Defenseman Kevin Korchinski and forward Frank Nazar, two highly rated Chicago Blackhawks prospects, will start their seasons with the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs after they were among the latest cuts from training camp Wednesday.
Defenseman Louis Crevier also was shipped to Rockford, and forward AJ Spellacy returned to his junior team, the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires, after emerging as the surprise discovery of camp.
Before camp, Nazar looked like a strong contender to make the roster, while Korchinski spent all of his rookie season in Chicago. But both showed inconsistency in camp and struggled during preseason games.
“I feel like he knows it’s nothing due to his play or anything,” defenseman Alex Vlasic said of Korchinski. “I think it’s more just the development process that the Hawks want for him. If you look at all the young guys we have, they’re all down in Rockford now.
“I feel like it’ll be such a fun year for all those guys to be able to play together and get that chemistry and have that be the young core coming up together. A lot of good teams have had success doing that.”
Coach Luke Richardson said Korchinski and Nazar need to play heavy minutes and see high-leverage situations in the AHL, something they wouldn’t necessarily get with the Hawks.
He cited the progress Vlasic and defenseman Wyatt Kaiser showed after an extended stay in Rockford.
“Getting Frank down there to be a No. 1 center and to be on the power play (and) penalty kill,” Richardson said, “where if he’s here, that ice time might dwindle or even be in and out of the lineup as a young guy. It’s tough.”
“Getting Frank to be down there to be a No. 1 center, to be on the power play and penalty kill, where if he’s here that might dwindle with ice time.”
—Luke Richardson on the Blackhawks’ decision to send Frank Nazar to Rockford pic.twitter.com/kmU21qvxhp
— Phillip Thompson (@_phil_thompson) October 2, 2024
The Hawks want to see Nazar play as a top-six forward with the IceHogs, a role they envision as his future, rather than start as a bottom-six forward with the Hawks and have to adjust later.
“To be a bottom-six forward and try to learn that role and take a little bit away from your game, do you get it back?” Richardson pondered. “Why not stick with the same format and try to move forward?”
As for Korchinski, who was listed at 6-foot-1 and 185 pounds coming into camp, he has spent each offseason trying to bulk up. This summer he focused on “getting stronger, getting more explosive, just so I can help with defending and shooting and put more goals in the back of the net.”
Coaches want him to work on his body positioning and awareness.
“He’s such a good skater, sometimes he gets on the outside and it allows players to get on the inside,” Richardson said. “He’s already developed and gotten bigger and stronger than last year, but … he’s probably not ready to be battling top-line players at this level right now consistently. He can do it, but consistently?”
That inconsistency was on display during Tuesday’s 7-2 preseason loss to the Minnesota Wild. Korchinski and defensive partner Connor Murphy were on the ice for three of the Wild goals.
“I feel partly responsible for not playing better with him and for him,” Murphy said. “As a partner, you want to be able to stick together for a long time.”
Richardson said Tuesday’s performance factored into the decision.
“But everyone’s had a chance at training camp to blow the doors wide open or show exactly where you’re at in your development,” he said. “He’s a great, young skater — offensive, puck-moving player — but to work on the full game of defense is going to be a little easier task down there in that league.”
Korchinski had five goals and 10 assists in 76 games with the Hawks last season. It’s an imperfect statistic, but he had the lowest plus-minus (minus-39) of any Hawks defenseman.
“The intensity level and the battle level, guys in the NHL are just so much stronger and harder to knock off pucks than they are in the AHL,” Vlasic said. “Our defensive coach, Kevin Dean, harps on a lot of the young guys just to play hard and close quick.”
Korchinski, now 20, was caught in a tough spot because of his age last season. Because of the age-based transfer agreement between the NHL and the Canadian Hockey League — the umbrella organization for the three major junior leagues — the Hawks couldn’t send the 19-year-old Korchinski to the AHL.
“We couldn’t send him back to junior and couldn’t send him down to Rockford,” Richardson said, “so he had the hard-knocks version last year, learning on the fly and with sometimes not a lot of support. That’s what we don’t want him to get into this year.”
Still, it has to be a tough pill for Korchinski, the No. 7 pick in the 2022 draft.
“Just told him to keep working. (GM) Kyle (Davidson) gave him a great message that we believe in him and we know that he’s going to be a great defenseman.”
—Luke Richardson on the message to Kevin Korchinski before the Blackhawks sent him to the Rockford IceHogs pic.twitter.com/EW3gU4VSKY
— Phillip Thompson (@_phil_thompson) October 2, 2024
“Just told him to keep working,” Richardson said. “(General manager) Kyle (Davidson) gave him a great message that we believe in him and we know he’s going to be a great defenseman, and we’re going to help him get there with all the resources we have here to provide.
“We’re going to be watching lots. Like, (the IceHogs are) playing right now and Nazar already scored the first goal of the game, so that’s the whole reason for them to go there and do that. We’re hoping for the same for Kevin. … Make the organization open up a spot for you again.”
Murphy said Korchinski “showed a lot of great things” during his rookie season, but being sent to the minors can be a blessing.
“My first year (with the then-Phoenix Coyotes), honestly — I wouldn’t have told the team I was with — but at times I would’ve rather been in the minors,” Murphy said, “because you can be with (players) your own age and you can make mistakes and not have the pressure (and) heightened responsibility on your shoulders.
“I had some of the most fun in my career my first year being a minor, so I’m happy for him to be able to go there and build his game and have a lot of fun with a lot of friends that he’s built here that are going down there right away.”
Murphy said that while Korchinski can focus on his all-around game, he possesses great natural abilities.
“(He’s) offensively gifted, and the breakouts he can make with the puck are so big,” he said. “I would say, if anything, as a new defenseman, it’s just about some positioning and learning systems of the pro game of where to be and making the job easier on yourself. We all go through times where we lose a bit of our footing.”
Vlasic said he planned to call Korchinski and tell him to keep his head up, “just get to work” and make the most of this opportunity.
“He’s got so much time to grow into his game, and I don’t doubt that he will,” Vlasic said.
