Artyom Levshunov

There's a chance that a bunch of them blow up at the same time, and maybe they have a season like San Jose did last year.

And Bedard, before he got injured last year, was unbelievable, and maybe he comes back from injury and looks similar, and maybe Frondel is great, and maybe Kantarom is unbelievable out of the gate, and Nazar is good, and Levshunov learns how to defend.

It's just so many maybes that I'm more inclined to give a hard no to what this team is currently looking like, where it feels like one of the safer bets for a team to land at the bottom of their division.

Yeah.

...

Kantarom and Levshunov.

If those guys are hitting their potentials, those guys are gonna take up a lot of cap space.

Yeah.

Bedard's entering his fourth year.

You got key pieces like Frank Nazar, Oliver Moore on the back end, Artem Levshunov, Sam Rinzel, even Wyatt Kaiser and Alex Vlasic.

Like, all these guys who have now been around for a couple of years, they're starting to gain some real experience and know how to play with each other, understand how to win at the highest level.

I know they haven't been doing a lot of that.

One of the big faults for the Blackhawks, and I talked about it with Eddie during game night during the regular season, was that I noticed that the Blackhawks had way too many defensive breakdowns where they were absolutely putrid in allowing a lot of goals [laughs] and some of which were like, uh, what the heck was that? So going into this season, Jack, look, how are the Blackhawks going to address the defensive woes and as well as what are some solutions that Jeff Blashill in your mind should come up with to, to address the defensive, um, struggles that they had last season?

Yeah, I think a lot of it was just not having consistency from those young players who they needed to contribute right away.

And Artem Levshunov, I know, uh, his consis- lack of consistency last year was a huge talking point, especially being a number two overall pick just a couple of years ago.

And his, you know, defensive structure at times w- was very concerning and it felt like for a guy who the Blackhawks were really confident in, enough in him to have him immediately join the pro ranks, like it, it was concerning to see that level of, you know, just not being in the right spot consistently and not really kind of learning from his mistakes.

That, that's about it.

I guess one more name, then I'll just say, just to say it, just to say I said it, Artem Levshunov.

Like, I don't think he's, like, dead.

Like, I don't think he's, like, v- bust charac- like, he's, what is he, like, 20 years old, and he's had, like, a very obviously disappointing start.

But yeah, he's 20.

Uh, he played 68 games last year, a lot to learn.

Like, I think the coach said, like, all, listed all the things that Levshunov ne- needs to improve in his game and it was, like, everything about playing hockey.

But also, he was taken second overall for a reason, and maybe he has spent his summer, uh, like, training and, and getting better.

Look Out that surprised me that ian Cole Was An eighty Four overall uh donato and teravine in eighty Two any surprises There Besides ian cole Um, I dunno kinda like how they got uh Cole and Byron listed as both left and right defenseman so th-it's- I mean those are- Realistic right there yeah Those are, those are guys that have Done uh done Both Yeah, I, I think those are fair guess sure i love that patrick kane at thirty Seven years old is Still a Franchise potential player .

Hey let it Play Out he might Still improve He Might Be a franchise Player One of these days put in the Right Situation we get down the list uh to the Next uh next group you got Artem Levshunov at eighty two overall Jordan Greenway Cole Smith bolts eighty ones Anton Frondel is an eighty Pretty Good Wyatt Kaiser is an eighty Sam Rinzel seventy nine Andrew Mangiapane Seventy Nine Ryan Green and Oliver Moore Also Seventy Nine i find it interesting here on The EANHL That Ryan Greene is a top nine potential, and Oliver Moore is a top six potential.

Mm-hmm.

But both have lower ratings than Cole Smith, so go figure [laughs].

All right.

Uh, second unit, you got Levshunov running it from the point, and if he struggles, you can give it to Rinzel.

Sure.

But it's already his job to start the year.

I mean, that's kinda what you're doing, and then-

Yeah

... you would, would Levshunov out there, and then you can plug and play who you want to kinda be that net-front guy.

You've got Donato.

And I think it's something that he's going to hopefully continue to do.

Guys like Artyom Levshunov and Sam Rinzel are coming up, notably.

Like, they're of, they're open for extensions now.

Um, and those are gonna be guys that, similar to, like, Gauthier and all that, like, they're gonna be guys that you're betting on the future, and you're probably gonna pay them more immediately than they're probably worth.

Because as you look at it right now with where the Blackhawks are at, we've kind of talked about it all summer is, especially since signing Ian Cole, like they kind of have their six guys set.

It's Byram, it's Vlasic, it's Levshunov, it's Kaiser, it's Ian Cole, and Sam Rinzel.

So where does Kevin Korchinski fit into it? I, I, I think if and when, once the Blackhawks get a deal done with Ethan, Ethan Del Mastro, they'll have their top eight defensemen under contract starting training camp.

I, and I, I think Del Mastro's contract is just a, a matter of time as well, like it was for Korchinski.

Um, but I think Korchinski slots in right away as the seventh defenseman.

I think he has an edge over Del Mastro just based off of, um, you know, skill se- skill set, uh, upside.

Like I think they're, you're still betting on that with Korchinski and where he fits in, but where does he fit into the regular lineup? We've talked about, you know, the defensive pairings and, you know, is it Byram and Vlasic as your top pair? I don't think you're splitting up Kaiser and Levshunov, and then you have a defensive veteran in Ian Cole with a more offensive young player in Sam Rinzel.

It just kind of matches up right for what the Blackhawks wanna do, and then you kinda have to figure out where Korchinski fits in.