3 worst draft classes in Blackhawks history

Yesterday we examined the three best draft classes in Chicago Blackhawks franchise history. We can’t have a Best and Worst Week without looking at some of the worst draft classes, now can we?

As we know, the NHL Entry Draft is ultimately a giant crapshoot. Some prospects can look like for-sure superstars only to fizzle out before they even get to the NHL, while you can find success with some late-round gems. Drafting success has become far more important in the hard salary cap era. To sustain any kind of success, you need a strong pipeline that consistently produces NHL talent. That is no easy task, but it is even harder to remain a contender through free agency and trades only.

1989 NHL Entry Draft

We’ll go in chronological order today. The 1989 NHL Entry Draft capped off two bad years for general manager Bob Pulford. In 1988, he hit a home run by drafting Jeremy Roenick with the eighth-overall pick, but the other 10 players from that draft class played zero NHL games combined.

In 1989, Pulford had the sixth-overall pick and used it on defenseman Adam Bennett. He had a good junior career, 46 goals and 140 points over three seasons with the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves. Bennett played only 21 games for the Blackhawks before being traded to the Edmonton Oilers for Kevin Todd in 1993. The Blackhawks weren’t the only team to bust out with a defenseman in the first round that year. The best blueliners from that draft were Adam Foote and Nicklas Lidstrom, who were taken in the second and third rounds, respectively.

The only other player of the nine others selected to play in the NHL was eighth-round pick Milan Tichy. The Czech-born defenseman played 13 games for the Blackhawks during the 1992-93 season. He was later claimed by the Florida Panthers in the 1993 expansion draft.

One interesting note: the Blackhawks' final pick in the 12th round was used on goaltender Mike Doneghey, who now helps run the team’s draft as VP of Amateur Scouting and Player Personnel.

2000 NHL Entry Draft

Pulford had another clunker 11 years later, blowing the 10th and 11th overall picks. He fell in love with Russian-born players in 2000, taking Mikhail Yakubov and Pavel Vorobiev with his two top picks. Yakubov had two goals and 11 points in 40 games for the Blackhawks before the Panthers claimed him off waivers in 2006. Vorobiev spent much of his time in North America playing in the AHL. He had two stints with the Blackhawks, scoring 10 goals and 25 points in 57 games before returning to Russia in 2006.

Igor Radulov was the third Russian player drafted in 2000, taken in the third round. He had only nine goals and 16 points in 43 games for the Blackhawks before returning home in 2004. His younger brother, Alexander, had far more NHL success later in the decade.

The other 12 players from the 2000 draft class played a combined 33 NHL games, and only 22 for the Blackhawks. Ninth-round pick Reto Von Arx played 19 of those games, scoring three goals and four points.

2015 NHL Entry Draft

Stan Bowman inherited a Stanley Cup-caliber team in 2009 and rode the wave to three championships. Unfortunately, the Blackhawks’ championship window closed earlier than it should have due to salary cap mismanagement and poor drafting and development. Granted, Bowman traded away multiple first-round picks to add to his playoff teams over the years, but he very few hits in the later rounds.

Such was the case in 2015. The Blackhawks had no first-round pick because they traded it to the Arizona Coyotes for Antoine Vermette. Bowman used his first pick, 54th overall in the second round, to select center Graham Knott. He turned pro in 2017 and spent the next five seasons jumping between the AHL and ECHL. He has been playing in Austria since 2022, where he’s averaged over a point per game over the past four seasons. Knott was selected ahead of players like Yakov Trenin, Vince Dunn, Kevin Stenlund, Keegan Kolesar, and Anthony Cirelli.

The only two members of this seven-player class to play in the NHL are defenseman Dennis Gilbert and Ryan Shea. Gilbert played 25 games for the Blackhawks before he was traded with Brandon Saad in 2020 to the Colorado Avalanche for Nikita Zadorov. Shea never played in the Blackhawks organization as he signed with the Dallas Stars after his college career ended. He’s played 150 games for the Pittsburgh Penguins over the last three seasons. Bowman will finally get to enjoy Shea on his NHL roster, as he signed him to a five-year deal with the Oilers this summer.

This year started a string of bad draft classes that closed the Blackhawks’ competitive window for good. Too many first-round misses like Henri Jokiharju, Adam Boqvist, Nicolaus Beaudin, and Kirby Dach forced the franchise into the rebuild it's in now.

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