The Chicago Blackhawks finished 31st in the league in 2023-24 and their goal was to get a whole lot better in the offseason. On paper, mission accomplished. Though Chicago added the most up front, its defense has gone from a place to give a lot of young, unproven players opportunities to a stable core group of six.
Heading into training camp, the Blackhawks’ defense pairing are expected to be as follows:
Kevin Korchinski – Connor Murphy
Vlasic established himself as a top pairing defenseman and formed some strong chemistry with number one d-man Seth Jones. As far as top pairings go, this isn’t elite, but it is very serviceable and solid.
Related: Blackhawks Sign Defenseman Alex Vlasic to Six-Year, $27.6 Million Deal
Korchinski came in as a 19-year-old rookie and did alright. It’s very tough to be thrown into a top-4 role at that age and he didn’t get a lot of consistency with partners as Murphy missed a chunk of the season due to injury. With a full season together and a year under Korchinski’s belt, these two should form a formidable second pairing with high upside.
The new part of this defense are veterans Martinez and Brodie. Martinez can still play and has always been a staple defensively wherever he’s played. Though he will probably provide a little more value in experience and mentorship, it’s very likely he gets into most of the games for the Blackhawks on the third pairing.
Related: Alec Martinez “Willing and Excited” for Mentorship Role With Blackhawks
Beside him, Brodie can arguably still be a top-4 defenseman and really shores up the right side. He will have much better matchups than last season in Toronto higher up the lineup. Both these veterans offer more in the way of consistency than the younger defensemen who competed for roles last season.
Colorado Avalanche
The Colorado Avalanche have had one of the best defense corps over the past number of seasons with Cale Makar and Devon Toews as the helm.
The team still has a strong second pairing behind that with Samuel Girard and Josh Manson if health holds up, but the third pairing is a question mark. There are three left-shot defensemen competing for playing time on that pairing between Calvin de Haan, Oliver Kylington, and Erik Brannstrom.
The Avalanche should expect the most stability from de Haan, the ceiling still may be the highest for Brannstrom, but Kylington has the potential to put up the best numbers. At the very least, with Jacob McDonald in…