Blackhawks Reassign Kevin Korchinski
The Chicago Blackhawks are again giving one of their better defensive prospects more time to develop in the AHL. The team announced that they’ve reassigned Kevin Korchinski to the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs.
Unlike some of the other moves today, this doesn’t pertain to Korchinski’s eligibility for the Calder Cup playoffs. Since he’s exempt from waivers, the Blackhawks could have theoretically waited to reassign Korchinski tomorrow morning. Instead, they’ve opted for today, meaning Korchinski is bound for another extended stay in Rockford.
That’s how Chicago has handled him for the past two years. Two years after being selected with the seventh overall pick of the 2022 NHL Draft, Korchinski spent the entire 2023-24 season with the Blackhawks. He finished the campaign with five goals and 15 points in 76 games with a -39 rating, and he proved he wasn’t quite ready for NHL minutes.
Since then, he’s primarily played for the IceHogs. He has been a solid puck mover in the AHL, registering 45 assists in 101 games. Still, his -39 rating over that stretch is concerning, especially considering that Rockford has made the postseason in both years.
This season has been his most limited in the AHL. At the time of writing, Korchinski has appeared in only four games for Chicago, tallying one assist while averaging 11:42 of ice time. This isn’t to say that Korchinski should no longer be considered one of Chicago’s top prospects, but he may take a bit longer to develop than expected.
Blackhawks Recall Ethan Del Mastro
The Blackhawks have recalled defenseman Ethan Del Mastro from AHL Rockford, per Charlie Roumeliotis of WGN Radio 720. He fills the roster spot vacated by yesterday’s trade of Connor Murphy to the Oilers.
Del Mastro, 23, was a fourth-round pick of the Blackhawks in 2021. Since then, he’s been steadily climbing the depth chart, demonstrating some real shutdown upside as a fringe top-four option or bottom-pair staple. In 161 AHL games since his pro debut in 2023, he has a 9-55–64 scoring line and a +23 rating, a top-32 figure in the league during that timeframe (min. 100 GP). This year, he has a 2-16–18 line with a +8 rating in 45 outings.
He’s gotten some NHL looks before, including a 24-game run last year that seemed to put him in contention for a full-time role as soon as this season. That hasn’t happened, due in part to their late-summer signing of Matt Grzelcyk plugging up the left side, but he did get a call-up back in December that resulted in a pair of appearances.
In January, Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times ranked Del Mastro as the #10 prospect in the Hawks’ system. He noted that Wyatt Kaiser‘s and Louis Crevier‘s breakthrough campaigns this year have slightly limited his pathway toward regular time among Chicago’s glut of defense prospects, but he’s had a strong enough season in the minors to continue putting him in the conversation.
As a result, Del Mastro’s stint on the roster is only likely to last until Kaiser can return from injured reserve, unless Chicago trims another defender from its ranks by Friday’s trade deadline. Kaiser sustained a lower-body injury shortly before the Olympic break and is on track to return sometime this month. For now, Del Mastro’s got a shot to challenge fellow youngster Kevin Korchinski for ice time on the Hawks’ bottom pairing behind Grzelcyk and Alex Vlasic, attempting to leapfrog him on the depth chart before Kaiser’s activation potentially forces Chicago into a decision over who to send back to Rockford.
Edmonton Oilers Acquire Connor Murphy
5:00 p.m.: Both the Oilers and the Blackhawks have now officially announced the trade.
As mentioned previously, significant roster maneuvering was necessary to facilitate the deal. According to Puckpedia, after Janmark’s placement on LTIR earlier today, and the expected reassignment of Howard, the team was able to create enough cap space to fit in the $2.2MM cap hit brought by Murphy. With 21 active players and Janmark on LTIR, the Oilers will have approximately $200K in cap space remaining after this deal.
As for Janmark, he’s out with an undisclosed injury. As relayed by Sportsnet’s Mark Spector, Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch characterized Janmark’s injury as “a chronic injury that needs some rest,” and said he’d be out “long term.” So far this season, Janmark has gotten into 43 games for the Oilers, scoring eight points. He’s averaged 11:51 time-on-ice per game, including 1:30 per game on the penalty kill. The Swedish forward is under contract for another season at a $1.45MM cap hit.
3:23 p.m.: The Edmonton Oilers are in the process of completing a trade for Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Connor Murphy, a league source tells Chris Johnston of The Athletic. Chicago will acquire a second-round pick in return and retain $2.2MM of Murphy’s $4.4MM cap hit per Sportsnet’s Mark Spector. The trade was first reported by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
Edmonton won’t be able to acquire Murphy’s $2.2MM cap hit until they send a player to the minor leagues per PuckPedia. The Oilers recalled Josh Samanski and Isaac Howard earlier in the day, after placing Mattias Janmark on long-term injured reserve. Howard is expected to be the man reassigned per DailyFaceoff’s Jason Gregor. The deal is not expected to be completed until after 5 P.M. ET, the beginning of the 3/3 business day for cap purposes.
This move will mark a reunion between Murphy and Oilers general manager Stan Bowman. Bowman served as the Blackhawks’ GM in 2017, when Murphy was acquired from the Arizona Coyotes alongside Laurent Dauphin in exchange for Niklas Hjalmarsson near the end of his career. Murphy stepped into an immediate role in the Blackhawks’ lineup, taking on a third-pair role while Erik Gustafsson, Jordan Oesterle, and Gustav Forsling vied for a second-pair role.
Murphy notched 14 points, 34 penalty minutes, and a minus-three in 76 games of his first season with the Blackhawks. He proved to be an impactful rush defender who didn’t get in the way of Chicago’s star forwards as they drove up the ice. But Murphy began to run into routine injury beginning in the 2018-19 season. Via injury and healthy scratches, Murphy missed out on 85 games between the 2018-19 and 2021-22 seasons. He racked up 57 points and a plus-one in 217 games across those four seasons.
More notably, he worked his way back to full health for the 2022-23 season. By then, Murphy had emerged as one of only a few veterans on a rebuilding Blackhawks defense. That standing pushed him up into tough, top-four minutes often in relief of Blackawks’ top defender Seth Jones. In the heavy role, Murphy racked up 13 points and 69 penalty minutes in 80 games of the 2022-23 campaign. Injuries and scratches came back to bite him over the last three seasons, pulling Murphy back into the swing of routine absences. He tied his career-high 19 points in 68 games last season but has so far only totaled 13 points in 60 games this season.
While luck hasn’t been on his side in Chicago, Murphy has shown an ability to once again stick in the lineup through much of this season. He has returned to a defensive-defenseman’s role, operating from the bottom pair but routinely tapped to play more than 20 minutes against strong offenses.
Murphy will bring a robust, defensive ability to a high-octane Edmonton blue-line. The Oilers found a cohesive top-pairing in Mattias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard but haven’t yet found the right match for Darnell Nurse, who has spent significant time with six different D partners this season. Murphy could become the seventh man to stand by Nurse, bringing a bit more veteran certainty than previous partners like Spencer Stastney or Ty Emberson. That pairing could move Emberson back to a bottom-pair role and free up Jake Walman to rotate throughout the lineup.
That flexibility will be welcome as Edmonton eyes another long postseason run. Murphy has only appeared in the Stanley Cup Playoffs once in his 13-year career – when he played nine games and scored four assists in the 2020 postseason. He should be headed for his second playoff bid now with the Oilers, and could prove to be an X-factor addition should his defensive focus free up Nurse, or Walman, to drive the offense a bit more.
Photo courtesy of Jamie Sabau-USA TODAY Sports.
Blackhawks Have Put Mikheyev Out There In Trade Talks
The Blackhawks showed some interest in signing pending UFA winger Ilya Mikheyev to a contract extension but now, they’ve put his name out there in trade talks, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports in the latest 32 Thoughts podcast (audio link). The 31-year-old has 11 goals and 12 assists in 53 games this season while averaging a career-high 17:17 per night of playing time. Mikheyev has a $4.0375MM cap charge with Chicago (Vancouver is covering the rest of his $4.75MM AAV) and the Blackhawks will need to further pay that down to maximize their return. Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times suggests that the team might only be willing to go as high as two years on an extension offer for Mikheyev, albeit likely at an above-market rate. While that would allow him to potentially maximize his earnings and would keep in line with similar deals GM Kyle Davidson has done, this might be his last shot at a long-term contract. The stability of that might outweigh the value of getting top dollar.
Blackhawks, Nick Foligno Discussing Trade Deadline Plans
After a surprising start, the Chicago Blackhawks have fallen out of the playoff conversation over the last few months. That being said, with six pending unrestricted free agents on the roster, they have the option to be a fairly active seller leading up to the trade deadline.
One of those pending unrestricted free agents is captain Nick Foligno, who’s approaching the final season of his NHL career if he isn’t already in it. According to Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times, the Blackhawks have held preliminary conversations with Foligno about his desires leading up to the deadline.
In Pope’s report, he included a quote from Foligno, saying, “When you’re in this situation where you’re not in the playoffs, there’s decisions the organization has to make, and then therefore there’s decisions you have to make. That’s something we’re going to go through the process of. It’s too early to say.”
At this stage of his career, complicated by his age and recent injuries, the Blackhawks would be doing Foligno a service by trading him to a contender. The 38-year-old winger has been limited to 34 games this season, recording two goals and 10 points while averaging 12:56 of ice time.
Despite playing in the middle-six of the Blackhawks’ forward corps the last two seasons, he’s been largely relegated to a bottom-six role this season. If he finds his way to a contending team by next Friday, he’ll undoubtedly continue in that role with his new club.
Theoretically, every playoff-bound team could use Foligno to some degree, especially if Chicago is willing to eat salary. He’s a veteran winger with the ability to play on both sides of the ice, a veteran of 1200+ games at the NHL level, and 68 postseason contests. While not a direct comparison, the Blackhawks trading Foligno would be similar to the Buffalo Sabres trading Kyle Okposo to the Florida Panthers at the 2024 trade deadline. Okposo only recorded two assists in 17 postseason games for the Panthers that spring, but he won the Stanley Cup for the first time in his 17-year career.
Latest On Blackhawks' Interest In Gavin McKenna
It’s been a whirlwind few weeks for top 2026 draft prospect Gavin McKenna. He began the month with some legal trouble as he was arrested, but later returned to the ice and scored eight points in a single game against Ohio State. McKenna’s season has been subject to quite a bit of conversation, with many speculating that the Canadian winger, who had long been considered this year’s top draft prospect, might be losing his grip on his status as the presumptive No. 1 overall pick. It’s unclear how the events of the past month – both the legal issue and the uptick in production – will impact McKenna’s draft stock, but at least one team appears to now hold an improved view of the player. Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times reported today that the Chicago Blackhawks “have noticed McKenna improving his all-around game,” and that “they were skeptical about him earlier this season,” but “that’s no longer the case.”
In addition, Pope reports that McKenna’s “felony charge is unlikely to affect his NHL draft stock now that it has been dropped.” Whether the Blackhawks will be in a position to draft McKenna is, of course, not clear at this time. They are No. 27 in the league standings, and would likely need some lottery luck to have a shot at McKenna. Regarding other options for their top draft choice, Pope noted that the Blackhawks “have also long been interested in Canadian center Tynan Lawrence,” who is widely ranked as one of the top centers in this year’s class. While Pope’s reporting only relates to one team, it does shed some light on how other NHL scouts might view McKenna given the events of the past month, assuming the Blackhawks are not alone in their reported view of things.
Blackhawks Sign, Reassign Olivier Rodrigue
2/22: Chicago has officially assigned Rodrigue to the AHL after he cleared NHL waivers.
2/21: The Blackhawks have added some extra goaltending depth for the stretch run. The team announced that they’ve signed goaltender Olivier Rodrigue to a one-year, two-way contract for the remainder of the season. The deal will carry a $775K cap charge at the NHL level while the two-way salary was not disclosed.
The 25-year-old was a second-round pick of Edmonton back in 2018, going 62nd overall. However, he wasn’t able to make much of a push for NHL playing time over his five seasons in their system. Aside from a two-game stint with the Oilers last season, Rodrigue played exclusively in their minor league system between AHL Bakersfield and ECHL Wichita. Last season, Rodrigue posted a 3.12 GAA with a .897 SV% in 42 games with the Condors and became a Group Six unrestricted free agent back in the summer.
It took until mid-August for Rodrigue to find a team as he wound up signing a one-year deal with Barys Astana of the KHL. However, he suffered an injury less than a month later, leading to his release before he had even played a game for them. Since then, Rodrigue hasn’t played but this contract suggests that he’s now cleared to return to game action.
Presumably, Rodrigue’s signing comes in response to prospect goalie Stanislav Berezhnoy, who received a 20-game suspension from the AHL earlier this week for violating the terms of the AHL/PHPA Performance Enhancing Substance Program. Chicago’s intent is likely to have Rodrigue serve as the backup to Drew Commesso for the stretch run while evaluating his possibility as a fit for next season as well. With 131 career AHL regular season appearances under his belt where he has a 2.92 GAA and a .905 SV%, Rodrigue should be well-suited to fill that role.
To do so, Chicago will first have to successfully run Rodrigue through waivers before he can be assigned to the IceHogs. While the NHL is in a trade freeze at the moment, waivers are still allowable during this period and PuckPedia reports that he is indeed on waivers. Assuming he clears, he’ll be sent down on Sunday and will be eligible to play then.
Two Prospects Receive 20-Game Suspensions In AHL
A pair of NHL prospects will be waiting quite a while before they can play their next game. Earlier this week, the AHL announced that Rockford goalie Stanislav Berezhnoy and Coachella Valley forward David Goyette have received 20-game suspensions for violating the terms of the AHL/PHPA Performance Enhancing Substance Program. The program essentially replicates the NHL’s penalties for violations, meaning that this is a first-time offence for both players. They will be ineligible for recall to the NHL while serving their bans.
Berezhnoy is in his first season in North America after the Blackhawks signed him to a two-year, entry-level contract last summer. The 22-year-old has played in 15 games so far this season for the IceHogs, largely serving as Drew Commesso’s backup. Berezhnoy has a 5-9-1 record with a 3.18 GAA and a .888 SV% in those outings. He received a brief NHL recall in January when Chicago’s starting tandem was unavailable but didn’t see any game action.
As for Goyette, he’s in the second season of his entry-level deal. Drafted in the second round (61st overall) by the Kraken back in 2022, the 21-year-old was a productive scorer in junior but that has yet to translate to the pros. Goyette had 282 points in three OHL seasons (spanning 197 games) but had 18 points in 54 outings with the Firebirds last season and has just 10 in 47 appearances in 2025-26. He hasn’t seen any NHL action so far in his career.
Both players will be able to return before the playoffs. Berezhnoy is eligible to return on April 11th while Goyette can play one day sooner. At that point, there will be just over a week left in the AHL season and if either team is still fighting for a playoff spot since then, it could be risky to put them in after being off for so long.
Dickinson Leaves Practice Early Due To Illness
- Blackhawks center Jason Dickinson left practice today due to illness, notes Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times (Twitter link). He’s likely to be one of Chicago’s more prominent trade chips heading into the trade deadline a couple of weeks from now. Dickinson only has 13 points in 43 games but his defensive reputation should help garner some interest from teams looking for bottom-six depth, especially if the Blackhawks retain part of his $4.25MM cap charge.
Blackhawks Recall Kevin Korchinski, Sam Rinzel
The Blackhawks announced Wednesday that they’ve recalled defense prospects Kevin Korchinski and Sam Rinzel from AHL Rockford. Defenseman Wyatt Kaiser was placed on injured reserve retroactive to Feb. 4 in the corresponding move.
Chicago doesn’t have any defensemen in Italy suiting up at the Olympics, so it’s likely these recalls will result in actual playing time for the two youngsters. Korchinski, the seventh overall pick in the 2022 draft, especially stands to benefit as a lefty, more directly replacing Kaiser’s slot on the depth chart. Since recording 15 points in 76 games for the Hawks as a rookie in 2023-24, Chicago has been much more restrictive with his development, leaving him mostly in the AHL to work on developing his all-around game.
His minor-league stats indicate the Hawks are still working to undo any damage they may have done by rushing him into the NHL lineup as a 19-year-old two years ago. He’s posted a respectable 5-45–50 scoring line in 101 games for Rockford over the last two years but that’s come with a -39 rating, including a team-worst -22 mark this year. He nonetheless leads Rockford in scoring from the blue line with 23 points in 45 games. For a Chicago blue line that’s struggled to get offense from anyone not named Artyom Levshunov this year, he could be of benefit to their 26th-ranked offense until Kaiser is ready to get back into the fold.
Rinzel, taken several spots after Korchinski in the first round in 2022, broke camp with the Hawks after a strong finish last season that saw him record five assists in his first nine NHL games after wrapping up his sophomore year at the University of Minnesota. Ice time was harder to latch onto as a full-timer, though, averaging 17:09 per game through the first two months of this year after getting top-pairing deployment down the stretch in 2024-25.
After Rinzel had an even rating and nine points in 31 games, Chicago opted to send Rinzel to Rockford in early December for additional development. The well-rounded righty has looked solid there, rattling off 14 points in 23 games with a -8 rating on a team with an ugly -30 goal differential.
He’s now one of four righties on the Hawks’ active roster, so the path to playing time is murkier than what Korchinski has at the moment. Head coach Jeff Blashill has opted to dress seven defensemen frequently this season, though, so he should have a decent shot at getting in the lineup, even if his ice time isn’t extensive.
Kaiser sustained a lower-body injury in Chicago’s final game before the Olympic break. Head coach Jeff Blashill said yesterday that he’ll miss a couple of games on the other side but will be back at some point down the stretch.