One year ago today, the Chicago Blackhawks made two picks in the first round of the NHL Draft, selecting Connor Bedard and Oliver Moore with the first and nineteenth picks. Tonight, they used a late first-round trade to get three first-round picks in the 2024 NHL Draft to continue to bolster the organization’s future with No.2 pick Artyom Levshunov, No. 18 pick Sacha Boisvert, and No. 27 pick Marek Vanacker.
READ: Chicago Blackhawks Select Artyom Levshunov
Kyle Davidson is nothing if he is not aggressive and confident in his scouting staffs evaluation of their favorite draft prospects. Taking an approach where everyone in the staff gets their opinions and voices heard in the scouting and evaluation process, rather than being the lone decision-maker in the room, gives Davidson the ability to hear every angle on the players they are targeting and whether being aggressive to make sure they don’t miss out on them is worth it. In 2022, he went from zero to three first-round picks by making aggressive trades. He tried to move up in the 2023 NHL Draft to get Oliver Moore specifically. This year, he moved both second round pick (No. 34 and No. 50) to make sure they didn’t miss the chance to get Marek Vanacker before the end of the first round.
That’s how you rebuild.
With the second-overall pick, the Blackhawks went with the arguable best defenseman in the 2024 Draft Class with Artyom Levshunov. They have a need for a top-pair defenseman, on the right side, who can do it all and has desirable size. Levshunov checks all of those boxes. Following the conclusion of the first round, Kyle Davidson said that the “total package” of Levshunov offered the Blackhawks the most upside at the No. 2 pick. He’s expected to return to Michigan State next season and play his second year in the NCAA, but Davidson said that he would talk with Levshunov and his agent Dan Milstein before making any final decisions on his future development path.
WATCH: Full Replay of CHGO Blackhawks First Round Livestream
At the No. 18 spot, the Blackhawks selected USHL stand-out Sacha Boisvert from the Muskegon Lumberjacks. The Quebec-native went the unorthodox route for most Canadian Junior players by not going into the CHL instead to play two productive seasons in the USHL before heading to North Dakota for the 2024-25 season. At 6’2″ and 185-pounds, Boisvert brings a physical edge to his game as a power forward who can play down the middle of the ice effectively. Paired with his high work-ethic and powerful shot, Boisvert looks to have all the tools to become a top-six option for the Blackhawks in the forwards group that processes the size they have lacked at center.
To wrap-up the first night of the 2024 Draft, Davidson sacrificed his two second round picks to get back into the first round and pick Brantford Bulldogs forward Marek Vanacker. As a teammate of 2023 NHL Draft pick Nick Lardis, Davidson and the Blackhawks had more than a half-dozen looks in-person at Vanacker and were impressed in each game he played. Vanacker is a player who processes a ton of upside offensively and plays the game between the dots, even without having the prototypical power forward size (Vanacker is roughly 6’0″ and 180-pounds). The Ontario-native played the entire 2023-24 season with a labrum injury that he just recently had surgery to repair, which will subsequently delay the start of his 2024-25 season with Brantford, but was still able to score 36 goals and 82 points in 68 OHL games, leading the team in both categories.
Lastly, remember when I said Kyle Davidson is aggressive? I wasn’t lying.
Could you imagine the fireworks that would have been if the Blackhawks were to pull it off to get back into the top-five and potentially have taken BOTH Artyom Levshunov and Ivan Demidov? Oh boy.
