Why the Chicago Blackhawks Must Draft Artyom Levshunov

When the Chicago Blackhawks received the second overall selection in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft last week, the player pool of potential Blackhawks narrowed considerably. With a 72.4% chance at drafting third or fourth overall, there was a high chance that players such as Sam Dickinson, Berkly Catton, and Anton Silayev were going to be highly scrutinized by the Blackhawks management group leading up to June 28th.

This is not the case anymore. It is all but certain that San Jose will take center Macklin Celebrini first overall, leaving the Blackhawks with a clear choice. Will they draft one of the three talented players that should all go within the top five picks of the upcoming draft? Those players are Ivan Demidov, Cayden Lindstrom, and Artyom Levshunov.

If it was up to the readers of Blackhawk Up, the choice is quite clear.

We are here though, after much research and debate, to side with the 32.1% of the voters that said the Blackhawks should take Artyom Levshunov. Here are the reasons why Chicago must take the Michigan State defender.