The Blackhawks have received good news about defenseman Wyatt Kaiser, but his absence has nonetheless complicated the battle for the sixth and seventh defenseman spots in their opening lineup.
The team finally provided clarity on Kaiser on Tuesday, stating the 22-year-old Minnesotan had a concern pop up during his pre-training camp physical that required some invasive testing.
Fortunately, the results came back clean and Kaiser has been cleared to resume ramping up for the season, but it will take him some time to do so. He’s currently only working out in the gym, although coach Luke Richardson sounded optimistic he could get back on the ice soon.
Kaiser had been penciled into a third-pairing role and will likely reclaim that role eventually, but in the meantime, the Hawks’ plethora of other young defensemen on the roster bubble — a group comprised of Kevin Korchinski, Nolan Allan, Isaak Phillips and Louis Crevier — suddenly have twice as many NHL jobs to fight for.
Korchinski, in particular, could stave off his first career assignment to Rockford thanks to this opportunity. Coach Luke Richardson has already been giving him plenty of shifts to learn from, as he led the team in ice time in both preseason games last weekend.
He will skate next to Connor Murphy in the Hawks’ fourth preseason game Tuesday against the Wild, and that duo could plausibly be the Hawks’ third pairing on opening night next Tuesday in Utah (with Seth Jones, Alex Vlasic, Alec Martinez and T.J. Brodie as the top four).
But if the Hawks want Korchinski to start accruing confidence-building AHL experience right away, they might instead opt to keep both Phillips and Crevier — two guys already accustomed to bouncing back and forth between levels — on the roster for their opening trip.
Richardson has praised Phillips for adding more physicality and aggressiveness into his game this year, but his 53 previous games of NHL experience have been maligned by inconsistencies and miscues.
Allan, meanwhile, is a wild card. He has outlasted his Rockford partner from last season, Ethan Del Mastro, on the camp roster and plays a reliable defensive style, but he has zero NHL experience and makes minimal impact in terms of moving the puck.
Shorter practices
The Hawks have essentially split their training camp into two distinct halves, focusing on scrimmages in the first half (making players shake off their summer rust quickly) and shifting to more system-specific drills and off-ice meetings in the second half (nailing down special-teams tactics).
Even once the regular season starts, the Hawks might stick to shorter, more intense practices. That idea was born in conversations between Richardson and veteran players late last season. Richardson explained at his end-of-season news conference in April that such a tweak would help players make it a habit to go all-out every time they step on the ice.
“It’s 100 miles an hour and it’s competitive,” Richardson said then. “And [then] there’s no easing into practice. Because sometimes you start a game and subconsciously you’re like, ‘Oh, man, I’m going to ease into the game,’ and it’s 3-0.”