Nick Foligno, quickly becoming one of my favorite Blackhawks, was on NHL Network to talk about the start of the season with the crew. And yes, he looks like he could be brothers with Mike Rupp (on set). Foligno talked about a lot of things with them, from Connor Bedard‘s shot dynamics to the grueling road trip. He’s awesome and this was a fun interview to watch.
Happy birthday to an all-time Blackhawk: Dale Tallon. He appeared in 345 games for Chicago as a player between 1973-78 and then returned after retiring to work in the television and radio broadcast booths for 16 years. Tallon moved over to the franchise’s front office in 1998 and replaced Bob Pulford as the team’s general manager after the 2004-05 season and served in that role until he was demoted (after signing Marian Hossa) in the summer of 2009.
Tallon’s draft classes between 2004-09 brought the following players to Chicago: Cam Barker (see Leddy, Nick), Dave Bolland, Bryan Bickell, Jake Dowell, Troy Brouwer, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Ben Smith and Marcus Kruger. That’s just the draft; his trading and free agent signings also served as the foundation for the Blackhawks’ dynasty. So big ol’ stick taps to Dale Tallon on his 73rd birthday.
From Elliotte Friedman’s written version of on Wednesday, some high praise from general manager Kyle Davidson about one of the team’s top young defenseman who has a decision looming regarding where he spends the duration of his 2023-24 season:
I like what I saw from 2022 first-rounder Kevin Korchinski. Sorry WHL, he looks good. “We haven’t made any decisions yet,” Davidson said. “But we’ve said Kevin’s play ꦓwill dictate what decision we make. Right now, he looks like a player that should continue to get a look at the NHL level.” The GM points out Korchinski is a “young 19,” with a birthday in late June. “So far, he’s shown he’s ready for the NHL challenge.”
If I were a betting man (which I’m not in this scenario but have been known to be previously), my money would be on Korchinski hanging around Chicago longer than nine games. In fact, I’ve said it before and it’s worth saying again now in light of GMKD’s comment: Korchinski’s development path would likely be better served learning from and playing with/against NHL players at this stage. What that means for him potentially running it back with Canada at the World Juniors after Christmas is TBD, but I think Korchinski’s an NHL player.
Oh look! Young leadership emerging! It isn’t just Connor Bedard on the ice long after everyone else leaves. Korchinski, Wyatt Kaiser, Lukas Reichel and Cole Guttman joined him for some extra shooting — a lot of it, in fact — in Denver on Wednesday.
This is a lovely read from Frank Seravalli on Taylor Hall. He touches on being a mentor for Bedard, being impressed by Bedard, his overall view of the game and his place in the game as he enters his 30s and how life changes as you get older. Highly recommend this one getting a click.
Some unfortunate news yesterday when we learned Minnesota-Duluth junior center Dominic James‘ season is over because of an upper-body injury suffered last Friday.
Some injury updates from around the Central Division:
Winnipeg lost one of their big offseason additions, forward Gabe Vilardi, for at least one month with a knee injury suffered against his former team, the LA Kings.
I mentioned a potentially long-term injury to Minnesota defenseman Alex Goligoski in yesterday’s Around the NHL. Later in the day, the Wild put him on LTIR with an expectation of 6-8 weeks being out of service. Sammy Walker was recalled.
Finally, it looks like the Cubs could potentially lose an important member of their front office.
