Blackhawks rookie showcase camp notes: Drew Commesso makes diet change, technical tweak originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
The Chicago Blackhawks’ prospects took the ice at Fifth Third Arena on Wednesday ahead of the 2023 Tom Kurvers Prospect Showcase, which will take place in Minnesota over the weekend.
Blackhawks goaltending prospect Drew Commesso will start in one of the two games as he prepares to make the jump to professional hockey. And he had a pretty productive offseason.
Commesso said he worked “a ton” on his cognitive training and mental skills training, which helped “a ton.” He also followed Andrei Vasilevskiy’s diet plan and added roughly eight pounds of muscle. He’s already seeing the benefits of it.
“I ended up eating a lot more,” Commesso said. “And that came with waking up early. Instead of having one breakfast a day waking up at 7 or 8, I’d wake up at 5:30, eat, workout, eat again, skate, eat again. My mom was a huge help with that. I lived at home this summer and she cooked these great meals for me to bring to the rink. … I feel so much stronger and faster.”
On the ice, Commesso made a minor mechanical tweak. He trained all summer with Boston Bruins goaltending Jeremy Swayman, who recommended lowering his hands.
“I owe a lot to him,” Commesso said. “He taught me so much this summer. I was pretty much with him every second of the weekdays, working out with him, skating with him every day.
“One thing I noticed that he does so well is keep his hands in a great stance and I tried to put that in my game this summer and I found it helps me a lot moving and catching the puck as well.”
The reason Commesso made the change is because he quickly realized how fast NHL players’ shots are. Charlie McAvoy was among the players he skated with in Boston, and it became apparent that Commesso needed to adapt.
“To be honest, right when I started getting on the ice this summer and skated with all the pros, I quickly realized how fast those guys can shoot the puck,” Commesso said. “I was talking to Jeremy Swayman about it because he had kind of a similar path [as] I did going from college to pro, I said, ‘Hey, these guys are so fast, what’s one thing that you worked on,’ and he said, ‘I lowered my hands a little bit.’
“A lot of the shooters are looking for those low glove, low blocker that’s kind of the hardest shot to save, so I think having lower hands, it’s just naturally you don’t have to move to the puck as much.”
Kevin Korchinski’s mindset
Chicago’s No. 7 overall pick made a strong impression at training camp last season and it reflected in the preseason games. There’s a decent possibility Korchinski starts the season on the Opening Night roster if he performs well again, although it’s probably unlikely he’d stay with the Blackhawks for the entire season.
Korchinski isn’t eligible to play in the American Hockey League this season due to Canadian Hockey League rules, so it’s either the NHL or back to the Seattle Thunderbirds in the Western Hockey League. If I had to put money on it, I’d expect Korchinski to start the season with the Blackhawks and then eventually be sent back to the WHL.
Korchinski doesn’t seem to be stressing too much about his future this season.
“Just taking it day by day and obviously trying to prove yourself every day,” Korchinski said. “Trying to get better every day and just learn from all the people around you, this great staff that are here to make you better, so learning from them whether it’s on the ice, off the ice, nutrition, all that. I’m just learning from that.”
Martin Misiak preparing to make jump to OHL
Days after he was taken by the Blackhawks in the second round of the 2023 NHL Draft, Misiak was selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the Ontario Hockey League by the Erie Otters. He spent last season in Slovakia and the United States Hockey League.
Misiak said most of his focus this summer training-wise was increasing his power and acceleration, but he tried to enhance every part of his game. There’s one other thing he’d like to do more of this coming season.
“Score a lot of goals,” Misiak said. “That’s what everybody wants. If you score a lot of goals, your team wins, so hopefully I’ll score a lot of goals and play a 200-foot game and help the team win. That’s the most important thing. We have a really good team this year, so we’ve got a lot of work in front of us, but hopefully we’ll climb the standings this year.”
Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson joked with him that he and Connor Bedard are both No. 1 overall picks.
“I said to him, ‘It’s a little different, OHL draft and the NHL draft,'” Misiak smiled. “I don’t know. I was kind of surprised when he said that. It’s not the same, but it sounds good.”
A new developmental goaltending coach
Blackhawks longtime developmental goaltending coach Peter Aubry left the organization in July after being hired as an associate coach by the University of Nebraska-Omaha. He had been with the Blackhawks since 2015, so it left a void within the organization.
Matt Smith was appointed the new goaltending coach for Rockford. He was previously the goalie coach for the Soo Greyhounds and Guelph Storm of the Ontario Hockey League.
“Peter left, he had an opportunity to go to college,” Rockford IceHogs head coach Anders Sorensen said. “He felt like it was the next step for him on the coaches side as well. We brought Matt in and had some real good conversations with Matt throughout the summer here and really liked his point of view, how he looked at developing goalies and just how he is as a person.”
Bedard’s absence
Connor Bedard did not skate on Wednesday because he was in Vegas for the NHL Player Media Tour, but he will practice with the team on Thursday and is expected to play in at least one of the two contests over the weekend. It sounds like it will be Saturday’s game vs. St. Louis.
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