It’s Tuesday, even if it feels like a Monday because of the holiday weekend, and we’re one more day closer to hockey returning. By my calculations, we’re now just eight days away from the Tom Kurver’s Prospect Showcase in Minnesota. I’m excited to see the full roster the Blackhawks are planning to send for the games against the prospects from the Blues and Wild. I do wish this was happening in Chicago this year, though.
This morning the fine folks at released their preseason rankings of the top 20 candidates to win the Calder Trophy this season. You may recall last week I sized up Connor Bedard‘s competition for the league’s rookie of the year award. I did not rank 20 candidates, however.
This year’s rookie class looks to be as good and deep as any in recent memory. Bedard ranked at the top of their list, which was assumed. I was interested to see Kevin Korchinski at No. 17 on their list as well. Here’s part of what they had to say about Korchinski as a candidate:
[You] look at the Blackhawks’ depth on defense (yes, after Seth Jones it really is Filip Roos, Jarred Tinordi, Wyatt Kaiser, Nikita Zaitsev, Connor Murphy, Isaak Phillips and Alex Vlasic), which may be the worst in the NHL, and you realize it’s practically begging for him to take a job out of camp. And if he does, you can count on him running one of the two power plays and being put in a shelter꧑ed posit🦂ion to succeed offensively. It makes a lot of sense for him to start the season on a nine-game stint in the NHL and see how it goes, at the very least.
We’ve talked about this some recently when considering the Blackhawks’ options on the blue line. The youth movement is coming… but it isn’t here yet. My educated guess is there will be three rookies in the lineup on Opening Night. The question is who those three skaters will be. Scott Wheeler’s assessment of the rest of the players available to Luke Richardson’s staff isn’t a glowing endorsement of the group, but there will be opportunity for youngsters to make an impact and begin their NHL careers this season. And I submit the options Richardson’s staff will have are better — and more appropriately developed — than we’ve seen in the recent past.
If you read that story from The Athletic, you’ll see in their opening notes that Lukas Reichel was initially part of their consideration set but had to be removed because he is no longer eligible to win the Calder. In their comments about Bedard’s candidacy, they wrote the following:
Bedard’s the frontrunner, but winning the Calder is going to be far from a cakewalk. Acquiring Taylor Hall helps, but Bedard’s not going to have any star talent around him. The Blackhawks are also so thin further ꦿdown the lineup that opposing teams will be circling Bedard as “the guy” to game plan around.
Sure, the Blackhawks don’t have any top-tier names in the lineup at this point beyond Bedard — even though Hall was a No. 1 overall pick, many are discounting his game at this point. But I would argue the Blackhawks’ lineup this year could have a lot of speed and balance. And it could be more productive from top to bottom than last year’s group that saw only two players reach the 20-goal mark. Yesterday I wrote about the opportunity in front of Reichel this season with some of the pressure and certainly a lot of the attention off him because of the arrival of Bedard. He’s one of the players who could be a dynamic offensive player that keeps teams from “only” needing to game plan around Bedard this coming season.
There was some discussion on NHL Network yesterday about Bedard’s rookie season production. Their fan vote was interesting, but the comments from their analysts spoke to Bedard’s ability to create his own offense. If the Blackhawks’ offense can be more balanced this season, the chances Bedard’s production are high increase.
It appears former All-Star Game MVP John Scott will be doing some studio work for NBC Sports Chicago this season on their pre and postgame shows. Fun story: did you know the last time Scott was traded (in 2016) he was dealt from Arizona to Montreal in a deal that sent Jarred Tinordi to the Coyotes?
Finally, there are few things a fan can enjoy and appreciate more than a truly magnificent performance from a homegrown player on your favorite team. And Justin Steele delivered the goods on Sunday.
