Blackhawks' rebuild reaches promising point as 6 first-rounders take the ice together

New York Times

31-03-2025

CHICAGO — The exact date when the Chicago Blackhawks' rebuild began is debatable.
For some fans, it dates back to whatever Stan Bowman was doing in his final years as general manager. The 2017-18 season is the starting point for some others. It might be when Kyle Davidson was named the full-time general manager in March 2022 or when he traded Brandon Hagel shortly after that.
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However, lot of what Davidson did in those first years, from the Hagel trade to the Alex DeBrincat trade and so on, could be labeled as demolition more than anything. Other than Connor Murphy and some prospects who have turned into NHLers, there isn't much of an imprint left from Bowman's GM tenure.
Davidson's actual reconstruction commenced on July 7, 2022 at the NHL Draft when he selected Kevin Korchinski with the No. 7 pick, Frank Nazar with the No. 13 pick and Sam Rinzel with the No. 25 pick. It was with those three players that Davidson's plan began to transform from ideas to realities. They represented hope of what could be.
Over the last three seasons, Davidson's rebuild plan has materialized more and more from ideas to draft picks to prospects to NHL players. On Sunday, 997 days since Davidson's first draft selections, the Blackhawks put an NHL team on ice that was closer to ever to resembling Davidson's vision for the future. With Rinzel and Oliver Moore, a 2023 first-round pick, making their NHL debuts and joining Korchinski, Nazar, Connor Bedard and Artyom Levshunov, the Blackhawks had six of the Davidson era's eight first-round picks in their lineup against the Utah Hockey Club.
'The bigger picture of it, right?' said Blackhawks interim coach Anders Sörensen before the game. 'You said six guys that we picked in the first round that get an opportunity to play tonight. Obviously, this is the foundation of what we have going forward that we believe in here. So to see them and get a taste for them, to get a taste of what it is to play playoff-bound teams or teams that are fighting for the playoff spot, it's a good learning lesson and obviously a good evaluation tool for the organization as well.'
For the fans, the organization and even the players who have been around long enough to hear plenty about the rebuild, there was a significance to seeing the collection of young players and top draft picks together on the ice. It was no longer just something that could be created in NHL 25.
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'It's pretty crazy,'said Blackhawks defenseman Alex Vlasic, who has quickly become a veteran at 23 years old on a team full of youth. 'I think (Saturday at practice) it kind of hit me at least kind of seeing the lineup, the D corps and how young we are. It's nuts. It's exciting to have all those guys here. They've been talked about for so long and have been drafted. It's finally coming to be of what everyone thought the rebuild was going to look like.'
Patience was required to get to Sunday. And as Sunday's 5-2 loss and most of this season has shown, more patience will be needed if the Blackhawks are going to fully execute Davidson's plan and become a Stanley Cup contender again.
With two 19-year-olds, three 20-year-olds, one 21-year-old, three 22-year-olds and a 23-year-old — plus four more players at 23 or younger who were either the backup goalie, injured or a healthy scratch Sunday — expected to comprise the Blackhawks' lineup through the season's final weeks, it's not so much about the final results of each game right now. With so many young players now signed and under the Blackhawks' direct supervision, development is more important than ever for the organization. Who Davidson hires as his next full-time NHL and AHL head coaches could have more influence on where the Blackhawks go in the coming years than anything else.
It'll be on those coaches to encourage and bring out what those Blackhawks young players do best, filter out their bad habits and teach them how to play in the NHL. Nearly all of those players Sunday showed why the Blackhawks drafted them in the first round and why Davidson believes they can lead the organization back to success.
There was Rinzel's combination of size, speed and offensive instinct. He had a handful of chances to score his first NHL goal.
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'A good example today is if you watch Rinzel, for example,' Sörensen said. 'His mentality of attack off the blue line or just advancing pucks with his feet, those are attributes that at this level are really positive. To see that for a first game, that was pretty impressive to watch. So just keep building off that, but those attributes, both of them that came in today have them, for sure.'
The Blackhawks drafted Moore because they believed his speed would be a difference-maker at any level. There were already signs of that Sunday as he burst through the neutral zone and created clean offensive zone entries.
'I think I'm still comfortable with my skating out there,' Moore said after playing 15:03 in his debut. 'I think as I continue to get more games, the game will continue to slow down and things will keep building on themselves.'
Sörensen mentioned how impressed he was by Moore making plays under pressure.
It was Moore's cross-ice pass in the defensive zone to Nick Foligno that triggered Joe Veleno's goal in the second period on Sunday.
Veleno's breakaway chance was something Sörensen referred to when discussing Nazar, who has been getting a ton of breakaways but has lacked the finish and has seven goals on the season.
'I think positive, yes, getting breakaways,' Sörensen said. 'I think it's just learning at this level. Goalies are good. You saw Joey's breakaway, right, couple of moves or whatnot. I think he'll get better at it soon.'
Nazar tapped into his speed on one especially impressive drive shortly after getting denied on a breakaway. He didn't convert on the following play either, but you see the potential.
Levshunov may be the most encouraging of the Blackhawks prospects to make their debut this season. The Blackhawks weren't exactly sure how he'd perform once exposed to the NHL and he's far exceeded their expectations. He's still raw in some ways and has some things to learn, but he just played in his 10th consecutive NHL game and logged more than 20 minutes for the seventh time. He recorded the primary assist on Veleno's goal.
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Sunday was Korchinski's second game back up with the Blackhawks after a long stint with the Rockford IceHogs. He still seems to be acclimating back to the NHL level. He might ultimately take the longest to develop among the first-round picks, but the Blackhawks do think he's improving.
'There've been some good things and there's some things that we have to improve on,' Sörensen said. 'I think overall he's had a really good year of development and then coming up here now, it's not an easy environment. Obviously we're not doing as well as a team that we'd like to, then you come in as a young player, it's tough. Like I said, some really good things and some things to improve on.'
Finally, there is Bedard. He had a primary assist on Ryan Donato's goal on Sunday to give him 58 points in 74 games this season. He has 20 goals and 38 assists. While that would be plenty of production for most 19-year-olds, expectations are higher for Bedard. He'd be the first to say he hasn't been pleased with his season.
Sunday's game had its share of positives and negatives for Bedard. He's often putting himself in advantageous places on the ice, but just doesn't seem to be making the perfect decision on whether to shoot or pass and where to put the puck. The Blackhawks' faulty power play is one area he needs to take ownership of and bend to his game. His play does appear to elevate when his confidence is soaring. That's been shaken a lot this season. As Nathan MacKinnon said, he would have killed for Bedard's production at 19, so for the Blackhawks, there is still a lot to like and be hopeful of Bedard.
There are certainly promising signs among the Blackhawks' young players, and they have more coming. Ryan Greene, a 2022 second-round pick, could be another player who makes his NHL debut in a few weeks after playing for Boston University in the Frozen Four. There are even more high draft picks in the system and more to be made at this year's draft.
Davidson may aid the NHL team's progress for next season by adding more proven talent in the offseason. He has the cap space and draft capital to do so. But if the rebuild is to turn the corner and come to fruition, it'll likely be because of the players who were on the ice on Sunday.
(Photo of Oliver Moore: Matt Marton / Imagn Images)