NEWSLETTER
As Kyle Davidson spoke to reporters about the offseason at large — and the future(s) of Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, and Seth Jones — the next wave of hopeful Blackhawks took the ice downstairs for the fourth day of prospect camp here at Fifth Third Arena.
The first session featured 2022 draft picks Frank Nazar, Dominic James, and Aidan Thompson, for starters (Tab wrote up the roster and groupings earlier this week for your reference).
The eyes and the chatter in the public seating were almost exclusively on and about Nazar, the thirteenth pick in the draft. However, it wasn’t until the end of the first session of the day that Nazar found the back of the net in the breakaway drill, scoring on undrafted free agent goaltender Ludvig Persson to end his morning.
Nazar wasn’t bad; he just didn’t wow the crowd like I’m sure they hoped he would. Instead, the grouping of Thompson, Parker Foo, and Wyatt Kaiser stole the show for me among the morning group.
Foo and Thompson scored multiple times in 3-on-3 drills working side by side against a combination of Mitchell Weeks and Jaxson Stauber in net. Kaiser worked hard on the defensive side, keeping Nazar’s trio off the board for much of the drills and even delivered a solid hit to Nazar who went sliding into the board.
The second session of the day featured top pick Kevin Korchinski along with names to watch like Colton Dach, Landon Slaggert, Samuel Savoie, and goaltender Drew Commesso.
Like Nazar earlier, Korchinski played well but didn’t steal the show. Korchinski’s speed has been much talked about, and it showed again along with him handling attackers skating with his back to the net and breaking up two-man rushes.
Alex Vlasic, whom Mark Eaton was very complimentary about on Wednesday, was a noticeable presence again today, and not just because of his towering stature. Vlasic did on both sides of the ice n 3-on-3 drills.
Here’s Vlasic staying busy in front of the net and finding Landon Slaggert with a nice feed for a score:
Vlasic also beat Commesso fairly easily for a goal in the 2-0 drill here:
Commesso was no slouch himself, he looked good for the most part today and was another player that Mark Eaton was highly complimentary of yesterday regarding his performance at camp this week.
The teams will compete in 3-on-3 scrimmages on Friday morning. We’ll be there to share how the next wave of Blackhawks performs.
