For Blackhawks' young players, building strength, tenacity is top priority

IRVINE, Calif. — Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson mentioned Tuesday that Kevin Korchinski needs to get meaner.

“Kevin is the greatest kid in the world; he’s a really nice kid,” Richardson said. “He’s got to get a little bit of an edge that he’s not letting anybody into that crease.”

The rookie defenseman physically responded Wednesday, trying to show he can indeed get meaner.

During practice at the Ducks’ facility, Richardson skated the Hawks through one-on-one battle drills involving boxing out around the net — an area of weakness in both recent losses to the Kings.

Korchinski and veteran forward Nick Foligno were first up, and they went at it like it was the Stanley Cup Final. Korchinski initially tied Foligno up and they both fell to the ice. Then Korchinski gave Foligno a cross-check from behind, and then Foligno got up and shoved Korchinski off-balance.

Afterward, Foligno — who is basically a player-coach at this point — banged his stick on the boards and gave Korchinski a head-tap, recognizing a job well done.

“That’s just part of learning your strength as a kid,” he said later. “He’s playing against men. Maybe you’re not sure if you can size up with them. Then you realize you have it in you to battle and compete.

“That’s not just Kevin; that’s every young kid that has a little more to give. Sometimes you defer like, ‘Oh, they’re older and I’m not going to get there.’ But you’ve got to show you can push back.”

Foligno is right: all of the Hawks’ young players ought to heed the same advice. Lukas Reichel comes to mind most of all. He, too, needs to improve significantly at winning puck battles and maintaining possession through contact. But Connor Bedard, Landon Slaggert, Alex Vlasic, Wyatt Kaiser and others fall in the same boat, too.

It’s partly about shifting one’s mentality upon realizing how much strength and roughness is required to succeed at the professional level. Those are things none of these highly rated prospects needed to do much to succeed at the junior or college level.

It’s partly about gaining experience and familiarity with what NHL referees will and won’t call. Subtle grabs and shoves that aren’t quite severe enough to get penalized, for instance, can really help.

And it’s partly about purely gaining muscle and weight — a process that takes time. That will be the No. 1 thing for Korchinski and Reichel to focus on this summer, as it will be moving forward for every up-and-coming Hawks prospect after their first full NHL seasons.

“Kevin has it in him,” Richardson said. “He’s got real sturdy legs, [which] shows that he’s got the strength to skate in this league. It’s just [about] getting underneath and getting inside guys before they get set in position.”

Said Foligno: “You [eventually] start to notice, when you’re bodying up with guys, that you’re starting to push them around a little bit.”

One of many major reasons why Bedard has thrived as a rookie is his strength — he’s already nearly as strong as any 5-9 forward could possibly be — and his tenacity that exceeds even his strength.

“I want to have the puck, obviously,” Bedard said. “You’re not going to get it as much if you’re waiting. For me, that’s something I’ve had to get better at throughout the year — going to get it. ... [It’s about] being smart with your stick and knowing how to get [opponents] off-balance without blowing them up.”

Not everyone can immediately be Bedard-like, though. Richardson mentioned Kings forward Adrian Kempe, now in his eighth NHL season, as an example of someone who built up those attributes over time.

“I remember when [Kempe] was a younger, skinnier kid, he didn’t play like that,” Richardson said. “But now he has grown and learned. That’s what we have to do now.”