Chicago Blackhawks shockingly demote top-10 pick to the AHL after playing full NHL season last year

Last season was a poor one for results in Chicago, but with Connor Bedard, Lukas Reichel and Kevin Korchinski all stepping up and showing what they can do, the future had seemingly arrived. Now, the team have added Artyom Levshunov in the 2024 NHL Draft, and with the addition of some veterans, the path back to relevancy and the Stanley Cup Playoffs became clear for one of the NHL's Original Six teams.

However, they've now made a shocking move, with the team demoting Korchinski back to the AHL to start the new campaign, likely in favour of one of the new veterans arriving in the lineup in TJ Brodie or Alec Martinez.

In 76 games a season ago, the former No. 7 overall draft pick tallied five goals and 15 points, and while he wasn't perfect, at 20-years old with a lack of elite level talent around him, that was to be expected. What was also expected was him getting a role on the teams third pairing this season to learn from the likes of Martinez, Brodie and Seth Jones, but it appears the Blackhawks may need to see more of him before giving him a role again in 2024/25.

At this time of year, there's always reasons behind what teams do with their young players, with them potentially sending Korchinski down to avoid placing another player on waivers, but given his promise after last season, it's still a surprising move to make. Don't expect him to be in the AHL for long however, as his 73 points in just 54 games in his final WHL season in 2022/23 shows just how lethal Korchinski can be, and once he gets his footing under him with the Rockford Icehogs, it's expected that he'll be back in the NHL again.