3 questions facing Chicago Blackhawks

NHL.com is providing in-depth analysis for each of its 32 teams from Aug. 1 - Sept. 1. Today, three important questions facing the Chicago Blackhawks.

1. Do expectations around Connor Bedard need to be tempered?

There's a lot of hype following Bedard, which happens when you're pegged to be the next Connor McDavid. But the Blackhawks are prepared for this; they know the 18-year-old center, selected with the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, can handle the pressure and they will help him along the way. So will forwards Taylor Hall, Nick Foligno and Corey Perry, who Chicago acquired during the offseason to help its young players, including Bedard.

"Everybody knows who he is and sees him and he's going to have the No. 1 pairing against him," Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson said. "But a guy who has the drive like he does, I think that's going to push him to be even better. I'm not really afraid of what he's going to go up against but definitely there are going to be adjustments for him. The coaching staff will do everything we can to prepare him for that, but internal conversations with players and peers who have that experience, like Nick and Taylor and Corey, will go a long way."

2. Who will be Blackhawks captain?

There are some options to replace Jonathan Toews, the Blackhawks' captain since July 18, 2008.

Defenseman Connor Murphy has been a full- or part-time alternate captain since 2020-21. The 30-year-old is now the longest tenured Chicago player (he was acquired in a trade with the Arizona Coyotes for defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson on June 23, 2017) and has worn the "A" for the Blackhawks during road games the past two seasons.

Another candidate is defenseman Seth Jones, who wore the "A" for home games last season. Given he signed an eight-year, $76 million contract ($9.5 million average annual value) with the Chicago on July 28, 2021, the 28-year-old will be part of its leadership group in some form for a while.

Or do the Blackhawks leave the captaincy vacant this season and name Bedard to that role next season? The Edmonton Oilers did that in 2015-16, the rookie season of McDavid, their No. 1 pick of the 2015 NHL Draft, before naming him captain the following season.

3. Is Kevin Korchinski's situation an issue?

The "situation" for the 19-year-old defenseman is the NHL's agreement with the Canadian Hockey League prohibits players under 20 from joining the American Hockey League. So if Korchinski, selected No. 7 by Chicago in the 2022 NHL Draft, doesn't make the Blackhawks roster, he'd return to Seattle of the Western Hockey League.

Chicago general manager Kyle Davidson said he wasn't concerned about that.

"We're going to leave it up to him," he said. "We'll see how he does, how he comes into training camp. He had a long year, a long couple of years in juniors. So hopefully he has a good summer where he continues to build his body, continued to grow into his frame and he's ready for that full pro hockey season (in Chicago)."