Good morning and happy Wednesday to those who are celebrating. It’s going to be hot in the Chicago area today, so what better way to start the day than watching someone on ice. Specifically, Connor Bedard. In what appears to be a Blackhawks’ sweater, Bedard ripped shots in a video shared by the Sawyer Development Institute last night. He looks ready for the NHL Skills Competition at All-Star Weekend in Toronto the weekend of my birthday (hint, wink at bosses to send me to the events).
Yesterday, I looked at the four Blackhawks prospects who were mentioned in the EP Rinkside top affiliated prospect rankings between their honorable mentions and No. 100 overall. As a reminder: Nick LardisĀ andĀ Sam Rinzel were honorable mentions, Wyatt Kaiser was No. 99 and Ethan Del Mastro was No. 68.
On Tuesday, they dropped Nos. 50-26. And the Blackhawks showed out well again. Kevin Korchinski came in at No. 31. Here’s part of what they had to say about the coming season for Korchinski:
Korchinski has legitimate first-unit power play upside at the NHL level, owing to his creativity as a distributor and evasiveness in the small area game. He’ll need to add a step and round out his defensive game ā particularly away from the puck ā to seize on that upside. Korchinski needs to have a big draft-plus-two season.
Huge congrats to Jason Dickinson on the birth of a beautiful baby!
Ā continued their roll out of their organizational rankings of under-22 players/prospects and we have reached the top ten overall (well, they’re up to No. 9). And the entire Central Division has hit their rankings except the Chicago Blackhawks. Here’s where the Hawks’ rivals have lined up thus far:
25. Colorado Avalanche
19. Winnipeg Jets
18. St. Louis Blues
17. Dallas Stars
16. Nashville Predators
12. Arizona Coyotes
10. Minnesota Wild
Which means the Blackhawks are the only team in the top ten from the division. As I mentioned previously, the Hawks came in at No. 5 in their mid-season update last year. Add Bedard and Oliver Moore? I will patiently wait for the Hawks’ ranking to be revealed.
Would you look at these three beauties?
The Oilers had a big deal still waiting to happen, but it appears it’s done. Defenseman Evan Bouchard is locking down a bridge deal for two years, undoubtedly planning on chasing the bag when the cap increases. This is a terrific number for the Oilers, who gave Bouchard a lot of PP responsibility after the trade deadline last year.
Bouchard got paid, but the Oilers decided to beat the White Sox to the pinch and let a couple executives go on Tuesday afternoon. Rick Pracey leaves the Flyers (making room for Patrick Sharp?) to run scouting in Edmonton. He was in Colorado before Philly. We’ll see if this impacts Duncan Keith’s role with the organization.
Finally, a moment of silence for the Chicago White Sox please.
The Sox shocked literally everyone on Tuesday evening when they actually fired Kenny Williams and Rick Hahn. After — during! — a ridiculously disappointing season following two underwhelming seasons, apparently Jerry Reinsdorf has seen enough. Williams had been with the organization as a player, scout and executive for decades. Hahn joined the front office 20 years ago. Was it needed? Absolutely. Did anyone think Reinsdorf would actually do it? No — especially not in August.
The Sox let this thing drag on way too long. They won a championship and thought the front office that got them there was going to find the same magic again at some point, even though every indication during games was that it was going the wrong direction….
Sound familiar?
The situation on the South Side and the news last night made me thankful that the Blackhawks identified a general manager with a plan and vision and committed to him changing the course. Has it been easy? No. Has every move been accepted happily by fans? Heck no! But Kyle Davidson is doing work and — the best part — he hired a terrific head coach who gets it and the players respond to him and work hard for him. My hope for Sox fans is they can find a Kyle Davidson and Luke Richardson. Good luck with that!
