchinski in 2022, Alex Vlasic had appeared in 15 NHL games (after three good seasons at Boston University — another college player, which is noteworthy in this conversation as well). Vlasic went to Rockford for most of the 2022-23 season before becoming a full-time NHL player.

Behind Vlasic, the Blackhawks’ pipeline on the back end was thin, if not empty. We didn’t know what the Blackhawks had in Wyatt Kaiser, another college prospect who was a third-round pick in 2020, and there were many who questioned the selection of Nolan Allan at the end of the first round in 2021. Ian Mitchell was still a guy many (including me, I’ll admit it) were hoping would be an impact player on the blue line in Chicago.

So Korchinski was automatically considered the best defensive prospect in the organization. With that came lofty expectations, and a desperate fan base that didn’t want the rebuild to take more than 24 months wanted him to become Cale Makar overnight.

In the three years since Korchinski was drafted, the Blackhawks have seen Rinzel’s development become something we might be talking about for years to come. They drafted Artyom Levshunov second overall in 2024. Kaiser spent three years in college and appears to be a guy the Blackhawks can count on at the NHL level. And Ethan Del Mastro, a fourth-round pick in 2021, appears to be ready for the NHL as well.

Now, what was a significantly lacking area in the organization when the Blackhawks drafted Korchinski is clearly its strength and the part of the team that’s going to transition to the next generation fastest.

That isn’t Korchinski’s fault. And his individual development shouldn’t be judged against the timelines for other defenseman; for what it’s worth, we should keep that in mind with Levshunov as well. He doesn’t turn 20 until the end of October. It takes time to develop defensemen, and some simply take more time than others.

Korchinski’s personal development

This is where the conversation becomes most complicated. All of the surrounding factors we’ve already discussed are very real. But so is Korchinski’s personal development.

I will continue to bring this up because so many Blackhawks fans don’t remember for a long list of reasons: Duncan Keith was drafted in 2002. In the three years after he was drafted, Keith played 15 games at Michigan State, 37 with Kelowna in the WHL and 154 with Norfolk, the Blackhawks’ AHL affiliate at the time.

Keith made the jump to the NHL three full seasons after he was drafted, and produced 9 goals and 12 assists in 82 games as a 22-year-old rookie. For those who care about such things, he was minus-11.

Defensemen take time to develop. They take time to mature.

I continue to appreciate that Davidson consistently reminds us that development isn’t linear, and it isn’t the same for every player. Korchinski isn’t physically where Rinzel, Levshunov, Del Mastro, Kaiser or Allan is today. There are aspects of his game that need work — that’s up to him and the coaches in Chicago and Rockford.

That doesn’t mean he’s a bust, or that he won’t be a guy at some point.

Patience is still necessary when we consider the trajectory of Korchinski. He isn’t a finished product. And we should allow him the time to figure it out.

With that being said, spots on the Blackhawks’ NHL blue line aren’t as easy to grab as they were three years ago. The internal competition isn’t going to make his job any easier. And earning time on the power play might be harder than we imagined when he was drafted because of the emergence of both Rinzel and Levshunov.

The coming season is a big one for him; he’s on the list of Blackhawks who need a new contract next summer. Korchinski has work to do. And should be afforded the chance to develop.

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