As the Chicago Blackhawks get set to open their regular season in Pittsburgh, all eyes will undoubtedly be on rookie Connor Bedard, and for good reason.
As one of the most highly touted prospects to ever enter the league, Bedard is expected to turn the franchise around and bring his team multiple championships.
While Bedard certainly has his fair share of pressure, perhaps the skater with the most at stake in Chicago is another rookie — Kevin Korchinski. The seventh overall pick of the Blackhawks in 2022 is set to make his debut on the second line.
After the Blackhawks held one final practice in Fifth Third Arena before heading to Pittsburgh, Korchinski was told by head coach Luke Richardson that he had made the team.
Korchinski mentioned it was a “dream come true,” and that he’d have to be careful to not be star-struck when sharing the ice with future hall-of-famers Sidney Crosby and Erik Karlsson, among others.
Although the spot currently belongs to Korchinski, his head coach made it abundantly clear that it’s by no means secured:
“We just told him, like everybody else in the league, it’s the best league in the world, congratulations, you earned the spot, but now every day is to keep it.”
If the 19-year-old is to remain with the team throughout the remainder of the season, he’ll have to prove himself in the first few games of the season. If he skates in fewer than 10 games over the course of the year, his entry-level contract will slide and begin next season.
It’s definitely not the primary concern of Chicago at the moment, as they boast more than $11M in cap space. But the tremendous group of prospects entering the league for the team will need to be paid eventually, and will certainly constrict the franchise’s available funds. If they could push Korchinski’s contract another year, they could stagger those deals and build a perennial winner.
The Blackhawks answered one of their biggest offseason questions Monday when they kept Korchinski on the big-league roster, but now it’s up to him to stay there.
His team may already have a plan for this season, but that doesn’t mean his play over the next few weeks won’t have a big impact. He’ll face plenty of first-game jitters, but Korchinski has no shortage of added pressure as he makes his NHL debut.
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Mason West is a talented prospect of the future for the Chicago Blackhawks, but it appears he may look to leave hockey for big opportunities in football. The Chicago Blackhawks landed Anton Frondell with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, but it was perhaps their second first-round pick that drew the most intrigue, as they drafted centre Mason West out of the USHL. That pick was intriguing for many reasons, with the 6-foot-6 centre having potential with his talent and his physicality, but now, the team may be in danger of losing the talented 17-year old. According to a report from The Athletic, the No. 29 overall pick has been drawing interest from several NCAA programs to join their team as a football player. Standing at 6-foot-6, the Minnesota native is a star in both hockey and football, tallying 49 points in 31 games at the high school level while also being a star Quarterback, and after putting up 9 points in 10 USHL games with the Fargo Force, the future is bright for him in both sports. Ultimately, at 17-years of age, the future is very bright whichever way West ends up going, but given that the Blackhawks used a first-round pick on him in this past seasons draft, they're clearly confident that they can not only keep him in hockey, but make a good NHLer out of him moving forward.
Caitlin Clark is expected to sit out for a fourth straight game on Sunday when the Indiana Fever take on the Chicago Sky in a much-awaited rivalry matchup. The 23-year-old is still dealing with a reaggravated groin strain and has no timetable to return. The rest of her Fever teammates have had to step up in her absence. There is, perhaps, no other player who has taken a bigger role on the offensive end amid Clark’s injury spell than three-time All-Star Kelsey Mitchell. Mitchell, however, struggled with her shot in Thursday’s win against the Las Vegas Aces. The 5-foot-8 guard shot the ball poorly in the first three quarters, going just 4-of-19 from the field for 12 points. Mitchell caught fire in the fourth, though. She went 4-of-5 in the final frame for nine points, finishing with a game-high 21 points on 8-of-24 shooting. This is exactly why head coach Stephanie White remains completely confident in Mitchell’s scoring ability. The veteran coach has made it clear that she has given Mitchell the green light to shoot the rock. “The biggest thing with Kelsey is just telling her, ‘Let it fly.’ It’s going to go,” White said after Thursday’s win against Las Vegas. "... Keep shooting it from outside. She made some big ones when we needed them.” Kelsey Mitchell Has Stepped up Amid Clark's Injury Mitchell has answered the call for the Fever of late. In the three games Clark has been sidelined, Mitchell has put up averages of 22.0 points on 42.9% shooting. She also knocked down 2.7 triples during that stretch on a 34.8% clip. The 29-year-old veteran will need to keep her foot on the gas on Sunday as the Fever try to take down the Sky at United Center. With Clark watching from the bench, the Fever will rely on Mitchell’s scoring against Chicago as they look to improve on their 13-12 record. The Fever and Sky meet at 3 p.m. ET Sunday on ABC.
The Toronto Blue Jays have the best record in Major League Baseball. Depth contributions throughout the lineup and on the pitching staff are a major factor in their success, but what might be even more important is the heater shortstop Bo Bichette is on. Like most of the rest of the team, after a slow start, Bichette has found his groove, and he put it all on display as Toronto (63-43) won three of four at AL Central-leading Detroit from Thursday-Sunday. Already with two RBI on Thursday and Friday, Bichette added two RBI in Saturday's 6-1 win that included this unreal 13-pitch at-bat against Tarik Skubal. Not many are taking arguably the best pitcher in baseball 13 pitches deep and forcing a walk. In Toronto's 10-4 loss Sunday, Bichette went 5-for-5 with two more RBI. Per StatMuse, it was his fourth five-hit game in the big leagues. Bichette entered the four-game series with a .281 average and now heads to Baltimore with a .289 average. That's superstar stuff from the 27-year-old two-time All-Star. Through 103 games, Bichette has 13 HRs and 65 RBI, putting him on pace for a 20-HR, 99-RBI season. He has driven in 100 runs only once during his seven-year MLB career. Bichette is doing himself wonders in a contract year, especially after a down, injury-plagued 2024 season. Toronto's chance to extend him at a discounted rate is long gone, and it feels like a formality that Bichette will at least test the market this winter. We've seen megadeals handed out to some of the league's best shortstops in recent years, including the Mets' Francisco Lindor, Texas' Corey Seager, Philadelphia's Trea Turner and Minnesota's Carlos Correa. Combine that with the increasing contract values around baseball, and Bichette is set to receive a massive payday. For now, Bichette's focus is on helping the Blue Jays win and make a postseason run that includes Toronto's first World Series title since 1993.
The New York Yankees have already made a couple of intriguing acquisitions of late, but they could still do more as the 2025 MLB trade deadline approaches. One name that has floated on the rumor mill about New York is Washington Nationals pitcher MacKenzie Gore. If the Nats are to become players ahead of the deadline, it’s not because they’re buyers, considering their place in the standings. Down at the bottom of the National League East Division standings, Washington has some intriguing assets for teams like the Yankees to aim for, including Gore, who just earned his first MLB All-Star nod. The Yankees, on the other hand, are said to be on the prowl for pitching help in their rotation, with MacKenzie potentially a target for the Bronx Bombers, according to Kiley McDaniel of ESPN. However, the Nationals might only budge if New York includes a top prospect in a trade package. Wrote McDaniel: “The New York Yankees are also shopping for a starting pitcher and have some young position players of interest to rivals, but they aren’t keen on including either of their top prospects, George Lombard Jr. or Spencer Jones. If they change that stance, they could be a dark horse fit with the Nats on Gore.” The 26-year-old MacKenzie is an enticing trade prospect for the Yankees (and other teams) for at least a couple of intriguing reasons. For one, he is still just 26 years old. Moreover, the left-handed pitcher is a controllable asset for years to come, as he is arbitration-eligible over the course of the next two seasons. He avoided arbitration for the 2025 MLB season when he signed just a $2.89 million contract for a year with the Nationals last January. So far this season, MacKenzie has a 4-10 record with a 3.52 ERA through 21 starts and 117 2/3 innings. He could be someone the Yankees need in order to shore up the depth of their rotation beyond the top two guys in Max Fried and Carlos Rodon and especially with Luis Gil on the 60-day injured list. This year, the Yankees are just 17th in the big leagues with a starting pitching ERA of 4.00, while the same group’s 4.01 FIP is only the middle of the road in the MLB at 15th overall.
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