When Blackhawks interim head coach Anders Sorensen announced Ethan Del Mastro would return to the lineup in place of Kevin Korchinski on Wednesday night, there were lots of fans complaining about the coach taking a young player out of the lineup.
There were other fans happily pointing out that “Korchinski isn’t ready” for the NHL yet. Almost celebrating him being a healthy scratch for a night against a good, veteran Colorado Avalanche team. He got bodied by Utah a few times in noticeable spots and fans were quick to point out he needs to add muscle.
The last few games, there have been a lot of questions about the power play and Artyom Levshunov struggling with quarterbacking the top unit. There was plenty of talk about whether the Blackhawks should send Levshunov back to Rockford before burning the first year of his contract for non-financial reasons. That ship has sailed.
After recent games, when the folks at Hockey Stat Cards post their GameScore Impact Cards, the tendency of many is to start at the bottom and work their way up. Last night, Sam Rinzel found himself near the bottom of the chart (though at least my eye test wouldn’t necessarily agree).
If we want to hyperfocus on individual moments and specific game performances, it’s easy to make a mountain out of the flaws of each of the Blackhawks’ young defensemen.
We need to remember something very, very simple: this is about learning. This is part of the process. The Blackhawks organization knows that. And they’re evaluating everything on the blue line right now.
While many have also been quick to point out their opinions about Sorensen’s job as an NHL head coach, his roots are in player development. He’s also readily admitted that he speaks with the front office about his lineup and situational use with the front office daily. What he says is from that perspective. When Sorensen talks about his young defensemen, he points out the good and the bad. And he’s been fairly pointed with some of his comments recently.
- Postgame on Del Mastro returning to the lineup against the Avs on Wednesday night:
“I thought it was good. He handled it well. It’s not easy coming in and out as a young player. And to come up against a team like that I thought he did well.”
- Postgame on Rinzel after his NHL debut against Utah:
“His mentality of attacking off the blue line or just advancing pucks with his feet, those are attributes that — at this level — are really positive. To see that [in] a first game, that was pretty impressive.”
- On where Levshunov needs to improve before Wednesday’s game:
“The reaction to transition. If we’re on offense, how quickly do we get back and react on defense? Where are the threats coming from? And keep working in his gaps. He’s a good skater; we have to get him holding his gaps even more.”
- On what they’re looking for from Korchinski (before he was a healthy scratch Wednesday night):
“He’s calmed down, quieted down a little bit defensively… Still room for improvement, for sure. We want him to be able to utilize his positive attributes: his skating and his offensive abilities and finding more touches in those areas that we can get him involved. That’s the biggest thing.”
We need to keep in mind that Korchinski is 20, and he’s two games into his second recall this season. He has played 54 AHL games and 87 NHL games in his career.
We need to keep in mind that Levshunov is 19, and he’s 11 games into his NHL career. He appeared in 50 games in the AHL before making the move up to the NHL.
We need to keep in mind that Del Mastro is 22, and he’s appeared in 25 NHL games in his career. He has appeared in 111 AHL games since turning pro.
And we need to keep in mind that Rinzel is 20, and his college career ended one week ago tonight. He has played two professional games.
For the sake of this conversation I will point out that Duncan Keith was 22 when he made his NHL debut. After he was drafted in the second round of the 2002 NHL Draft, he appeared in 15 games at Michigan State, 37 games for Kelowna in the WHL and 154 games over two full seasons for Norfolk when they were the Blackhawks’ AHL affiliate.
Keith became one of the better defensemen of his generation. He’s headed to the Hockey Hall of Fame. And he’s undoubtedly on the Mt. Rushmore of defensemen in Blackhawks history.
When he got to the NHL, it wasn’t pretty every night. He and Brent Seabrook had their bumps in the road. But they grew up together. And became cornerstones of the dynasty together.
Right now, we’re living thru the process with these young defensemen. Just because one of the young guys is a healthy scratch or has a less than stellar performance doesn’t mean they aren’t going to become a good player. Or that they should be traded this summer. It’s all just part of their individual journey.
The goal — and hope — is that the collection of young defensemen who are just now beginning their NHL journeys together will eventually get to the same place in their careers that Keith and Seabrook enjoyed. But it takes time to get to that level.
