First Pick of the Kyle Davidson Era is a Defenseman
The Chicago Blackhawks made it known they were looking to trade into the first round of the NHL draft and they weren't shy about it, trading Alex DeBrincat and Kirby Dach and acquiring goaltender Petr Mrazek. This netted them three first round selections and with the seventh overall pick, they went a familiar route, taking defenseman Kevin Korchinski from the Seattle Thunderbirds of the Western Hockey League.
The 18-year-old, 6'2", 185 lb left-shot d-man finished fourth among WHL defenders in points with 65 and second overall in assists with 61. He then added another 19 points in 25 games in the WHL playoffs, showcasing his playmaking abilities and mobility every chance he got.
A year and a half ago, Korchinski was a skinny, 5'10" d-man who put up only 10 assists in 23 games of his Co-Vid shortened rookie season, and had concerns about his skating. He then hit a four-inch growth spurt which improved his skating drastically. His best asset is his ability to carry the puck with ease in transition, displaying his smooth skating stride and speed.
"The one thing about him is for an elite offensive defenseman, he's got a level of fearlessness and durability that you don't see at that age. With other offensive defensemen, sometimes they can be timid going back for pucks and things like that. He just does not have that. And it leads to him taking a lot of big hits, but he's got some grit and some toughness that kind of gets overlooked sometimes," said Thunderbird head coach Matt O'Dette.
Korchinski compares his game to Shea Theodore who was a really offensive player in junior and has translated his game to the NHL and been more of a two-way player.
While it's not fair at all, Korchinski will be linked to DeBrincat going forward, given what the Hawks gave up to select him. We'll see how the kid handles the transition to the next level.
| POLL | ||
Are you happy with the Hawks selection of Korchinski? | ||
| Good building block | 46 | 30.3 % |
| Another d-man? Ugh | 34 | 22.4 % |
| Time will tell | 42 | 27.6 % |
| Not worth the Cat | 30 | 19.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
