Blackhawks to keep 2022 first-round pick on roster

The Blackhawks will keep defenseman Kevin Korchinski on the active roster, head coach Luke Richardson told Mark Lazerus of The Athletic Monday. The 19-year-old will not be returned to the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds, thereby putting his three-year, entry-level contract into effect starting this season.

Selected seventh overall in the 2022 NHL Draft, Korchinski has quietly seen top-four minutes thus far to start the campaign. While all the media attention is rightfully on 2023 first-overall choice Connor Bedard, Korchinski has done quite well through his first nine NHL contests. His -8 rating may make it seem like he’s struggled defensively, but that’s more a product of the team around him. In fact, his 49.4% Corsi share at even strength is much better than the team’s quite poor 44.8% average, doing so while consistently taking over 20 shifts per game and routinely crossing the 20-minute mark in terms of ice time.

Korchinski is still looking for his first NHL goal but has managed to put three assists on the board, his only primary helper coming in last night’s 8-1 loss to the Coyotes – a goal scored by Bedard and assisted secondarily by Seth Jones, a combination Blackhawks fans will certainly see a lot of in the coming seasons.

While negligible for a team in Chicago’s situation, the entry-level slide from last season confirms that Korchinski’s cap hit will be $918.3K through the 2025-26 season rather than the $950K listed when he initially signed the deal. That’s because while an entry-level deal slides, signing bonuses are paid out even in years when the contract is not in effect – lowering the cap hit on the deal when it does go into effect because less money than anticipated is being paid out in the third year of the deal.

Last season with WHL Seattle, Korchinski finished third among defensemen in the league with 1.35 points per game behind Ducks prospect Olen Zellweger (1.45) and Blue Jackets prospect Stanislav Svozil (1.39), the latter of whom was teammates with Bedard.