Many Blackhawks fans still remember the infamous “Kevin Korchinski Practice” on
March 20 th , 2024 when coach Luke Richardson decided to “teach” a 19-year-old Kevin
how to be stronger and box out NHL superstars, often 10 years older than him and
almost always much heavier than him.
It was a strange practice that had Kevin participating in one-on-one puck battles in front
of the goal against the likes of Nick Foligno.
“Korch definitely has got to get bigger and stronger at the net, boxing out, and that was
seen on a couple of the goals,” Richardson said after arguably Korchinski’s worst game
of the season against the LA Kings the night before where he recorded an assist but
was a -4 and directly responsible for at least a couple of goals.
Was this the right approach to take with the undersized rookie, playing in his first NHL
season on a really bad team or did Luke Richardson fail to develop a system of play
that prioritized his players’ attributes and compensated for their weaknesses?
Luke Richardson came into the Blackhawks organization as a respected assistant
coach that prioritized a conservative defensive approach that minimized the defenders’
involvement in offensive play and made sure the box near the goalie was protected at
all costs. This system was designed for big and strong defenders to limit high danger
chances in front of the net and challenging the opposing teams to beat the goalie with
long range shots. Meanwhile, the three forwards were tasked with generating all the
offense with limited involvement from defenders that were expected to sit on the blue
line.
It was a system in which big and strong shut-down defenders like Alex Vlasic and
Connor Murphy thrived in, while offensively minded puck movers like Seth Jones and
Kevin Korchinski struggled in. Many fans lamented Seth Jones play in front of his net as
he often got beaten while skating backwards in order to get in position to protect his net.
It was even worse for a rookie defender like Korchinski.
Furthermore, it also forced Connor Bedard to generate offense by himself with his line,
often without help from defenders, while being pushed off the puck and even hit as he
was often crowded and double-teamed, which in part led to his injury that kept him
sidelined for 14 games. Additionally, it most likely led Bedard to put on too much muscle
during the Summer of 2024 which in turn slowed him down as he lost his jump and
explosiveness. Something he worked on to remedy last Summer.
As such, under Luke Richardson’s system the Blackhawks became a somewhat solid
defensive team, but one-dimensional in the offensive zone and unable to score goals.
The team often gave up few but simply could not put the puck in the back of the net.
Worst of all, it looked like Luke Richardson’s system was not designed to take
advantage of the attributes of players like Connor Bedard and Kevin Korchinski but
rather favored the older guard that was tasked with teaching the young core how to get
stronger and get tougher.
Unfortunately, Kevin Korchinski was the biggest casualty of Luke Richardson’s stubborn
approach where he was unable or unwilling to adapt his team to the way his young
players needed to play to develop.
Many point to the fact that while Kevin Korchinski must indeed get bigger and stronger
eventually to compete with the Blackhawks in the playoffs, he was not the first or the
last undersized defender to enter the NHL.
One can look to Montreal to see how Lane Hutson, an even smaller player than
Korchinski, was put in a situation to become an asset to his team and became an
eventual Calder Trophy winner. While Hutson struggled defensively against big forwards
just like Korchinski, coach Martin St Louis did not try to force him to box out large
players in his own zone but instead got him more involved in the offensive zone, to a
point where Hutson ended the year with 6 goals and 60 assists.
While Hutson was no doubt a beneficiary of playing on a more talented team than the
2023-24 Chicago Blackhawks, his coach put him into a system that magnified his
strengths instead of trying to mold him into a player that he was not.
Kevin Korchinski made the 2023-24 Chicago Blackhawks roster partly because he was
only 19 years old and the NHL rules prevented him from being sent to the AHL, but
mostly for his elite skating ability to get out of his defensive zone and get involved in
offense.
Those traits were almost instantly buried as the season started as Kevin was asked not
to skate out of his zone but quickly dump the puck out to his forwards. This caused a lot
of turnovers as he was struggling to adjust to the speed of the game and to find open
forwards to pass to, as opposing teams covered breakout passes. In the offensive zone,
he was forced to stand by the blue line and not get too involved in the offense as
Richardson’s system almost made the two defenders into cones that forwards only used
to bounce puck off.
While initially Kevin still found ways to use his elite skating to get into the neutral and
offensive zones in dangerous ways, as the season dragged on and the Blackhawks
struggled, his small size and inexperience were exposed against tougher teams.
Meanwhile, Luke Richardson was so rigid in his ways, he did not change his system or
make adjustments to empower his young players to thrive. Instead, tough and
experienced veterans like Alec Martinez and T.J. Brodie were brough in over the
Summer to fill in for Korchinski as he was sent down to the AHL for his second season
in pro hockey.
While Bedard struggled in the NHL with seemingly different linemates in each game,
Korchinski began to slowly regain his confidence under Anders Sorensen who was also
given Frank Nazar, who failed to make Luke Richardson’s team as well.
Luke Richardson’s system, that did not benefit most of the young players, and his
inability to change it eventually cost him his job while Chicago hired Jeff Blashill for the
2025-26 campaign.
So far, it seems Blashill designed his system with his players in mind. He knows he has
a lot of young defenders on his roster, so he is playing with seven of them to limit their
minutes and to play them situationally where they can use their strengths. They are also
involved in offensive play, bringing pucks out instead of dumping them out, which is
benefiting players like Sam Rinzel who are elite skaters. A system that will also benefit
the likes of Kevin Korchinski.
Blashill is also using other tricks to help his young players, like having all five players in
the defensive zone build a box in the area that the puck is in. Such a strategy does not
put pressure on young, undersized defenders to play man-on-man and to be physical,
but rather to take away space to operate from the opposition.
While Kevin Korchinski did not make Jeff Blashill’s team out of camp, mostly due to the
fact that Sam Rinzel and Wyatt Kaiser had such good training camps, it seems like the
new coach at least knows how Kevin can become an elite NHL defender.
“Korch has to utilize his best assets. If part of that best asset is being offensive, you
can’t lose that as you’re getting good defensively. But everybody has to be good
defensively in order to play in this league. It’s almost impossible to outscore your
mistakes. One thing is, when I talk to him about his strengths, he talks about his skating.
I think he can use that skating offensively in a sense of beating people up the ice but he
can also use his skating defensively to shut downplays and gap up. And if you do that,
you spend more time in the ‘O’ zone.” Jeff Blashill said.
It looks like Blashill sees Kevin for the player he is and gave him specific instructions on
how to play to his strengths in Rockford. As of now, Korchinski seems to be taking his
new coach’s advice, already excelling in Rockford with three assists in four games while
being a +2 in his own zone.
He will get tougher as he gets older, but Korchinski will never be a bulky shut-down
defender that boxes out players in front of goal. He will use his skating and speed to get
to pucks early and get out of trouble, while joining players like Connor Bedard and
Frank Nazar in the offensive zone.
Jeff Blashill sees that, and his system is designed to empower young players to thrive,
while Luke Richardson’s never was.