After keeping him in the AHL for most of the past two years, the Chicago Blackhawks face a difficult scenario regarding Kevin Korchinski and his future. A restricted free agent this summer, Scott Powers of The Athletic believes they’ll retain Korchinski, while letting Ethan Del Mastro walk this offseason.
That’s not to say there was any indication the Blackhawks would let Korchinski head to a new team, but it’s still a question of where he fits. Powers rightly pointed out that Korchinski has little trade value (compared to his draft positioning) at the moment, is likely too good to return to the AHL, and not good enough to warrant consistent NHL playing time.
Hopefully, for Chicago’s sake, Korchinski has a big summer and comes into training camp like a bat out of hell. It wouldn’t do much for his development to keep him as the team’s seventh defenseman next season, but that’s the way things are headed unless he takes a major step forward.
Other notes from the Central Division:
- After spending the last three years with the AHL’s Rochester Americans, former player Václav Prospal may be headed to the NHL for the first time in his coaching career. On his 32 Thoughts podcast, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman indicated that Prospal may join the St. Louis Blues next season as an assistant coach. The last time we worked in the NHL was in the 2013-14 season when he served as a professional scout for the New York Rangers.
- According to a team announcement, the Minnesota Wild have named Sylvain Rodrigue as the team’s Director of Goaltending, a newly created post. Rodrigue will be tasked with working closely with Minnesota’s goaltending coaches at all levels of the organization and creating development plans for all of the team’s netminders. Rodrigue spent the last two years with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers after spending nearly a decade in the Edmonton Oilers organization.