It's another Mailbag Monday on Locked On Blackhawks, where host Jack Bushman answers a question from a few lucky listeners LIVE on the show! But first, Bushman gives an update on all the Blackhawks' ongoing training camp battles and discusses who appears to be on the outside looking in with preseason games beginning this week. Bushman also dives into coach Luke Richardson's message to the media ahead of preseason action beginning this Wednesday. All that and more on Locked On Blackhawks. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your Team. Every Day.
Camp Battles Update (6:30)
Lines & Pairings (18:45)
Mailbag Monday (32:40)
SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/@LockedOnBlackhawks
PODCAST: https://linktr.ee/JackBushman
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/LO_Blackhawks
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/lockedonblackhawks/?hl=en
Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Place your first FIVE DOLLAR bet and you’ll get started with TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - guaranteed ! Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started.
Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase.
Download the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONNHL and get $50 instantly when you play $5. PrizePicks. Run Your Game.
Still searching for a great candidate for your company? Don’t search, just match–with Indeed. Claim your SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLAR CREDIT now at Indeed.com/LOCKEDON. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? You need Indeed.
FanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. As playoffs wind down, the sports stop sporting like we want them to. But this summer, FanDuel is hooking up ALL CUSTOMERS with a boost or a bonus, DAILY! That’s right, there’s something for everyone, every day, all summer long! Visit FANDUEL.COM and add a big win to your summer bucket list!
FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)
It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. If you are looking to refinance or get a loan right now, let me tell you about Intercap Lending. Intercap Lending is one of the largest independent lenders in the country. They are hyper responsive. They embrace change and their borrower experience is absolutely fabulous. At Lockdown, we have our own personal loan officer, Intercap Lending. His name is Steve Carter, and if you call him and tell him you're locked on, you get the corporate discount. But more than that, what's so great about Steve Carter is the reviews at Lockdown that we continually get about Steve. Mike Curtis emailed me to say, "I just wanted to thank you for your network. We just refied with Steve Carter. It was so incredibly easy. I can attest to it. I got my loan done with Steve Carter." Who else? Richard Gordon emailed me and said. Thank you so much for promoting Intercap Lending. We used them earlier this year. Steve was amazing and Steve is amazing. Call him at 385-885-3885-8585-8528, tell him to lock down, send you Intercap Lending NMLS number 19-0-465. For more information, visit intercaplending.com. Did I hear you're shopping for a car because I've been at it for ages? Such a time suck, right? Not really. I bought it on Carvanna. Super convenient. Then comes all the financing, research, am I right? Well, you can, but I got pre-qualified for a Carvanna auto loan in like two minutes. Yeah, but then all the number crunching in terms, right? Nope. I saw real numbers as I shopped, found my dream car, and got it in a couple of days. Wait, like you already have it? Yep. Oh. Go to Carvanna.com to finance your car the convenient way. On today's episode, I'll get into the latest updates on all the Black Hot Training Camp Battles is the pre-season begins this week. You're locked on Black Hot. Your daily podcast on the Chicago Black Hot. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team, every day. What's going on, everyone? Welcome back to another episode of Locked On Black Hot. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team, every day. As always, I'm your host Jack Bushman. You can go and follow me on X at Jack Bushman 2. Be sure to go and check out my strictly Black Hot's account as well at talk and hockey. That way, you can get all of the latest Black Hot's news and updates and also got to let you know, today's episode is sponsored by FanDuel. If you're not already a member, go and visit fanduel.com right now to get $200 worth of bonus bets guaranteed by placing just a $5 bet down with America's #1 Sportsbook. Good afternoon, everyone. Again, thank you all for joining me on another episode of Locked On Black Hot's. You're one-stop shop for all things Chicago Black Hot's. I hope everyone tuning in, whether that's through YouTube or through an audio platform, enjoyed your weekends, kind of felt like it was the last hoorah of the summer weather, if you will, before Sunday, there was just a torrential rainstorm, basically, the entire day, kind of summed up the Chicago Bears' efforts against the Indianapolis Colts yesterday as well. And now it's looking like we're getting weather into the '60s and the '70s moving forward, at least for the next 10 days or so, on the projected forecast. But what that means is hockey weather has officially arrived, Black Hot's fans, and we know the Black Hot's are now just two days removed from the start of the preseason. They'll be taking on the Detroit Red Wings this Wednesday night with a 7 p.m. Central Time puck drop at the United Center, getting some Black Hot's unofficial game action in here this week. And with that being the case, training camp battles are expected to only be ramping up. And I did want to be sure to open things up today before the Black Hot's go on and play the Red Wings on Wednesday. I will have a specific preview of that game coming out sometime on Wednesday afternoon. Be sure to be on the lookout for that as well. Tomorrow, I'm actually going to be dropping a crossover with Seth Topal from Lockdown Wild. I also am going to be having a crossover coming out with Jason Hernandez from Lockdown Ducks talking about both of our team's prospect pools as they are widely considered to be two of the best, if not the two best prospect pools in the entire NHL, up there with the San Jose Sharks as well. So that should be a fun little conversation coming with Jason. There's also a central division roundtable that I have referenced in the past week that's going to be dropping on the last day of this month, next Monday. And then I'm also really trying to have Charlie Ramele Otis announced as the new Black Hot's WGN pre and post game host, really trying to have him back here on the show. He's been on countless times throughout the last couple of years. One of my favorites, probably my favorite, if I'm being honest, on the Black Hot's beat. So lots of good Black Hot stuff coming up again. Please make sure to go and hit that subscribe button, smash the like, comment down below as well. But most importantly, subscribe to Lockdown Black Hot's on YouTube. That while you don't miss out on any of the latest Black Hot's news and updates, it's 100% free, won't cost you anything and really does help me out tremendously, really trying to hit that 2000 subscriber margin before the Black Hot's opened up the regular season on October 8th against Utah. So do me a huge favor. If you're a first time viewer here on YouTube or someone who regularly watches the show and just haven't clicked that button yet, please make sure to do so. It really, really helps me and I really do want to reach that number. It's been a goal of mine all summer long. But yes, getting back to my main point with the Black Hot's opening up preseason action on Wednesday at the United Center to open things up on the show here today. I wanted to go through a little bit of an update on all the Black Hot's training camp battles because as I have already covered here on the show as well, there are just a boatload of Black Hot's notable storylines to be keeping an eye on and to be mindful of throughout these next couple of weeks. I want to be sure to give the latest updates that we have on some of those battles with the preseason set to begin here in just a couple of days. But quite honestly, Black Hot's fans don't have like a ton of update updates to get into, but that's mostly because the Black Hot's have just been continuing this scrimmage-like practicing down at Fifth Third Arena as they have been every day since things opened up last Thursday. They've really wanted to keep with that intensity, but because they've been going through all of these scrimmages and sometimes guys aren't scrimmaging on certain days and guys are, you know, jumbled up and mixed with different groups, we're not really seeing a lot of interchanging line combinations or defensive pairings at this point in time and what that tells me and I'll kind of hammer this home again a little bit later is that the preseason is really going to make or break these battles and I'll have a quote from Luke Richardson that I'll actually talk about that kind of emphasizes that point, I'll get to in just a moment here, but just because the Black Hot's are going with these scrimmage-like training camp battles right out of the gate, yes, they are certainly notable, but because they're so early, I really do think they just want to kind of get everyone's feet wet and get them ready for the intensity that's going to be coming with the rest of the regular season and everything moving forward. I do think, you know, these scrimmages are notable, you certainly, especially if you're a guy who's trying to earn a job or a fringe player, I absolutely think these scrimmages are notable and you want to be having good and noteworthy performances, but I really believe these preseason games and kind of the practices and then those scrimmages and the drills and whatnot that follow that stuff, I think that's going to be more important than kind of what we've seen here these last couple of days, but yeah, that's basically what the Black Hot's have been going with Friday, Saturday, and even here today, they opened up action at 10 a.m. central time early on in the morning with yet another scrimmage, not really working on like individual line rushes or drills, but kind of getting the boys ready for just game-like situations which, you know, should have them more than ready to rock and roll when they opened things up on Wednesday against the Red Wings, but the first thing I want to touch base on here, since I haven't gotten to it yet, I did talk about the forward lines that we have seen the Black Hot's roll with in the last episode that I dropped, but I haven't gotten to the defensive pairings yet and interestingly enough, Coach Luke Richardson has not rolled with the Alex Blasic Seth Jones duo, that was the Black Hot's top line for basically the entirety of the year, all of the second half of the season, really expected that duo to remain together to at least open up training camp, but no, that has not been the case as Seth Jones on the top pairing for the Black Hot's has actually been skating with newcomer Alec Martinez, which I think is an interesting choice. I figured Martinez was going to be someone who possibly could be playing on his offside with one of the younger defenseman a little bit down in the lineup further on the second pairing or the third pairing potentially, but feels like Luke Richardson wants to give him a chance to establish a shut down pairing with Seth Jones as well at the top of things and that could also allow the Black Hot's depth to kind of kick in. If you have Alex Blasic down on the second pairing, you don't have to rely on, you know, just a one pairing rotation like they did so many times last year, that certainly could help things out, but a very interesting decision by Richardson right out of the gate to not go back to the Blasic Jones duo that found a lot of success anchoring things on the back end for the Black Hot's last year. It's Alec Martinez, the newcomer and multi-time Stanley Cup champion joining Seth on the top pairing as of right now. We'll see if that's the case, if both of them wind up playing in the preseason opener on Wednesday. Alex Blasic, since he's not on the top pairing, has been bumped down to the second pairing playing with TJ Brody, newcomer from the Calgary Flames, who has been in a top four role for basically all of his career. I believe he's averaged over 20 minutes per game in each of his last 11 seasons and 11 of his 13 career years in the NHL. So very familiar with this type of role, not surprised to see TJ Brody there on his off wing, by the way, something that he has done in the pass back when he was a really solid defender anchoring that pairing with Marc Gierdano, one of the better shutdown pairings in the league at that point in time with the Calgary Flames, TJ Brody was playing on his off wing. So that is something that he's accustomed to. Again, we'll see if that Vlasic Brody pairing lined up sticking together or if we see Richardson go back to Vlasic and Jones at some point in the preseason, how was that going to affect Martinez and Brody because I don't think you want to put them on a pairing together. I think you kind of want to share the wealth a little bit on the back end. So we'll see what winds up happening there, but Martinez with Jones, Vlasic with Brody and that leaves Wyatt Kaiser, interestingly enough with Connor Murphy on the Black Hawks, so called third defensive pairing at this point in time. And one of the training camp battles, when I kind of took a look at the Black Hawks roster and all of the names and I split things into the NHL group, the AHL group and the prospect group, it was pretty clear to me that it's either going to be unless something crazy happens. It's going to be a battle between Wyatt Kaiser and Kevin Korschinsky for basically the final roster spot, I believe, for the Black Hawks on the back end because as I'll get to in just a moment, I think, and this isn't a new take of mine for those of you who are regular listeners or viewers of the show, I think Isaac Phillips is a perfect fit for the seventh defenseman for the Black Hawks this year, and that would leave one spot available if he does get that seventh defenseman spot for Wyatt Kaiser or Kevin Korschinsky because I don't think you want either of those two guys in particular serving as the seventh defenseman you'd prefer for them to be in Rockford, playing in meaningful minutes, all kinds of situations and just getting more game-like experience rather than just practicing and being around the NHL guys and getting reps, you know, once a week or once every two weeks, I don't think that's a good spot for either of those two guys, so I feel like it's going to be a battle between Korschinsky and Kaiser as to who's going to get that final spot, and if the regular season was going to start right here right now, it looks like Richardson would have Wyatt Kaiser over Kevin Korschinsky, which is a decision I understand Kaiser obviously is the older of the two prospects, got some marinating down in Rockford towards the ends of last year after making the Black Hawks roster out of training camp. There are a lot of similarities though, I feel like between Kaiser and Korschinsky, they both need to grow into better defenseman and need to be a little bit more capable in their own end, both undersized puck-moving defenseman who are known for their skating abilities. Korschinsky obviously has the higher ceiling and the offensive abilities of the two and is the better skater, but there are a lot of similarities between those two guys, but I would agree if there was one player who has a leg up over another before the preseason begins, I would say it's Wyatt Kaiser just because of his age and having a little bit more experience just being a little bit more physically mature than Kevin Korschinsky is. I think that would give him the edge, however, I believe the preseason games, as I referenced earlier, are really going to tell the tale between whether it's going to be Korschinsky or Kaiser on the Black Hawks opening night roster. Also on the back end, Kevin Korschinsky, as I said, not involved in those top three pairings, which kind of tells me he's on the outside looking in right now. He's been skating with Louis Cravier, who also could be in the race for the seventh defenseman spot for the Black Hawks, although I think that would much better fit Isaac Phillips given he has more experience than Cravier at this point in time and doesn't really have anything left to prove at the AHL level. Then we saw Ethan Del Mastro and Nolan Allen skating with one another. I figure both of those guys, unless something crazy happens, are going to open up the year in Rockford, no surprise there. That kind of left Austin strand along with Isaac Phillips. Again, I just think Isaac Phillips is in this weird in-between stage where he's not maybe a true NHLer, but he also shouldn't be going back down to Rockford and taking minutes and taking a job away from one of the youngsters who could really learn and use those experiences. That's why I feel like Kaiser is just in this Kaiser. Phillips is in this weird in-between where he just needs to be that seventh defenseman. Honestly, I don't think you brought him back as an RFA to send him back to Rockford. If he's going down to Rockford at this point still, you're pretty disappointed with that. You probably don't have much high expectations for him moving forward. The fact that they brought him back to me signifies that they want to give him NHL time. They want to have him around the NHLers and I think the seventh defenseman spot just kind of fits too well. It's going to be really interesting to see what kind of goes down with this Blackhawks blue line. Over the next couple of weeks before things opened up for real on October 8th against the Utah Hockey Club, I did want to add this one quote though from Kyle Davidson, which again to me just reiterates how much preseason is going to mean it in terms of all of these battles and determining the winner. When asked about whether Kevin Korschinsky could be a good fit for the Rockford icehogs this year, Davidson said it could potentially be an option for Korschinsky since he is now officially a HL eligible, but he did say quote, "We'll let the players decide where they should be and we'll go from there." So it's going to be fun to see both of those guys along with the newcomers on the Blackhawks blue line, Alec Martinez and TJ Brody in the preseason. We'll see how these defensive pairings wind up shifting and changing over these next couple of weeks, whenever they do shift or change, if they do, I guess I should say, I'll be sure to talk about it and let you all know all of the latest Blackhawks news and updates right here on Lockdown, Blackhawks going to take a quick break here, Blackhawks fans, but coming up in just a moment when I return, I'll get into the latest news we have on the battles going down in the Blackhawks forward group. But first, I got to talk to you all about one of today's sponsors, a new sponsor here on the Lockdown Podcast Network, actually, which is Price Picks. Price Picks is America's number one daily fantasy sports app with over 5 million active members at the moment and Price Picks is also the easiest and most exciting way for you to play daily fantasy sports. All you got to do is pick the easiest and excuse me, all you got to do is pick more or less specifically, the easiest ones you can find out there, more or less on two to six player stat projections and you can watch the winnings roll in. And by the way, one Caleb Williams passing yard gets you an automatic win every football weekend in September. That's right, four weeks of free W's. And one thing that I also love about Price Picks is that it's the only real daily fantasy platform with an injury insurance policy so that your lineups stay in play even if one of your players get injured. So be sure to go and download the Price Picks app today and to use the code Lockdown NHL in all caps and you'll get $50 instantly when you play $5 down. Again, that's code Lockdown NHL in all caps on Price Picks to get $50 instantly when you play $5. Price Picks, run your game. I also need to talk to you all real quick about Indeed. We're all driven by the search for better but when it comes to hiring, the best way to search for a candidate isn't to search at all, don't search but match with Indeed. If you need to hire, then you need Indeed because Indeed is the best matching and hiring platform with over 350 million global monthly visitors according to Indeed data and a matching engine that helps you find quality candidates in an instant. And Indeed doesn't just help you hire faster, 93% of employers agree that Indeed delivers the highest quality matches compared to other job sites according to a recent Indeed survey. And one of the things that I personally love about Indeed is that it makes hiring all in one place so simple and so easy because you can skip out on the countless job sites that ask unnecessary info and don't wind up leading you anywhere. Instead, go and join the more than 3.5 million businesses worldwide that use Indeed to hire great talent in an instant. And listeners or viewers of this show, you will get a free $75 sponsor job credit that will help get your jobs more visibility. If you go in and go and visit Indeed.com/lockdown right now. Again, that's Indeed.com/lockdown to get a $75 sponsor job credit that will get your jobs more visibility need to hire than you need Indeed. Back here on the lockdown blackwalks podcast part of the lockdown podcast network your team every day just want to say thank you again to everyone who made lockdown blackwalks your very first listen here to start off your day now for your second listen. Be sure to go and check out the lockdown NHL podcast where the season never ends providing expertise national expertise with a local perspective and you can easily find the link to lockdown NHL down in the description of this video on YouTube or simply search lockdown NHL on YouTube or wherever you may be listening to your podcast part of the lockdown podcast network your team every day segment to getting into the training camp battles that are going down in the blackwalks forward group we really haven't seen any line juggling whatsoever from the NHL lines if you will but we have seen like I said some solid performances a lot of guys who are on the cusp trying to get notable performances trying to make the coaching staff pay attention to them and trying to earn one of those few jobs that are available before October 8th arrives but it's really going to come down to the pre-season we're really going to find out the most about these guys when the game action actually begins and that's why I'm so excited for things to begin on Wednesday against the Detroit Red Wings but as I referenced we really haven't seen any line mixes going on so Taylor Hall Tyler Bertuzzi have remained with Connor Bedard on the blackwalks top line I've mentioned Taylor Hall is someone who many people have said has been very notable here so far in this camp a guy that's kind of chomping at the bit to get back out there and knowing he's going to get a really good opportunity to go and prove himself once again like he was supposed to get last year until the season unfortunately got cut short for him but he looks like he's someone who is really really trying to make the most out of this opportunity and that's absolutely what you love to hear a guy who is coming in from day one working his tail off playing with a lot of good energy a lot of good pace and that's what we need alongside Connor Bedard a real competent skilled like forward who can play at the same speed think the game the same way that he does and wants to be there is working his tail off alongside so love to hear that out of Taylor Hall and I've also been hearing that Connor Bedard and Tyler Bertuzzi have been establishing a very nice chemistry with one another here so I fully anticipate that to be the trio leading the blackwalks forward group when they open things up against the Red Wings should they be in the lineup which I kind of figure is going to be the case and on the second line we have seen Lucas Reichl remain with Phillip Kershev and Taveau Terevin and Kershev still playing the center position which is something that I don't think he did at all throughout the course of last season it's been probably two years or maybe even more since we've really seen Kershev as a full-time center so clearly there is a little bit of a hole in the blackwalks lineup there is an opportunity I think they're more importantly for Frank Nazar that's the spot if he's going to earn his way on to this NHL roster which feels like a little bit of a long shot at this point in time just given the amount of numbers that the blackwalks have but that's the spot same with Andreas Athanasio a guy who's a little bit further down in the lineup that second line center spot even though he really hasn't been a center before coming to Chicago that has been something that he's done here for this organization so I'm sure that's a spot he's trying to get back to as well so that's second line center spot definitely definitely up for grabs here throughout the preseason but Lucas Riekel getting that top six spot was something that I think surprised a pretty good amount of us especially with Andreas Athanasio kind of being on the outside looking in and the pace that Athanasio could play with the lackluster season that Lucas Riekel had last year given that the blackwalks made some notable additions to their forward group I thought the third line was going to be more talented than it had been here in quite a while so I figured that's where Riekel was going to be but to see him in a top six spot I absolutely like that I think it is the right spot for him but now it's just kind of up to him in order to stay there and that's really what Luke Richardson kind of hammered home to the media as far as his expectations for Lucas Riekel here in training camp Richardson said quote my expectation is that Riekel competes hard for a top six spot we got bodies so he's going to have to earn that he's going to have to come in and take that role it's on him in a way we don't want him playing on the fourth line or anything like that but he's been around enough to know what the expectation is and what the NHL requires from a consistency standpoint I think that's a really notable quote there for multiple different reasons from Luke Richardson obviously alluding to all of the bodies that the blackwalks brought in here I've referenced that time and time again on the show they want everyone competing from the top line all the way down to the guys who are trying to claw for those extra forward spots right like we want everyone fighting hard from the get go because that vibe that intensity we're hoping is going to just snowball and carry over to the start of the regular season and this is the beginning of a new era a new leaf here for the Chicago Blackhawk so I love to hear that you know Richardson these are his expectations for a guy like Lucas Reichel and as I've alluded to as well if he provides or if any of these guys provide anything less than what is kind of the standard or what we expect them to bring it's not going to be good enough than they're in jeopardy of losing that position so I love to hear that that's the mentality and Lucas Reichel as Richardson said like should know that at this point in time I thought it was interesting though to hear him say like we don't want Lucas Reichel playing on the fourth line when Luke Richardson was the very man who was playing Lucas Reichel down on the third and fourth line for like multiple stretches of games last year I know it was to send a message but I think Luke and I would agree and all those Blackhawks fans would agree that's not really a spot for Lucas Reichel to succeed and he's kind of even openly saying that to the media here so I don't know that's kind of interesting but again just hammering home it's on Lucas Reichel like if he wants to be a top six player for the Chicago Blackhawks this year of the future of the rebuild starts right here right now man the opportunity is there for the taking he's just got to run with it but I love to hear Reichel as well kind of saying that he's in a much better headspace right now he's much more confident in his game kind of had a little bit of a weird training regimen last year if you all remember the Blackhawks specifically kept Lucas Reichel off of the ice in the summer of 2023 for like two months to kind of work on his strength to beef him up and make him a more stronger and difficult player to play against out there on the ice that kind of ended up backfire and I think for Reichel and he said he's been much more on the ice here this summer working on his shot his lower body and that stuff been taking taking some stuff away from Connor but Dard shot in the way that he shoots the puck and trying to kind of translate that to his game so hopefully Lucas Reichel is in a position to go and take this take this chance and run with it because that's really what it's going to take in order for him to secure a top six spot here for the Blackhawks come October 8th against Utah third line has remained the same which could be Loki one of the best shut down defensive trios in all of hockey I firmly believe Nick Felino Jason Dickinson and Iliya Makaya I think that is a really really sound defensive trio Jason Dickinson don't know if he's going to be able to replicate exactly what he did on the offensive side of things but we're not really not really asking him to do that once again given the additions that we've made inside the top six we just want him to continue to hone in on his craft on the defensive side of things and he has two real good guys next to him and Nick Felino who can play a rugged style Makayev who skates well and is known for his defensive abilities probably the most offensively gifted player of the three on that line but that trio should be doing a lot of good work for Luke Richardson in the Blackhawks in defensive situations and then still rounding things out the trio of Patrick Maroon, Andreas Athman, a see you and Craig Smith which is a trio that I fully do not expect to open up the regular season together on the Blackhawks fourth line to me that is just a trio that really doesn't make a lot of sense. Andreas Athman, see you like just isn't a fourth line player and just doesn't I just don't think he's going to mix well with Pat Maroon or Craig Smith like just too many different styles there I think Athman, see you could bring some good wheels there but I don't really know how to feel about that fourth line at this point in time so we'll see what winds up happening there but two guys on the outside looking in right now Ryan Donato and Joey Anderson still appear to be at this point in time the two healthy scratch forwards if the regular season was to open right here right now the Ryan Donato is someone who apparently has been very notable was super physical apparently I heard in today's scrimmage so the message has clearly been sent to him he's trying to get on watch by this coaching staff and then we know what Joey Anderson is capable of doing on the defensive side of things as well but I do think he kind of fits of being an extra forward that you feel comfortable sliding into the lineup whenever you need maybe a little bit more defense or a little bit more jam up front in that kind of sense also thought it was interesting though to see AJ Spelicey taking land in slaggart spot on this trio slaggart has been with those other two guys not on Anderson since training camp opened up last Thursday feels like the Blackhawks really like what they've seen from AJ Spelicey and I mean there's a lot to like already at his age of 18 6 foot 3 6 foot 4 over 200 pounds and can absolutely fly if he can continue to develop his skill game over these next couple of years he is going to be a really intriguing player and even if he doesn't just kind of his unique characteristics I think is going to give him an opportunity to make it to the NHL one day and possibly be a piece of the puzzle here in Chicago so notable that Spelicey getting an opportunity with two guys who figure to be part of the Blackhawks NHL roster and then rounding things out Colton Doc Frank Nazer Nick Lardis really hope to see that trio together in the preseason for the Blackhawks at least once or to see Lardis up on the top line with Badard to see Nazer maybe as the second line center with table terra Vinin and Lucas Riekel I don't know those are guys that definitely deserve a crack or two though in the preseason it sounds like that's what we're going to be getting Luke Richardson one kind of asked about training camp cuts mentioned that he does want to give players who are fighting for spots plenty of opportunities and that they could even see four to five out of the Blackhawks six preseason games so as I referenced earlier I really believe these preseason games are going to determine the winners and the losers of these training camp battles the scrimmages are obviously important you want to get off to a noticeable start you want to get all the coaches talking about you you want the buzz to be palpable but those preseason games to me are when the battles are going to be won and lost and I love to hear that Richardson is going to give guys who are in those battles which is I mean a pretty good chunk of the roster if we're being honest here he's going to give them a good amount of preseason games so during these next couple of weeks a lot a lot of meaningful ice time a lot of meaningful situations going down out there for the Blackhawks even though it is the preseason should be a lot of fun in many different ways to watch this team hit the ice one things open up on Wednesday against the red wings that's going to wrap up the latest updates we have from the Blackhawks training camp battles I'll be sure to continue talking about this throughout the rest of Blackhawks training camp be sure to subscribe to lock down Blackhawks on YouTube so you don't miss out on any of the latest news or updates going to take one final break here on today's show but when I return still got to get into our weekly mailbag Monday fan segment but first I got to talk to you all about the fine folks over at FanDuel I know you've all heard about FanDuel at this point in time right of course you have but to all of my NFL fans out there you can now start the NFL season with a big return over at FanDuel which is America's number one sportsbook so when you get a hunch in the middle of the game you can go and check out the latest stats you can also view live play by play action and so much more on the same page where you also happen to place your bets and all of my Blackhawks fans out there FanDuel has now dropped the over underlines for each and every teams projected point totals for the 2024-2025 regular season the Blackhawks currently listed at 74 and a half which I think is a really savvy line by FanDuel and I am having I want to go over like obviously my heart is telling me to go over the additions the Blackhawks made I think they're going to be much much better than they've been these last couple of years however you got to remember they only put up 42.52 points last year excuse me this is a big time jump and I ultimately when projecting what I think the Blackhawks are going to do this year I think they wind up somewhere between 70 and 78 points but if you're feeling encouraged on the chances for the Blackhawks this year you think and they're gonna hammer that over 74.5 you can go and place a bet down with FanDuel and if you're not already signed up be sure to create an account and when you put $5 down you'll get a free $200 worth of bonus stats guaranteed yes you heard me right sign up today at FanDuel.com put $5 down and you'll get $200 worth of bonus bets guaranteed that you can bet on anything from the NHL to the NFL from the Bears to the Blackhawks you don't want to miss out on free money an opportunity to get even more free money who doesn't love that make sure to go take advantage by visiting fanduel.com right now America's number one sports book okay you can do this I know I know Carvana makes it so convenient to sell your car it's just hard to let go my car and I have been through so much together but look you already have a great offer from Carvana that was fast well I know my lessons played in my heart and those questions were easy you're almost there now to just accept the offer and schedule a pick up or drop off how did you do it how were you so strong in letting go of your car well I already made up my mind and Carvana is so easy yeah true and sold go to Carvana.com to sell your car the convenient way real quick just another reminder that lockdown Blackhawks has mailbag Monday each in every week but this segment won't be possible if I don't get questions from you the viewers and the listeners out there please make sure to reach out with your Blackhawks related question or just even life questions I love having fun during this segment here to wrap things up every Monday you can email lockdown Blackhawks at gmail.com can also hit me up on any one of my social media accounts at Jack Bushman 2 on X at talk and hockey on X or you can also even drop in the YouTube comments below right now obviously or hit the community tab on the lockdown Blackhawks YouTube channel please make sure to reach out with your Blackhawks related questions I only have a few to get to this week but I know lots of you viewers and listeners have questions with the regular season just a couple weeks away first question I want to get to here today though comes from Ph.H.D.V.M on YouTube who is a regular listener and watcher I greatly appreciate the support thank you very much and thank you for reaching out with your question which was as far as camp goes I'm less interested in players who are locks to be playing in Chicago and more interested in players who are trying to make the team pretty much agreed I would say the battles between kind of even the guys who are secure in NHL jobs that's what's really interesting to me as well for example Korschinsky and Kaiser are they going to be in Chicago or Rockford talked about this a little bit earlier so I don't mean to kind of beat the drum twice but I ultimately do think it's going to be one or the other on the Blackhawks opening night roster I don't think they both wind up in Chicago or they both wind up in Rockford I think it's going to be one in one spot and then one in the other if I had a guess right here right now I do ultimately think it's Wyatt Kaiser who has the edge over Kevin Korschinsky I just think with the Blackhawks being in this spot where they want to be patient and had the AHL been an option for Korschinsky last year that's certainly where he would have been and I think they do want to give him a taste of AHL action in all situations there and not have to worry of him going up against you know the top skill level like we see at the NHL well you can also still develop his game and give him you know unique situations where the risk isn't as high when things go negatively right like the Blackhawks there are expectations for them on the ice you don't want both the team's goals and Kevin Korschinsky's individual goals to go sour at the same point in time so for those reasons I do ultimately think it winds up being Wyatt Kaiser on the opening night roster but as I've talked about time and time again on this episode it's going to come down to the preseason which ever one of those two players has the better effort and makes the more noticeable impact to the team and those you know four to five preseason games that we expect them to get I think that's who winds up with the job Kevin Korschinsky undoubtedly has the higher ceiling of the two I think he probably is the better player of the two already if I had to guess Kaiser just has age and experience over him and is probably a little bit more physically matured but I wouldn't be surprised to see Korschinsky beat him out one bit I do think Kaiser at this point in time though has the leg up and is the likely favorite over Korschinsky next question comes from Mel Rosner who emailed in the podcast and asked what happens first but Dard hits 50 goals or the Blackhawks get back to the playoffs really interesting question here Mel oh boy all right so projecting when I think the Blackhawks can make the playoffs I don't think it's going to be this year obviously but I do think 2025 2026 next year is really one they could be on the cusp of legitimately doing it once again it's either going to be 2025 26 or 26 27 I don't think bard's going to hit 50 this year even 40 would be a lot for him um I'm gonna go the Blackhawks go back to the playoffs first 50 is just a lot and they probably happen right around the same time they're probably synonymous with one another but I'm gonna go the Blackhawks getting back to the playoffs wouldn't be mad though if Bedsy winds up hitting 50 goals you know in the 2025-2026 season next question comes from Mark 1958 WJD on YouTube who asked and bear with me here for everyone else who didn't ask this question I was a little bit confused but I always try to do the viewers a favor if you reach out with the question I always try to answer it but I'll do my best here who can fill in some of the seven hawk spots that'll make up the core going forward who do we know will make up the next six second tier players and who may stick around as the support five that is 18 players 12 forwards and 6d how many of these blanks can we fill in at this point all right it's kind of a confusion question there but what I do understand is the 18 players 12 forwards and 6d out of those 18 blanks I think is what's being asked how many can we fill in not very many truly because even the additions of the Blackhawks made this offseason to bring in some veterans I don't think there's you know much hope of them being long-term pieces of the puzzle I would say Connor Bedard is for sure a puzzle piece we know that I think Kevin Korchinski is a for sure puzzle piece I think Alex Vlastic is a for sure puzzle piece Seth Jones is a for sure puzzle piece whether you like it or not black Sox fans because guess what that contract guarantees that he is other than that who's really a guaranteed piece of the puzzle here Philip Kershev looks like a good player is he a guaranteed piece of the puzzle I don't really know Lucas Reichel wouldn't say he's guaranteed at this point in time I want to say Frank Nazar is a guaranteed piece of the puzzle we just don't have a big enough sample size to guarantee that he's going to be at the NHL level but I really believe he is going to be other than that like there are still a lot of unknowns for the future of this blackout so how many would that be we have Bedard Vlastic I mean you could even make an argument about Korshinski the jury is still out there for sure Bedard Vlastic Jones Korshinski four to five so yeah I mean that's why this year is still kind of another filler year for the Blackhawks because there are still so many things we got to find out about this team this year next question it comes from tie one two three four five wise BDF 49 on acts who asked early Stanley Cup prediction oh boy haven't really even thought about this and I when I wrote this question down I told myself to think about it and accidentally completely forgot um early Stanley Cup prediction early Stanley Cup prediction this is tough because for those who have been a longtime listener viewer of the show I think I've gone with the lightning and the stars in like five of the last six years those have just been teams I've really really liked and I did win the lightning once of their two years and never won the stars of course boy oh boy really good one really good question um Colorado from the west I really like um Edmonton I'm gonna go back with Edmonton I'm gonna go with Edmonton from the west from the east I'm gonna go uh I'm gonna go Boston go Boston final question I have here on today's episode is from Anna Miller who emailed in and asked how many wins do the Blackhawks get this year out of 82 I mentioned I think they finish somewhere between 70 and 78 points I think they probably win 33 out of 42 games 33 wins um that gives them 66 points somewhere between 7 to 10 overtime losses they're getting a point around half their games this year is what I kind of think is uh a fair expectation for this Blackhawks team they have to get to 30 wins though they have to win 30 games this year I expect them ultimately though to win somewhere between 30 and 35 but that is gonna wrap up today's episode of lockdown Blackhawks as always thank you all again for joining me on the show be sure to go and follow lockdown Blackhawks for free right now wherever you may be listening to your podcast and to go and subscribe to lockdown Blackhawks on YouTube that way you can get the latest episode as soon as it's available each and every day if you want to check me out on Axie can find me at Jack Bushman too but be sure to go and check out my strictly Black Hawks account at Talking Hockey so that way you can get all of the latest Blackhawks news and updates until the next episode though Blackhawks fans have a great rest of your day I'll see you next time on the lockdown Blackhawks podcast crossover was set to Paul from lockdown wild coming tomorrow morning and then on Wednesday afternoon I will have one final preview before the Blackhawks open up the pre-season against the Detroit Red Wings until then everyone have a great rest of your days I'll see you next time on the lockdown Blackhawks podcast part of the lockdown podcast network your team every day a prime member you can listen to this lockdown podcast add free on Amazon music download the Amazon music app today
