The Blackhawks returned to practice on Tuesday ahead of Wednesday’s game in Columbus against the Blue Jackets, and a change to the power-play units highlights the news of the day.
Kevin Korchinski was running the point on the top power-play unit, with Philipp Kurashev also added to the group which also includes Connor Bedard, Lukas Reichel and Corey Perry.
Outside of Perry, it’s a significant glimpse of Chicago’s potential future, with four of those players as likely long-term pieces with the franchise. Chicago’s power play has not scored in the last two games, has just two goals in the last five and currently sits 29th in the league with a conversion rate of just 11.3 percent.
Korchinski sounded pretty happy about it, as one might expect:
Bedard also took some time to hype up a few of his power-play teammates:
Credit to Seth Jones, who was moved to the point spot on the second power-play unit, for taking it all in stride:
But the power play is just a small part of the game, of course. Here’s what the 5-on-5 lines looked like, along with the expected goalie for Wednesday’s game: