The Chicago Blackhawks are likely to Draft a Defenseman in the 2024 Draft

1. Sam Dickinson. If you've been reading the articles over the past few months, you know by now that everyone at Blackhawk Up is a big fan of Dickinson's projection. Without a doubt, Dickinson is one of the safest selections in this draft class. A likely pick in the 4-8 range, the LD has a refined and steady two way approach. Reliable in almost all areas already, Dickinson is also one of the younger players in the class (despite being 6-3 194lbs). The Blackhawks while having Korchinski and Vlasic on the left side, would be remissed if they didn't consider Sam Dickinson.

2. Anton Silayev. Maybe the biggest (pun intended) "what if" of any of the last few drafts. What if the 6'7 smooth skating LD turns into Zdeno Chara? What if he's just a very solid Tyler Myers though? Where would a GM be willing to make that pick? He has the talent to go inside the top 5, but that risk factor could prevent that and could push his selection into the more likely 7-12 compass.

3. Zeev Buium. This is a player that could go anywhere from 10th all the way into the 20s depending on how you see his value at the NHL level. Size is below average and he turned 18 a very Marian Hossa amount of days ago. So does the University of Denver product (well over a pt per game in NCAA) transcend his measurables? Most of the time he does as he seems quite "slippery" when eluding players and tends to make the difficult passes look easy. More than likely though this is a player that could find himself a little bit lower than first thought of when draft rolls around. Buium is a pick in that 12-20 range when all is said and done.

Note: Buium's link is of a Mock Draft from 66 days ago that still holds up pretty well. In said mock, Blackhawk Up made these predictions on the 6 top rated defenseman:

3. Sam Dickinson

4. Artyom Levshunov (Blackhawks)

5. Anton Silayev

9. Zayne Parekh

11. Zeev Buium

Carter Yakemchuk was outside of the top 16 at the time.

So will the Blackhawks take at least 1 defenseman in this year's first round? That seems likely at this point, especially inside the top 5 with heavy consideration to Artyom Levshunov and Sam Dickinson. If a Carter Yakemchuk or Zeev Buium make it into the teens then a potential move up from their 2nd first rounder could be an option as well.

With the 2025 and 2026 classes being stacked with better forwards than the 2024 class, the lack of right shot D that project as top 4 talents in the system, this draft is shaping up to see one of the these 6 prospects becoming a future Chicago Blackhawk.