Weekly Chicago Blackhawks Review: Wrapping up the preseason

Welcome to the first installment of my weekly Blackhawks Review.  This one will cover the whole six-game preseason.  In the preseason, the Blackhawks played the St. Louis Blues, Detroit Red Wings, and Minnesota Wild twice each.

I will cover some positives, some negatives, the record for the week, and my own 3 Stars of the Week.

Weekly Chicago Blackhawks Review: Wrapping up the preseason

Positives

1.) The Blackhawks’ youth and future were definitely the biggest positive of this preseason.  Although it may seem miles away, there is light at the end of this rebuilding tunnel.

In their first preseason meeting, Lukas Reichel netted a goal against the Red Wings.  He was set up beautifully by Kevin Korchinski and scored on a breakaway.  Reichel’s speed and skill is not far from being NHL-ready, and he can begin making an impact very shortly.

Kevin Korchinski (7th Overall in 2022) has incredible puck-carrying abilities.  His speed and footwork when rounding the net and heading up ice is tremendous.  It is always great to have a defenseman with enough confidence to carry the puck out of the D-Zone rather than dump it up the boards.

Samuel Savoie has drawn several comparisons to Andrew Shaw, and, in typical Andrew Shaw fashion, he responded with a joke.

Savoie never skipped an opportunity to lay a hit and get into the dirty areas.  Although he was kept off the scoresheet, Savoie had 8 hits in 2 games played.  His physicality is going to be great to see moving forward.

Both Alex Vlasic and Alec Regula have great size and physicality.  Vlasic uses his reach to break up plays in the defensive zone, and Regula loves throwing pucks on net.  I could see these two being a top-line of defense in Chicago very soon.

Ethan Del Mastro did not get much playing time, but I liked what I saw from him.  His shut-down defense in the Hawks zone is great to see.  At 19 years old, he needs to develop a little more, but he will be NHL-ready within 2-3 years.

Colton Dach was another player that didn’t see much ice but impressed while he was out there.  Dach threw several hits around and had 5 shots on goal in the one game he played.

Arvid Soderblom picked up a 31-save win against the Red Wings and had a .939 save percentage in the preseason.  With Soderblom, Jaxson Stauber, and Drew Commesso in the Blackhawks goalie pipeline, there is a lot to look forward to.

2.) The Blackhawks penalty kill started 0/3.  They killed off the next 14 penalties, and the PK ended up being 15/19 (78.9%).  It’s not amazing, but it’s a step in the right direction.

3.) Max Domi and Patrick Kane are beginning to pick up chemistry, so there might be some fun goals to watch this year despite the lack of winning that we’ll see.

Negatives

1.) The power play was 1/26, giving it a percentage of 3.8%.  There were also 2 shorthanded goals allowed against Minnesota.

2.) The Blackhawks were outscored 22-6 in just six games.

3.) They were outshot 171-137.

4.) Many Blackhawks players are looking to pass instead of shoot, leading to a lack of shots on goal.  Two players in particular are Max Domi and Andreas Athanadsiou.

They are on a line with Patrick Kane, and they look like they feel the need to pass to him every time they have the puck.  The same thing happened when Alex DeBrincat and Dylan Strome first started playing on a line with Kane.  Hopefully, this improves over time.

Record

1-5-0

Not a great preseason, but I didn’t expect anything else.

My 3 Stars of the Week

*** Colton Dach – 1 GP, 5 SOG, physicality

** Kevin Korchinski – 3 GP, 1 A, 1 P, speed up ice

* Alex Vlasic – 4 GP, defensive zone play