A "huge" summer for Artyom Levshunov could pay off for Blackhawks in 2026-27

Top-five NHL draft picks possess attributes to develop into greatness. It's why you can infer the Chicago Blackhawks pushed defenseman Artyom Levshunov throughout his rookie season.

They see his potential and talent, and he and the Blackhawks are working in tandem to bring it out of him. He is a big piece of their puzzle.

In 2026-27, his storyline will surround his next steps.

The learning curve for Levshunov

As the popular sentiment goes, defensemen's development isn't usually instantaneous. Levshunov isn't any different. The only difference is his draft status: as the former second overall pick, it put more eyeballs on him.

His rookie season had its highs and lows. He spent the majority of the 2024-25 season with the Rockford IceHogs, and the Blackhawks were ready to develop him further in the NHL last season.

He had 24 points in 68 games, which was only one point behind defense leader Louis Crevier. And among Blackhawks rookies, he was second in points, first in assists (22), and first in ice time (19:35 minutes). He was 10th on the team in points. According to Natural Stat Trick, he played the most games with Crevier and Wyatt Kaiser last season.

Here is where the Blackhawks challenged him. In January, they made him a healthy scratch for three games going into the Olympic break to work with Brian Keane (Director of Skill Development) and Anders Sorensen (assistant coach) to help "reset some foundational things."

In March, head coach Jeff Blashill said about Levshunov's progress: "I thought he made great, great strides. You know, obviously stacked up too many minuses. But if you look at where he started and where he was a year ago, the age he's trying to play the hardest position in, the rawness of which he was when we drafted him... when we teach him stuff, and we show him stuff, he goes out and does it. His hockey instincts are really, really good. He still needs to learn how to, like, I guess I'd say, connect the dots directionally at times, in terms of following like systematic directions or things like that. But Arty is a way better player today than he was at the beginning of the year, and I think there's going to be continued growth with him.”

Towards the end of March, he was playing on the top-pair with Alex Vlasic, but then missed the final nine games of the season with a hand fracture.

Even though there were teaching moments for him, he still got ample opportunities, including being on both power-play units. 11 of his 24 points were from the power play, which is a positive going into next season.

This summer is "huge" for Levshunov

Blashill said in exit interviews about Levshunov, "I think it's a huge summer for Arty. I think Arty made great strides this season. What do I want to see him improve? He's almost a freak athlete, body-wise. Like, he's really strong, really powerful. I think there's another level of learning to kind of push and not pace himself and things like that. That can be done through summer training and learning how to just push yourself to the max at all times. That'll happen.

Blashill continued, "I think, specifically, learning on the ice, some of the shooting stuff that we started earlier this year. I think that's critical. I think off the ice, there's some hip flexibility, things that are going to make him a better skater. That's critical. I think his ability, like, moving up the ice and like a lot of players, he gets into a tripod mode when he wants to pass the puck, and learning how to balance tripod with continuing to move his feet, and not slow himself down too much. All those things are things that are real specific things that he's going to work on this summer. And Arty's like the rest of our guys. Like, he's got a choice to make, and he can make it a great summer, a good summer, an okay summer, and if he makes it either of the last two, it's not good enough. We need a great summer out of him just like everybody else."

Levshunov has been putting in the work this summer. Scott Powers of The Athletic reported after meeting with Levshunov recently that Levshunov decided to stay in Chicago for most of the summer.

Levshunov learned a lot last season, and back in December, Blashill noted his empathy for him, with the challenges including being a now 20 year old coming from Belarus and the language barrier.

But they see the development. Now, going into next season, all that work will be on display.

And with that work, there's reason to believe he should have a stronger season.

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