SAINT PAUL, Minn. – The annual Tom Kurvers Prospect Showcase has once again come and gone, and the brightest young stars from Chicago, Minnesota, and St. Louis had a chance to show off their skills. This weekend, TRIA Rink was host to several already notable names such as Connor Bedard, Sammy Walker, Vadim Zherenko, and many more.

Chicago Blackhawks

As the most-anticipated roster of the three in this rookie tournament, the Chicago squad did not disappoint. In the Saturday night matchup against rival St. Louis, the Blackhawks hopefuls completed a shutout with a final score of 5-0. While the main storyline of the game was Bedard finishing the night with a hat trick with his lethal wrist shot, there was much more to talk about.

2022 first-round Chicago draft pick defenseman Kevin Korchinski looked stellar. He joined Nolan Allan on the top pairing, which seemed like an extremely solid duo in front of goaltender Drew Commesso. Colton Dach, brother of former Blackhawk Kirby, scored two goals in two games and mainly played on a line with Bedard. Defenseman Wyatt Kaiser captained the squad in the first game against the Blues and looked like he had done a lot of work over the offseason. Forwards Nick Lardis, Ryder Rolston, and defender Louis Crevier each had flashy moments that caught the eyes of coaches and fans as well.

With training camp coming and a lot of open roster spots, the Tom Kurvers Prospect Showcase just made the Chicago Blackhawks competition even deeper. While Bedard is basically a shoo-in to make the roster, the rest of his teammates will be fighting for a spot. The Chicago front office and coaching staff have quite the decision to make based on the weekend performance.

Minnesota Wild

The host team went 1-1 and the story of the weekend was forward Sammy Walker. Like Bedard, Walker had a hat trick and added an assist in the showcase. As a 24-year-old player that has AHL and NHL experience, this was not necessarily surprising, but still exciting for Wild fans.

Along with Walker, there was much to be interested in with this team. Casey Dornbach, one of several Minnesota natives on the roster, added a short-handed goal in the 7-4 win over Chicago on Sunday. Hunter Haight registered the always-entertaining Gordie Howe Hat Trick and assisted on Walker’s second of three goals. Defenseman Ryan O’Rourke showed some physicality against Allan after a hit on teammate Louis Bourdon. 2021 first-round pick goaltender Jesper Wallstedt got action in net against St. Louis and invitee Harrison Meneghin took on the Blackhawks. Max Cajkovic, acquired in the Pat Maroon trade with Tampa Bay, gave the club a lead against Chicago in the second period as well.

The Wild most recently finished in the top three in the Central Division and have a lot of momentum to build off of, so there is a smaller number of roster spots available this year. However, these prospects, especially Walker, put up a fight and showed great potential over the course of the tournament. Not only should players that make the NHL jump in 2023 be monitored, but those staying in the AHL and NCAA for an additional year should be too. The Wild currently have a lot of talent in the system, and it’ll only develop more over this season.

St. Louis Blues

Like the Blackhawks and Wild, the Blues left the weekend with a 1-1 record. This consisted of a dominant 5-1 win against Minnesota on Friday and an ugly 0-5 loss against Chicago on Saturday. As neither were close games, it was quite the roller coaster for the St. Louis prospects. Despite this confusion, there were a lot of interesting players and storylines, one of which being goaltender Vadim Zherenko. Zherenko was in net for the Minnesota game and had a number of brilliant saves.

Forward Nikita Alexandrov wore the “C” on his chest for the Friday matchup and contributed a goal for the win. Similar to Minnesota’s Walker, Alexandrov has AHL and NHL experience, so his confident performance makes sense. Center Zach Dean, acquired in the Ivan Barbashev trade, lit the lamp as well, which is a step in the right direction. Goaltender Colten Ellis stopped every puck shot at him against Chicago, but was let down by his team and fellow goaltender Will Cranley in the second half of the game. Unfortunately, the Blues could not capitalize on any of the four power plays they received in the Saturday night loss.

These two games were quite up-and-down for the St. Louis squad and likely caused a bit of whiplash. There were so many positives to take away from the game against the Wild, but that all crumbled against Bedard and the Blackhawks. The Blues are in a bit of a tough spot at the moment, because they are floating right in the middle of the NHL standings. it may not be a terrible idea to let some of these young players get a shot in the big leagues, depending on how the 2023-24 season pans out. Almost all of the names on the Tom Kurvers roster will be participating in training camp, so it is worth it to keep an eye out for a lot of rookie debuts this year.