Blackhawks Recall Korchinski, Rinzel From Rockford IceHogs; Kaiser To IR

The Chicago Blackhawks recalled defensemen Kevin Korchinski and Sam Rinzel from the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs and placed Wyatt Kaiser on injured reserve retroactive to Feb. 4, the club announced Feb. 18. Kaiser’s placement comes with a lower-body designation; ChicagoHockeyNow reported Kaiser appeared to have injured his left knee after Columbus defenseman Zach Werenski fell on his leg, twisting it awkwardly, and head coach Jeff Blashill said Kaiser will be out when the Blackhawks return to play on Feb. 26.

Blashill framed the dual recall as more than short-term cover. “I want them to make sure, if they’re gonna play games down the stretch here, that they’re ingrained in everything we’re doing,” he said, explaining why the team brought up two blueliners rather than one as practices resume. The move restores seven active defensemen on the roster heading out of the Olympic break.

Kevin Korchinski, 21, arrives having paced Rockford defensemen with 23 points (2 goals, 21 assists) in 45 AHL games this season, according to the team release; his 21 assists rank 12th among AHL defensemen and first among IceHogs blueliners, and he represented Rockford at the 2026 AHL All-Star Classic for the second straight year. Korchinski has had limited NHL usage since his 2023-24 rookie season, tallying one assist in two NHL games this season and appearing in just 18 NHL games over the last two years, ChicagoHockeyNow reports. ProHockeyRumors flagged a cautionary statline, a 5-45-50 scoring output in 101 Rockford games that has come with a -39 rating overall (including -22 this season), and suggested the organization may be trying “to undo any damage they may have done by rushing him into the NHL lineup as a 19-year-old two years ago.”

Sam Rinzel, also 21, returns with more NHL mileage this season: he has appeared in 31 NHL games and notched nine points (2 goals, 7 assists), and he scored his first career NHL goal on Oct. 11 vs. Montreal, per the team release. Rinzel posted 14 points (2G, 12A) in 23 AHL games after being sent to Rockford on Dec. 8 to maintain playing time during the Olympic window; ChicagoHockeyNow noted he was the lone defenseman eligible to be assigned to the minors while others were at the Olympics. Rinzel had played three games for Chicago before the break, stepping in for a struggling Artyom Levshunov.

Kaiser’s absence removes a 23-year-old thehockeywriters called “one of the team’s most reliable defensemen” who leads Blackhawks blueliners with five goals and has served as a mentor to Levshunov and Rinzel. Multiple outlets describe the injury timeline as a multi-week absence with the hope he can return in March, but the team’s current timeline is that he will be unavailable when play resumes Feb. 26. With no Chicago defensemen competing in Italy for the Olympics, Yardbarker and other outlets expect both Korchinski and Rinzel to see meaningful NHL minutes while Kaiser recovers, and practices ahead of the next game will dictate pairings and deployment.