Breaking down how the Blackhawks’ ultra-young defensemen played in loss to Utah

The Blackhawks might have deployed one of the youngest defensive corps in NHL history Sunday in their 5-2 loss to Utah.

Connor Murphy, 32, was the only veteran in a group featuring 23-year-old Alex Vlasic, 22-year-old Wyatt Kaiser, 20-year-old Kevin Korchinski, 20-year-old Sam Rinzel and 19-year-old Artyom Levshunov. That was even with 23-year-old Louis Crevier and 22-year-old Ethan Del Mastro (who skated in Murphy’s spot in practice Saturday) sitting out as healthy scratches.

The Hawks took a brief 2-1 lead late in the second period, but things crumbled from then on in their third straight defeat.

“When we have a little hiccup, we have a hard time stopping [the spiral] after that,” interim coach Anders Sorensen said. “But a lot of the young guys are doing a lot of good things.”

Rinzel was stellar in his debut, logging 20:15 of ice time and showing off his powerful stride, offensive instincts and willingness to shoot the puck. He attempted seven shots, getting four on-goal. He was one of six Hawks with a five-on-five scoring chance ratio of 50% or higher; forward debutant Oliver Moore, his former University of Minnesota teammate, was another.

“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,” Sorensen said. “To see that [in] a first game, that was pretty impressive.”

Rinzel had a good chance to score when Connor Bedard set him up in the low slot during one of his first shifts, but he had an even better chance in the second period — off a juicy Lukas Reichel-created rebound — that Utah goalie Karel Vejmelka robbed.

He also survived a crushing welcome-to-the-NHL hit by Utah forward Jack McBain, who faced the wrath of Pat Maroon’s fists moments later. He and Moore said they had six or eight Gopher teammates at the United Center supporting them, plus plenty of family members.

“[I] learned a lot of things today,” Rinzel said. “Scoring is hard — that was one of them.”

Here are some thoughts on how each of the other four ultra-young defensemen fared:

Levshunov: This marked his 10th NHL game, officially burning the first year of his three-level entry-level contract and making him a restricted free agent in 2027 rather than 2028, which the Hawks hope will make his second contract cheaper.

Through those 10 games, Levshunov has accumulated a mixture of dazzling and bewildering plays. He earned his fifth career assist by jumping into a rush and setting up a Joe Veleno tap-in, and he made several nifty breakout passes. But he looks out of sync on power-play breakouts right now, and he mishandled a Vlasic pass that led to Utah’s fourth goal.

Korchinski: He had the worst game of the group. His energy and skating agility always stand out — he looks like a figure skater the way he twirls and circles at the blue line — but his lack of strength continues to hold him back from consistent NHL success.

He endured a brutal sequence of two goals against in 31 seconds during the second period. The first of those was an unlucky deflection off his leg, but the second occurred after he tried yet failed to move Utah forward Alex Kerfoot from the net-front area. Korchinski easily could’ve been called for cross-checking, but Kerfoot maneuvered unfazed and eventually tipped in a point shot. Korchinski’s body language looked defeated after that.

“[Kevin has done] some good things, and there are some things that we have to improve on,” Sorensen said. “Overall, he’s had a really good year of development. Coming up here now, it’s not an easy environment.”

Kaiser: Coming off arguably his best all-around NHL performance Friday, he wasn’t as noticeable Sunday. However, his quick reaction time and ability to adapt his playing style to complement whoever his partner is makes him an underrated stabilizing presence.

“I’m just trying to make plays up at the blue line,” Kaiser said recently. “With my skating and with the way I can play, it’s almost a waste to dump it down and try to reset [the cycle].”

Vlasic: He survived an injury scare during the second period that initially looked bad. Although he’s barely older than the other young defensemen, he’s much more established in the NHL.