FEATURE: Korchinski 'Ready to Go' as an NHL Pro

After his impressive performance in preseason action last season, Kevin Korchinski continues to build off the confidence that he gained to try and become a full-time NHL player.

Now in his second year in training camp, he feels more comfortable with the Blackhawks’ system and now focuses on how to enhance his skills at a more advance level.

“I’m trying to get better every day,” Korchinski said. “I’m just trying to use last year’s preseason as confidence heading into this one to try and be an NHL player. It’s exciting, I’m ready to go and get at it.”

For Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson and head coach Luke Richardson, they have both seen a big stride in the 2022 draft pick’s game with his skating abilities and defensive skills. However, they also believe that the 19-year-old defenseman can develop in other areas.

Some of the challenges they want to see growth in is how he can read high risk situations in the offensive zone and line rushes. But most importantly, how he can handle going against some top NHL forwards in the defensive zone.

“You want to make sure that he’s ready physically and mentally to handle defending NHL forwards,” Davidson said. “On the offensive side of the puck, there are certain things that he could get away with just based on his physical capabilities, his skills and his skating that may be a little too high risk at times that you want to see him dial back.”

As he continues to adjust to the NHL level, Korchinski now tries to balance when to take risks in the offensive zone or when to let the forwards to handle the puck.

For him, he knows the harm a major risk can take but finding the right time to take advanatage of the moment.

“I can’t take too much of a risk, because you don’t want to put the team at harm,” Korchinski said. “You just have to read when it’s the [right] time when you can create an odd man rush or something like that.”

For Seth Jones, he knows that the young defenseman can handle the challenge due to his experience in preseason and the WHL. Along with risks, he will still have to adjust to the learning curves.

“I think he's a smart player,” Jones said. “I think he's going to figure that out for himself, like a lot of young guys do. He can lead the rush, he can join it from behind, but I think he understands when to take those chances and when not to. There's going to be learning curves as well.”

To help him understand the NHL style of play, Korchinski began to learn from Connor Murphy throughout training camp. The rookie defenseman felt that the two work best together because of their similar style of play and chemistry they built last year before Murphy exited camp early due to an injury.

Some of the ways things that Murphy helped Korchinski with included the conditioning that NHL players endure, understanding the different drills and what to expect overall in the league.

“He’s super experienced and a great hockey player,” Korchinski said. “Out there you can read off him and he always has your back. It’s been awesome and he’s been teaching me and showing me the ropes, so it’s awesome that I’m paired with him.”

With Korchinski’s speed, Murphy can see that as an advantage with the way he handles the puck to the forwards. Now, he is ready to see what the rookie can do for the Blackhawks in the rest of the preseason. 

“He’s got such quickness and knack of plays with the puck,” Murphy said. “In preseason, he really stood out for us last year, it’ll be cool to see him make strides again this year and be alongside him. He has a good jump and he’s a great guy to play with.”