Happy Monday,
Here’s our first go at this. Every Monday, I’ll wrap up the weekend’s happenings in one fat post. News and game recaps (although abbreviated). If you need a refresher on any fancy stats, read up on this primer.
News is up first.
Korchinski, Commesso, and Berezhnoy
Both Kevin Korchinski and Drew Commesso were recalled from the Rockford IceHogs ahead of Friday’s game against the Washington Capitals. Stanislav Berezhnoy was called up on Saturday. All three were called up due to a flu that’s hit the Hawks' roster hard. Both goaltenders, Spencer Knight and Arvid Soderblom, were out, which necessitated Commesso’s and Berezhnoy’s call-up. All three players were sent back to Rockford on Sunday.
I’ll talk more about Commesso below, but Korchinski… man. I’m not so sure about him anymore. I was never a fan of his spending so much time in Rockford. Despite his defensive shortcomings, I believed that his skating ability put him above most NHLers. In his two games this weekend, I didn’t like what I saw. It makes me worry if Korchinski is picking up bad habits from being in Rockford. His numbers weren’t great over the weekend. Against Washington, Korchinski had a 23.53% Corsi and a horrendous 19.03% expected goals share (xG%). In the game against Nashville, Korchinski had a 36% Corsi and a 21.73 xG% (all stats at 5v5).
Of course, there’s a lot to unpack in that paragraph. I’m starting to think that if Davidson doesn’t see Korchinski in this team’s future (and he needs to hit if he does), he should be traded. But is that even feasible?
Connor Bedard Returns from Injured Reserve
After missing 12 games, Connor Bedard returned to the lineup for Friday’s game. He scored two points on Saturday’s 3-0 victory over the Nashville Predators. Head coach Jeff Blashill said to expect Bedard not to take face-offs for some time.
Game Recaps
vs. Washington Capitals (5-1 L)
This was Connor Bedard’s first game back and Drew Commesso’s first game since Dec. 14, 2024. While he’s been posting solid numbers in Rockford (.909 SV% in 19 games), this wasn’t a good look for him. There were two specific goals that he could have done more to stop. On his defense, well… the Hawks didn’t really play with any. The team as a whole didn’t look great.
@ Nashville Predators (3-0 W)
Because both of the Hawks' main goaltenders were still out, Berezhnoy was called up to back up Commesso for a back-to-back start. Berezhnoy is incredibly underqualified to play in the NHL (he only has one KHL game and went undrafted), so Commesso had a shot at redemption. He didn’t just save all 36 Predator shots for a shutout; he made spectacular saves, too. Certainly a great look at his athleticism. Whether he’ll have a future in Chicago is still to be told.
Connor Bedard’s two assists were phenomenal. Of note was his pass to Nick Lardis (who has three points in his last three games). We’ll see if Lardis can make a case to the front office that he’s in the NHL for good (I think he is) and if he can translate that incredible scoring ability from juniors, too. A fully-realized Lardis with Bedard will be a deadly combination. But I might be drinking too much of that Davidson flavroed kool-aid.
Oh, and props to Korchinski on that pinch to keep the puck in for that Lardis goal.
Week Ahead
Hawks have three games this week:
- Mon: vs. Edmonton Oilers (7:30 pm CT)
- Thurs: vs. Calgary Flames (7:30 pm CT)
- Sat: vs. Boston Bruins (7:00 pm CT)
I’ll see if I can squeeze in a preview for tonight’s game (don’t count on it).
Site Updates
I’ll be missing some time next week as I’ll be traveling. Expect there to be some goodies updated in the sidebar. Going to throw in some links to other Hawks-related websites/blogs/newsletters that I regularly read. I’m setting up the infrastructure for this thing. I’m up on BlueSky, Mastadon, Threads, and Instagram. We’ll get momentum going before I think about a move to Ghost. For now, this is home. Although a temporary one.