Korchinski's skating, work ethic stand out ahead of 2022 NHL Draft

The 2022 Upper Deck NHL Draft will be held at Bell Centre in Montreal on July 7-8. NHL.com is counting down to the draft with profiles and other features. Today, a look at defenseman Kevin Korchinski with Seattle of the Western Hockey League. NHL.com's full draft coverage can be found here.

Kevin Korchinski's earliest memory of hockey was not a good one. His dad was worried he would never want to play again.
"When I was 2 or maybe 3, I was on one of those skating braces that you hold when you're learning to skate, and I don't know how but somehow I fell and cut my finger really bad, so I had to get stitches," Korchinski said. "My dad was pretty traumatized, thought I'd never go on the ice again because I'd be scared."
But those fears turned out to be far from reality for his father, Larry, who played 134 games for Saskatoon of the Western Hockey League from 1981-84. Very quickly it became clear it would be more difficult to get Kevin off the ice than to convince him to go on it.
"Nobody had to pull me off the ice. I'd always be skating around, even by myself whenever I got the chance, and stickhandle and shoot pucks," Korchinski said.

All that work has paid off for Korchinski, No. 7 in NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of North American skaters. The 17-year-old defenseman, considered to be one of the best pure skaters available in the 2022 Upper Deck NHL Draft, had 65 points (four goals, 61 assists) in 67 games with Seattle of the WHL this season and 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in 17 playoff games.
"He has a chance to be a special defenseman," Seattle coach Matt O'Dette said. "I'm not saying he's Cale Makar, but he has similarities to his game. If an NHL team is looking for a chance at a guy like that, Kevin Korchinski would be a heck of a guy to take a swing at."
Korchinski, who likes to play a high-paced game and join the rush to create offense, said he spends a lot of time watching video of Makar to try to implement aspects of the Colorado Avalanche defenseman's game into his own.
"[Makar] is a special defenseman," Korchinski said. "He's a guy I watch a lot of video of with my assistant coaches. He's so good with the puck, so good offensively, such a good skater, but he doesn't get enough credit for his defensive play. He does box out in front, does play the body. He's a guy that plays both ends of the ice and plays winning hockey."
Having grown about six inches in the past year, Korchinski (6-foot-2, 185 pounds) stands about three inches taller than Makar (5-11, 187). O'Dette said Korchinski's size will serve him well in the defensive zone as he learns how to best use it to his advantage.
"He's come a long way as far as growing, which normally it takes a player some time to get his feet back under him, but it really hasn't with him," O'Dette said. "He's been talked about as being one of the best skaters in the draft, and this is after growing six inches in the past year. There hasn't been a clumsy phase yet. I expect he will be a 6-4, 215-pound player when it's all said and done."

Korchinski, an avid piano player who was named Seattle's Academic Player of the Year in 2020-21, said his primary focus this summer will be trying to fill out his frame in the gym.
"Just getting stronger so I can be that physical guy, I can be more two-way than just one dimensional," Korchinski said. "That's something this summer I am going to take a lot of pride in, just getting really stronger, more physical and more explosive. I am pretty tall. I just have to fill out and work on the physical**