Take Me To Your Leader
Blackhawks Training Camp and more.
What’s this?
Another new format?
Yep.
It’s probably the COVID talking (which, believe it or not, is the first time I’ve had COVID). But it really is time to shake things up again.
We’re going much more “unstructured” now. And by that I mean, I’m canning the whole “Hawks Weekly Format” thing in favor for a more traditional blog-style format. This means I’ll be posting more frequently throughout the week.
This is still a Blackhawks focused blog but be warned. I might talk about other things that interest me every now and then (music, skateboarding, random stuff).
The reason for the change is, well, life. This gives me more freedom to talk about the hockey things I want to talk about instead of listing off news items. And guess what… I’ll probably change my mind again in a few months.
But you’re not here about me, so let’s get on to what really matters. The Blackhawks.
Captain Crunch
Read about it:
Ben Pope
Charlie Roumeliotis
Probably the biggest news of the week is that Nick Foligno was named the teams 35th captain in the team’s history. Most fans are pretty favorable on the decision and there are a few who really don’t like the decision. It was a pretty non-controversial decision. There are a few who think the captaincy should have remained vacant until Bedard was “ready.” And there’s also a minority who just don’t like Foligno…
Here’s my take. Wearing a “C” won’t change things. There are and have been players who don’t wear a letter and are recognized within the locker room as leaders. That’s not to say that being name Captain is meaningless, it’s just that a title doesn’t magically make people respect them.
The front office loves Nick. The players have good things to say about him. From what I can see, I love what Foligno does on camera. He looks like a great leader and other players have said the same. He takes new teammates out to dinners and was publicly vocal about changes he would like seen made.
Bedard will be the Captain one day. But being a superstar doesn’t automatically make you a leader. Ceremoniously or not. Either way, Foligno will wear the “C” until his contract his up in 2026 and he’ll be 38 by then.
Man, are there people really worked up over this?
Yes. Yes there are.
Training Camp
Ben Pope identified 5 storylines to follow during training camp. By the time you’re reading this, training camp will be a few days in. So, how are things looking?
For me, the stroylines to watch are Kevin Korchinski’s camp, Lukas Reichel’s performance, and the little roster battle they have going on.
Korchinski handled an NHL regular season as a rookie. As a reminder, the only reason why he wasn’t sent to Rockford last year was because of his CHL contract. Which is why Levshunov is going to Rockford and Korchinski didn’t. If Korchinski was to be sent back, it would have been back to the Seattle Thunderbirds where he had not have gained anything of value from being there.
This season, I would like to see Korch start in the NHL. I don’t think he needs to be in Rockford because he proved he could play a whole NHL season with traffic cones as defensive partners. I also think Alec Martinez would be the perfect partner to play with him. But I see how the argument for sending Korch to Rockford makes sense. He’ll refine his game playing on guaranteed top-pairing minutes (Levshunov aside).
For Reichel it’s mostly a way to build momentum going into the regular season. He’s waiver eligible so he won’t go to Rockford (unless he looks like turd). While preseason game performance usually doesn’t mean much, in Reichel’s case it’s going to mean a little bit. He’ll want to start the regular season off on the best foot possible.
For the roster battle, we’ll see which of the prospects gets a start in the NHL. If any. Some have their money on Frank Nazar making the Blackhawks roster. Colton Dach seems to think he deserves a spot. Landon Slaggert certainly looked good last year. And then there’s a spot on the blueline depending on how the Korchinski thing plays out.
The other “big” storyline is this, “who ends up playing with Bedard?” You have new talent with Teuvo Teravainen and Tyler Bertuzzi but you also have chemistry built between Philipp Kurashev and Bedard. For me personally, I don’t have a whole lot tied to this story line. I don’t care too much about this one, actually. Lines get switched up all the time. Kurashev will eventually play with Bedard again. Bert and Teuvo will see Bedard-minutes. I don’t get why this one has some people wondering.
Hawks training camp started off scrimmages right out the gate. The tone seems to be much more serios this year. First cuts may come this week. We’ll see.
Week Ahead
Yep. There’s Blackhawks hockey this week. Wednesday, September 25 is a home game against the Red Wings followed by a back-to-back against the Wings and Blues.
Don’t expect Levshunov to play. The players that should grab your attention are Nazar, Korchinski, Slaggert, and any other rookie not deemed a potato.
Sick Bay
Artyom Levshunov - foot - Might miss the whole preseason.
Laurent Brossoit - meniscus - May also miss the whole preseason.
Trash Bin
For all things not Hawks related.
I warned you a couple times that I was going to start talking about skateboarding.
Last week Dickie’s released their incredibly over-hyped full-length after a weird last minute delay.
I still don’t get the hype about the pants themselves. They feel like shower curtains.
Anyways, the video is below.
It’s nice getting a full length, which is rare now-a-days. The name titles were somewhat goofy with the stitching but when you get name titles in skate videos these days, that’s a huge win. Seriously. I think that trend needs to stop.
Guy Mariano’s part is pretty solid. Dude is 48 years old. Cut him some slack for a super short part (just shy of a minute). Jake Hays has some serious pop. Jamie Foy’s part was pretty insane. He’s making a very strong argument for Skater of the Year. And he’ll only be the fourth person in history to win two SOTY’s (if he wins it). I think he still has a New Balance part coming out in November.
Rest of the video is solid. Not a fan of the song selection though.
Out.