Blackhawks hope Kevin Korchinski benefits long-term from February's lessons-by-fire

Unlike the Blackhawks' other veteran defenseman, who had heard all about the top prospect en route over the past 18 months, Jaycob Megna joined the Hawks in January having barely heard of Kevin Korchinski.

The first fact Megna was surprised to learn was Korchinski's age: "It's unbelievable that he's 19 years old."

Megna, 31, and his teenage partner have gotten to know each other well this winter, though, spending the vast majority of their ice time together as the Hawks' locked-in second pairing.

They've endured plenty of highs and lows, as both are realistically unqualified for second-pairing minutes in the NHL (for different reasons), but on this roughshod roster, that's a universal experience.

Among the handful of journeymen the Hawks picked up earlier this season, Megna has proven to be the best fit, providing some much-needed trickle-down depth and mostly holding his own.

Korchinski, meanwhile, has learned just as many lessons-by-fire as the Hawks' front office and coaching staff expected, but they believe it'll benefit his development long-term — and Megna believes he already sees the fruits of that starting to sweeten.

"He's an unbelievable skater, but more importantly, he really wants to get better and he wants to learn," Megna said. "His ceiling is pretty much unlimited, so this experience is so valuable for him, just picking things up on a day-to-day basis. You just get so much better playing in this league and practicing every day against NHL players."

Perhaps Korchinki's most noticeable, specific in-season improvement involves his plays with possession at the offensive blue line. He's perfecting a shimmy move where he dekes past opposing forwards pressuring him, cuts down the boards and often finds an open teammate in the slot or on the far side.

But his February has been chaotic. On one hand, he's the only Hawks defenseman who hasn't been outscored during five-on-five play this month (goals are 6-6), and his 43.4% scoring-chance ratio this month is just a hair shy of Seth Jones for best among Hawks defensemen.

On the other hand, he has endured a couple disastrous games against the Senators, against whom he was benched for much of the second period, and the Jets, when he devolved into a turnover machine.

His decision-making just hasn't quite adapted to this level yet. Sometimes, he's not aggressive enough, holding onto a puck so long that the passing or shooting lane closes up, he runs out of time and space and he turns the puck over. Sometimes, he's too aggressive, skating himself out of position due to tunnel vision — as coach Luke Richardson describes it — or attempting ill-advised passes that also result in turnovers.

He also stops moving his feet at times, which is odd because his speed and agility are such elite skills.

"When you’re standing still and trying to pass pucks through people in this league, they get knocked down," Richardson said Friday after the Jets game. "Especially as a defenseman — because you’re in your own zone, usually trying to exit — that happens quite a bit. He’s frustrated with himself, Kevin [is]. But I think he kind of reset, started moving his feet and made way simpler plays in the third [period]."

He was fine Sunday against the Red Wings, and it's worth repeating that the Hawks always expected Korchinski to have issues like this, even if they didn't know what exactly the issues would be. By encountering and ideally solving them now, he'll know better come 2024-25 and 2025-26, when the Hawks begin ascending.

Megna's advice for Korchinski aligns perfectly with that perspective.

"There's details that you have to work on every night, but playing with confidence and trusting yourself is the biggest thing in this league," Megna said. "Just believe you belong here and...make the plays that are out there for you."