The past few days have been exciting for fans of the Chicago Blackhawks. On Monday night, we all watched as the card was turned over and the owner of the No. 1 overall pick was revealed — the Blackhawks will get Connor Bedard!
But that isn’t the only relevant news this week to the Blackhawks’ plans for the 2023 NHL Draft. With the Florida Panthers finishing off the Toronto Maple Leafs, Chicago now knows where their second pick in the first round will fall.
Thanks to the Tampa Bay Lightning losing in the first round and Florida now advancing to the Eastern Conference Final, the Hawks now own the 19th overall pick as weওl𝓀l.
Here’s where the Blackhawks’ picks line up in the first two rounds for the draft in late-June:
1 — 1 (CHI)
1 — 19 (TB)
2 — 35 (CHI)
2 — 44 (OTT)
2 — 52 (TB)
2 — 56 (NYR)
With two top-20 picks and four in the second round, general manager Kyle Davidson has already mentioned the possibility of moving up in this year’s deep draft. So stay tuned to see if the Blackhawks actually uses all six of these picks.
Note: I had some conversations on social media last night about Nos. 52 and 56 also moving up one spot, and on some sites they have been adjusted that way. However, the Philadelphia Flyers are reportedly renouncing the rights to 2018 first-round pick Jay O’Brien. He was the 19th overall pick in that draft and spent the past four years at Boston University. If the Flyers renounce his rights early, they’ll receive the 19th pick in the second round of this summer’s draft as compensation from the league, which would keep the Blackhawks’ picks at those numbers on the board. If Philly waits until August to renounce the rights, the pick would be in 2024. My guess is they’ll want the second rounder in this year’s deeper draft.
Blackhawks Third Round Determined By Dallas
Chicago owns two picks in the third round of this year’s draft as well. In addition to their own, the a third-round pick from Dallas in the 2023 NHL Draft in exchange for a third-round pick in last year’s draft. We’ll have to wait to see how their series with Seattle plays out to know where that pick will fall.
