What I’m hearing about the Blackhawks heading into the NHL Draft Lottery

NHL Draft Lottery results: Chicago Blackhawks land No. 1 pick; Anaheim, Columbus round out top 3

The Chicago Blackhawks completed a big piece of their offseason when they re-signed Alex Vlasic in late April. Their next steps will likely be decided by Tuesday’s NHL Draft Lottery.

If the Blackhawks win the lottery again and pick first, they’ll undoubtedly take Macklin Celebrini. Like with Connor Bedard, Celebrini would be expected to be in the Blackhawks’ lineup next season, which would impact how Chicago approaches free agency.

Finishing second, third or fourth in the lottery would also alter the Blackhawks’ roster-building and their approach this summer.

There will certainly be more news to come after Tuesday, but here’s what I’m hearing about the Blackhawks heading into the draft lottery.

Things could change over the next month and a half, but I don’t think Scott Wheeler’s top three draft prospects in his latest rankings are far off the Blackhawks’ thinking.

Celebrini will go No. 1 regardless of team. From there, it probably depends on the situation. Wheeler has winger Ivan Demidov at No. 2 and defenseman Artyom Levshunov at No. 3. I’m not sure what order the Blackhawks have them, but Demidov and Levshunov are definitely in that conversation.

If you missed it, I wrote scouting reports on all three players. You can read them here:

The Blackhawks are hoping to get the first, second or third pick. If they end up at No. 4, there are a lot more possibilities. The Blackhawks are scheduled to have their amateur scouting meetings next week, so there could be plenty to discuss.

The Blackhawks will have a chance to see and talk to Demidov in person in June when his agent Dan Milstein brings him and some other clients to Florida for a multi-day camp. Demidov and other KHL players will not attend the NHL’s scouting combine in Buffalo, N.Y.

Demidov’s season was cut short due to a knee injury. Milstein said Monday that Demidov doesn’t require surgery for the injury and should be fully recovered in 6-8 weeks.

I’ve received some questions about whether the Blackhawks can win the lottery again going forward. I went to the NHL for clarity on it and was told that beginning in 2022 no team can advance in the draft order by winning a lottery draw more than twice in five years.

For example, the Blackhawks won the lottery last year by moving up two spots. If they win the lottery for the No. 1 pick again this year, that would exclude them from moving up in the draft order until 2028.

But that doesn’t stop them from keeping their draft position.

As it reads in the NHL lottery rules: “This limitation will not affect a Club’s ability to retain its presumptive Draft position in any Draft Lottery, nor would it preclude the possibility of the Club moving down in Draft Order to the extent other Clubs advance by reason of winning the Lottery Draws.”

I asked for clarity on that, too, just to make sure I was getting it right. If a team finishes in 32nd place, its “presumptive” draft position is first. So, if a team finished in 32nd for five consecutive years, it could have the first pick for five consecutive years. The Blackhawks’ presumptive position this year is second, so that five-year window only comes into play if it wins the lottery for No. 1.

The Blackhawks already know where one of their first-round picks will be. With the Vegas Golden Knights being eliminated from the playoffs on Sunday, the Golden Knights will have the 19th pick in June’s draft, and the Blackhawks will be selecting 20th with the Tampa Bay Lightning’s first-round pick.

If the Blackhawks don’t win the lottery, I think they will likely pursue a second-line center this offseason. The Blackhawks want to be more competitive next season and bolster their top six. That includes adding another center, taking some of the burden off Bedard and aligning Jason Dickinson with more of a third-line role.

Frank Nazar will be in the mix for a roster spot out of camp, but there’s no guarantee he’ll win it. It wouldn’t be surprising if he spent at least part of next season with the AHL Rockford IceHogs. The same could go for Landon Slaggert. And if Nazar and/or Slaggert show they’re ready, the Blackhawks will still have a few roster spots with flexibility. Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson has also promised true competition, which would mean sitting veterans for young players if warranted.

All that said, going to Rockford shouldn’t be seen as a negative. The Blackhawks won’t likely move most of their incoming prospects to the NHL as fast as they did with Bedard and Kevin Korchinski. They don’t want to be a developmental team in the NHL. The big-league team might be used to gauge where a player is at, and there will certainly be a learning curve at the NHL level for all young players, but the Blackhawks would prefer to utilize the IceHogs to prepare players.

Blackhawks prospect Roman Kantserov recently underwent left shoulder surgery after his KHL season ended. He originally injured the shoulder in December and re-aggravated it late in the season. He was in communication with the Blackhawks throughout the process.

Kantserov, a Blackhawks’ 2023 second-round pick, and Metallurg recently won the KHL’s Gagarin Cup. He had four goals and nine assists in 23 playoff games.

Vlasic’s contract extension was one of those rare deals where both sides were pleased with the result.

The Blackhawks would have loved a little longer contract, but they were satisfied with the salary cap number and getting as much term as they did.

As for Vlasic, he would have been rolling the dice if he went to arbitration. He probably would have gotten less on a two-year deal from arbitration and had to wait to get paid after that contract expired. With this, he gets paid well throughout the six years, and the contract is also frontloaded to make some more money early in his career.

With the IceHogs’ season ending on Sunday, Lukas Reichel might be another Blackhawks player attending the upcoming World Championship in Czechia. Reichel has been invited by Germany.

So far, Vlasic (USA), Seth Jones (USA), Connor Bedard (Canada), Petr Mrázek (Czechia) and Philipp Kurashev (Switzerland) will be playing in the tournament.

(Photo: Mike Stobe / NHLI via Getty Images)

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

Chicago Blackhawks,NHL