The Chicago Blackhawks start to their 2026-2027 season continues to get worse; they now find themselves with a 1-4 record after last night’s 4-1 loss to the New York Islanders. This is not the beginning of the campaign that general manager Kyle Davidson would have envisioned after a busy offseason of movement designed towards making the team more competitive. It may be time for Davidson to start making tough decisions with some of the young players this team has been drafting and developing over the course of this rebuild. If the Blackhawks are to get back in the playoff mix; they may need to make some sacrifices to get there.
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Chicago needs to figure out what their youth core to build around is. This is one of the youngest teams in the NHL with an average age hovering around 26. The Blackhawks may need more established veteran talent in the locker room in order to help the team ascend in the standings. They will not be able to acquire that kind of talent for free. Davidson needs to determine which of this team’s players are expendable.
One name to watch out from this regard is defenseman Kevin Korchinski. Insider Elliotte Friedman believes there could be movement with Korchinski at some point this season: “Chicago’s got a bunch of D’s, and I think a guy we’re going to be watching this year is Kevin Korchinski. Korchinski was kind of a guy, I think, that they had some discussions with other teams around in the offseason.”
The former seventh overall pick in the 2022 draft received a two year contract extension with the Blackhawks this summer. However, Korchinski has been on the outside looking in when it comes to lineup deployment. He has only played one game thus far this season and that was only due to extenuating circumstances. He currently finds himself seventh on the defensive depth chart behind Bowen Byram, Ian Cole, Wyatt Kaiser, Artyom Levshunov, Sam Rinzel and Alex Vlasic.
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The logic to moving Korchinski is that he could be utilized in a package to acquire more NHL-ready talent to help the team win now. The developmental period has passed Korchinski at this point; the team can no longer afford to keep waiting around. They cannot send him down to the AHL without the risk of him being claimed for nothing by another team on waivers. So, if the plan is not to play Korchinski what purpose does he serve for the Blackhawks?
Chicago returning to contention is likely not going to come solely through the draft. Davidson has to be able to depart from some of his drafted players if that means putting the team in a better position to succeed. Connor Bedard eventually returning to the lineup probably won’t be enough on its own to change this team’s fortunes. It will be interesting to see if Davidson makes an in-season move in an attempt to stop the bleeding.
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