What a week to be in Columbus, Ohio! When we tune in to watch the Blackhawks this evening, we’ll watch fans in Columbus, Ohio cheer for Zach Werenski and Adam Fantilli. At some point, they’ll cheer for Kent Johnson (assuming they ever recall him). Do you know what they share in common? They’ll be wearing Maize and Blue this weekend and live in enemy territory. Three are among the future leaders of the Blue Jackets, who play in the same town as the Buckeyes. Columbus also drafted Fantilli’s teammate from last year, Gavin Brindley, who is still skating at Michigan with Blackhawks prospect Frank Nazar.
Moral of the story: if Columbus wants to be better, they ask Michigan to do it for them. Hail to the Victors!
The big news for the Blackhawks in the past 24 hours was the changes to the power play units, specifically with Kevin Korchinski finally replacing Seth Jones as the first unit quarterback. Philipp Kurashev will also ride with Connor Bedard, Lukas Reichel and Corey Perry. As I’ve been saying since the end of the first game of the regular season and made the request here almost three weeks ago. If the future of the power play is going to ride on the shoulders of Bedard and Korchinski, and they aren’t winning games, we might as well start working on the future.
It’s clear to anyone who watches that Korchinski is the best passing defenseman on the roster. I’m not saying Jones is terrible there, but he’s just a little too methodical with the puck when the other young guys are happy to sling it around the zone. I’m really hoping to see some quick puck movement and pucks on net tonight. The Hawks will need it, too; the only thing going right in Columbus right now is their penalty kill, which is ranked fourth in the NHL.
As you might guess, Jones wasn’t the happiest of campers when he spoke with the media after practice yesterday. But he understands that the power play hasn’t been doing much/anything so making a chance was necessary. After all, this is a results business.
This was pretty fun yesterday near the end of practice. Corey Perry came out to say hey to his son and encourage him to be a good listener at a hockey camp they were holding at Fifth Third Arena. When he got to the door, Perry was greeted with about 30 young fans begging for autographs. Perry signed everything from shirts to water bottles to sticks and hats.
I enjoyed this piece from Scott Powers on Caley Chelios’ career, that’s brought her home to Chicago. I’m a fan. And this is a good read.
It sounds like Patrick Kane might pick a new home as early as this week. The list of teams that have reportedly expressed some level of interest are the Dallas Stars, Toronto Maple Leafs, Florida Panthers, Detroit Red Wings, Colorado Avalanche, Vegas Golden Knights and the Buffalo Sabres.
The college schedule for Blackhawks prospects this week kicks off tonight. We’ve got everything to watch for you this morning.
Finally, this would be interesting. A Chicago team going after a star player in Toronto (cough, William Nylander’s a free agent in eight months cough)…?
