Blackhawks connected to shocking trade involving 21-year-old defenseman

The Chicago Blackhawks have certainly shown some improvement over the last couple of seasons, but they are still a long way away from contention.

The Blackhawks finished 29-39-14 this past year, good for last in the Central Division by a wide margin. They have also now missed the playoffs six seasons in a row, representing their longest drought since 1952.

For a franchise that won three Stanley Cup championships between 2010 and 2015, it has been a depressing fall, to say the least.

But there is reason for optimism thanks to an impressive crop of young talent led by Connor Bedard and a group of incredibly young defensemen oozing with potential. However, not all of those players will remain in Chicago long term.

It seems likely — if not definite — that the Blackhawks will trade out of their surplus of defensemen, and perhaps the most notable trade candidate out of all of them is Kevin Korchinski.

Chicago Blackhawks could trade Kevin Korchinski

During a recent episode of Daily Faceoff, Tyler Yaremchuk and Steven Peters discussed Chicago’s offseason and what the Blackhawks can do to try and bolster their chances of making a run next season and beyond, and while extending Bedard was obviously a central talking point, Peters also brought up the possibility of swinging a big trade.

More specifically, Peters thinks Chicago should move at least one defenseman, and he zeroed in on Korchinski in particular.

“Right now, they’ve got seven or eight defensemen all under 25, all that could be NHL, everyday players. You don’t need eight of them,” Peters said. “So not only are they expendable, they are valuable assets. So you can take those assets, put a draft pick along with a Kevin Korchinski, trade that, get a player that can help you now.”

The Blackhawks own four draft picks this summer, with three of them being second-rounders. Next year, however, Chicago owns three first-round selections, so the Blackhawks absolutely can afford to put together a package featuring Korchinski and a draft choice to land an established player who can make Chicago better immediately.

Korchinski was originally selected by the Blackhawks with the seventh overall pick of the 2023 NHL Draft, but after playing in 76 games during his rookie campaign, the 21-year-old has appeared in a grand total of 29 contests the last two season combined.

There is no question that Korchinski still has trade value, so Chicago may be able to convince another team to move a good veteran in such a deal.

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