3 major mistakes Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson cannot make in the 2024 offseason

Failing to address scoring issues at the 2024 draft

Luckily for the Blackhawks, they have a chance to land their version of Leon Draisaitl or Mikko Rantanen in the upcoming 2024 draft. And no, it doesn’t need to be Macklin Celebrini, even if he would be the preferred pick. 

Tankathon’s mock still has Chicago rolling with Ivan Demidov, and the MHL star has logged two points per game while scoring 23 goals in 30 contests. Even if Chicago falls out of the top two, there are still prolific, or at least future prolific scorers, in the 2024 draft, like Cayden Lindstrom and Cole Eiserman, the latter of whom put up 77 points and 49 goals. 

No, it doesn’t mean any of the names mentioned except for Celebrini will likely find themselves in the NHL this season, but that’s okay. We know all four of these aforementioned draft prospects will work their way into the NHL sooner than later, and they will ultimately help address Chicago’s scoring issues. 

In the meantime, this is where the cheaper free agents at forward come into play. But if there is one thing Davidson cannot afford, it’s to draft players who don’t have the potential to be elite, long-term scorers in the NHL. The Blackhawks scored just 179 goals last season, and Davidson must write that number down somewhere. 

Drafting an elite scoring talent may not remedy things this season unless it’s Celebrini. But a pairing between Connor Bedard and Ivan Demidov, or Bedard and Eiserman would also work wonders a few years from today.