- Kevin Korchinski is still without a contract with Blackhawks camp weeks away
- The 2022 seventh overall pick has played just 29 NHL games in two seasons
- Read below for what Chicago’s crowded blue line means for his future
Kevin Korchinski still doesn’t have a contract, and training camp is a few weeks out.
Chicago tendered the defenseman a qualifying offer on June 29, grouping him with Connor Bedard, Ethan Del Mastro and Drew Commesso. Two months later he’s one of a handful of restricted free agents around the league who still hasn’t signed anything. Pro Hockey Rumors noted this week there’s no guarantee he’ll even be with the Hawks when camp opens.
Korchinski was asked back in April what he wanted out of the summer ahead. His answer set the bar himself:
“It’s going to be a big offseason and I want to just come into training camp, have some swagger and prove I belong.”
Getting there is the hard part.
The Blackhawks took Korchinski seventh overall in 2022 and threw him into 76 games as a 19-year-old in 2023-24. He finished with 15 points and a minus-39 while logging 19:37 a night on a team going nowhere. Everything since has gone the other direction.
He has 29 NHL games total across the last two seasons, and his ice time last year fell to 13:38 over 13 appearances.
Rockford has been kinder. Korchinski put up 26 points in 53 games for the IceHogs last season and made the AHL All-Star Game in each of the past two years, taking MVP honors at the 2025 All-Star Challenge.
Meanwhile the blue line ahead of him keeps filling up. Chicago sent the fourth and 45th overall picks plus Louis Crevier to Buffalo in June for Bowen Byram and Jordan Greenway, then added veteran Ian Cole. GM Kyle Davidson said in July he’s comfortable carrying only two right shots because Byram, Cole, Wyatt Kaiser and Korchinski can all flip sides.
So the 22-year-old is chasing a bottom-pair job on a roster that just spent a top-five pick to bring in someone ahead of him. He has company in the waiting room, too. Cutter Gauthier, Adam Fantilli, Simon Edvinsson and Alexander Nikishin are all unsigned as well.
Chicago’s prospect pool ranks first in the league, which is exactly the problem for a 2022 pick who no longer looks like a lock. Korchinski asked for a chance to prove he belongs. That starts with a contract.
