Did the Chicago Blackhawks win the first round of the 2024 NHL Draft?

Going with Artyom Levshunov over Ivan Demidov last night undoubtedly raised eyebrows, but it was overall one of the NHL Draft’s more brilliant picks. But it wasn’t the only brilliant pick, as general manager Kyle Davidson threw caution to the wind and took Sacha Boisvert at No. 18 over the likes of players like Cole Eiserman.  

Davidson will always draw criticism with that pick, and yes, I can see fans and pundits alike comparing players like Sacha Boisvert to Eiserman, who somehow dropped to the No. 20 pick for the New York Islanders to scoop up. But just because you may feel Boisvert was a reach, the Blackhawks are getting someone who will have elite size and can play in all three zones.

But most importantly, Boisvert will score…a lot. He had 36 goals in 61 regular season games last year, where he was also an alternate captain. Boisvert was also over a point-per-game player in 2023-24, and he was a near-point-per-game player in 2022-23 when he had 17 goals and 45 points. 

Blackhawks may have won the first round in the 2024 NHL Draft

Sacha Boisvert wasn’t the only enticing pick last night, as Kyle Davidson reached into his bag of tricks and traded back into the first round to select one more player at 27th overall - Marek Vanacker. Vanacker doesn’t carry Boisvert’s size, but the winger is a blend between a scorer and a playmaker. 

Vanacker had 82 points last season, 36 of which were goals, and he also snagged over a point per game in the playoffs, with seven points in six contests. He’s a technician when the puck is on his stick and when his team has puck possession, so defense is one concern in his game at the moment. 

That said, it doesn’t take away what the Blackhawks accomplished last night - snagging the best defenseman, rolling with a sneaky good prospect later in Round 1, before capping everything off with someone who, at worst, is a future second-liner in the NHL who could end up next to Philipp Kurashev. 

Three picks, three brilliant picks, may have just made Kyle Davidson the next bright young executive in the NHL. We won’t know for sure what will become of the three players he drafted last night, but you can honestly say he’s off to a brilliant head start.