3 needs the Chicago Blackhawks must address in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft

As the 2023-24 NHL regular season nears its conclusion, teams are beginning to look ahead. When the season ends on Friday, April 14th, the top sixteen teams will be chasing the Stanley Cup while the remaining sixteen clubs look toward the offseason, particularly the NHL Draft.

The Chicago Blackhawks are a team that has been thinking about the draft all season long as they continue with their rebuild. Despite drafting Connor Bedard with the first-overall selection in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft, the Blackhawks rebuild is not yet nearing the finishing stages.

With a 22-48-5 record and 49 points, Chicago sits 31st in the NHL standings, only sitting above the San Jose Sharks who have 42 points. If there is no change to the bottom three in the standings, the Blackhawks will end the season having a 13.5% chance at winning the draft lottery, the second-best odds.

Last season, the Blackhawks ended the year with the third-best odds at winning the lottery and won, but there is no guarantee that lightning will strike twice. However, if the Blackhawks do not end up winning the lottery, they will still be drafting a great player with tons of potential. Aside from their first-round pick, the Blackhawks also have the Tampa Bay Lightning's first-rounder which they acquired in the Brandon Hagel trade at the 2022 Trade Deadline.

With seven more draft picks beyond the first round, three of which are in the second round, there will be plenty of opportunities for the Blackhawks to make their prospect pool even deeper.

The Blackhawks pipeline has been coming along very nicely since General Manager Kyle Davidson took over in 2022, but there are still some areas where the team could look to improve as this year's NHL Draft approaches.

Potential Game-Breaking Forwards

This category may sound a little obvious, but it is worth discussing since the Blackhawks will be in a position to draft a high-caliber player. Last season saw the team draft a true game-breaker in Connor Bedard, who was labeled the best prospect since Edmonton Oilers' Connor McDavid.

Bedard became the face of the Blackhawks before he even stepped on the ice for the team and is the probable front-runner to win the NHL's Calder Trophy for Rookie of the Year.

Aside from Bedard, the Blackhawks have some highly skilled forwards in their system who look as though they'll become top-six talents at the NHL level. Frank Nazar and Oliver Moore headline that group as the top forward prospects in the system. However, the Blackhawks will have the chance to draft a potential elite talent with their second consecutive top-five pick to be another franchise pillar alongside Connor Bedard.

With the assumption of the Blackhawks not picking first overall, a player like Ivan Demidov stands out as a lethal player with possible sky-high potential. Creator of Hockey Prospecting Byron Bader's draft model has Demidov's projection as very comparable to that of previous elite NHL talents. Other forwards who could be on the Blackhawks' radar include Berkly Catton (WHL), Cayden Lindstrom (WHL), and Cole Eiserman (US NTDP).

Drafting a potential game-breaker can give the Blackhawks a one-two-punch alongside Connor Bedard for the foreseeable future, which will likely give Hawks fans flashbacks of Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews.

Forwards With Size

When looking at the Hawks' draft selections in 2023, most of their picks outside of the first round were used on forwards over six feet tall. Kyle Davidson's preference when drafting is to acquire players who are great skaters, and those taller forwards in the system are no exception. The Blackhawks have highly skilled players on their roster and in the system who are on the smaller side when it comes to average NHL size.

The Blackhawks will certainly welcome adding more size to the mix which should round out their roster nicely in the future. The two most notable forward prospects with good size are Colton Dach and Martin Misiak, both of whom look like good prospects. This upcoming draft has some options that could fit that need in the Blackhawks' prospect pool.

Cayden Lindstrom has been climbing draft boards all season long, despite missing a chunk of the season due to a hand injury. The six-foot, four-inches 216 lbs center is a great skater who plays a tenacious game and has seen his goal-scoring reach another level in the WHL this season.

Lindstrom looks the part of a future high-end second-line center which could leave the Blackhawks with a great duo of centers going forward. Other players who could fill this need are Liam Greentree (OHL), Igor Chernyshov (MHL), and Sacha Boisvert (USHL).