Two young Chicago Blackhawks players to be concerned about

Connor Bedard has been amazing for the Chicago Blackhawks.

The phenom is living up to the hype with nine goals in his first 13 games. He has come close to his first career hat trick in his last two games.

He is a must-see television.

His goal-scoring ability has kept the Chicago Blackhawks in games they have no business being in.

Bedard is not the only youngster playing well in his first full NHL season for the Hawks. Defensemen Kevin Korchinski has exceeded expectations to the point that the Blackhawks are keeping him on the NHL roster rather than sending him to the juniors for more seasoning.

He is fourth on the team in ice time. Wyatt Kaiser and Alex Vlasic have also played well on the blue line.

Those were four players the Blackhawks needed to show promise if the franchise hopes to start making the playoffs shortly.

Two other key cornerstone pieces are not playing well, and it is concerning.

Lukas Reichel

Reichel became the forgotten cornerstone piece when Bedard arrived in Chicago. He has played like it.

He has no goals and just two assists so far.

Reichel started the season at center and that experiment failed quickly. He is back to skating on the left wing and hopefully, that can get him going.

Reichel had a nice assist against the Florida Panthers on Sunday.

The hope is Reichel and Bedard can be paired on a line that wins a Stanley Cup someday. Right now, the worry is Reichel might not be a top-six player.

However, injuries to the top two lines have made it hard to establish some consistency for Reichel and his linemates. He needs to get one through the net and maybe he will heat up.

Arvid Soderblom

The hope by now was Soderblom would have a firm grasp on the No. 1 goaltender spot for the Chicago Blackhawks. Instead, he is 1-5 in his six starts and has a 4.00 goals-against average.

Soderblom looks lost out there with a .881 save percentage.

He got shelled for seven goals against the Arizona Coyotes in late October before he gave up five goals to Las Vegas.

Soderblom has been outplayed by his teammate, Petr Mrazek.

That is not a bad thing since Mrazek is a veteran. The reason you want Soderblom to take the top spot is because he is younger and Mrazek’s injury history.

It is always a matter of time before Mrazek will miss time with an ailment. Once that happens, Soderblom is going to have to step up.

He has to start playing with more confidence out there and show he can be the future netminder. Otherwise, he will have to watch the Hawks’ other options take over in a net.