Certainly the Chicago Blackhawks have stockpiled first-round talent in recent years, headlined by Connor Bedard being the organization’s second-ever first overall pick. Right now, social media posts are full of Bedard, Frank Nazar, Anton Frondell, Oliver Moore, Artyom Levshunov and Sam Rinzel. But it’s important to remember that championships are often won because of key contributions from guys who slipped thru other team’s radars at the draft.
There are some players making significant contributions in the current Stanley Cup Final who weren’t first-round picks. For Carolina, Sebastian Aho, Logan Stankoven, Jackson Blake and Shayne Gostisbehere are just a few of their important players who weren’t first-round picks. For Vegas, Pavel Dorofeyev, Ivan Barbashev and Keegan Kolesar waited beyond the first round to hear their names called.
As I was building out yesterday’s piece outlining the picks owned by the other teams in the Central Division in the 2026 NHL Draft, it was impossible to miss the fact that Colorado, Dallas and Minnesota don’t have much early-round draft capital. And, when I looked at where those picks had gone, it became equally obvious that teams value mid-round picks because of the quality players who can be drafted there.
Looking at just the second round of the 2026 NHL Draft, picks have already been traded for the likes of K’Andre Mille, MacKenzie Weegar, Kiefer Sherwood, Phillip Danault and Mackenzie Blackwood.
Heading into the 2026 NHL Draft, the Chicago Blackhawks have only one pick in the first round (as of this writing). But they have three picks in the second round, and more after that this year. In fact, the Blackhawks own five picks between the second and fourth rounds in each of the next three drafts.
Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson has openly stacked the draft capital he’s acquired into future years so that he has the ammo to make a deal like those if/when the opportunity arises. But he’s also done a nice job of identifying players beyond just the first round who could have an impact on the future of the Blackhawks.
Blackhawks defenseman Louis Crevier.Blackhawks Drafting Quality Beyond Round One
This summer, the excitement (thus far) is about the arrival of Roman Kantserov. He was a second-round pick (No. 44 overall) in 2023. When he arrives, he’ll join a growing list of non-first round picks impacting the Chicago Blackhawks.
The following players saw NHL ice time last year and weren’t drafted by the Blackhawks in the first round:
Alex Vlasic — 2nd round (No. 43), 2019 Landon Slaggert — 3rd round (No. 79), 2020 Wyatt Kaiser — 3rd round (No. 81), 2020 Louis Crevier — 7th round (No. 188), 2020 Ryan Greene — 2nd round (No. 57), 2022 Nick Lardis — 3rd round (No. 67), 2023If we include current pending RFAs Drew Commesso (2nd round (No. 46), 2020) and Ethan Del Mastro (4th round (No. 105), 2021), both of whom saw NHL ice time last year, that’s a good list.
We can also add the following prospects who either were in Rockford this past season or will likely at least start this season in Rockford:
Taige Harding — 3rd round (No. 91), 2020 Paul Ludwinski — 2nd round (No. 39), 2022 Gavin Hayes — 3rd round (No. 66), 2022 Samuel Savoie — 3rd round (No. 81), 2022 Adam Gajan — 2nd round (No. 35), 2023 Martin Misiak — 2nd round (No. 55), 2023 Jiří Felcman — 3rd round (No. 93), 2023 AJ Spellacy — 3rd round (No. 72), 2024We’re starting to see the Blackhawks’ rebuild take over the rosters in Chicago and Rockford.
As the Blackhawks continue to inject young talent and skill into the organization in Rockford and Chicago, it’s worth being mindful of when players were drafted. As the Blackhawks become active in trade rumors, it’s worth being mindful of how they stockpiled picks into the future to have the necessary draft assets to make a deal.
And, as we watch the Blackhawks take the ice to start the 2026-27 season (in September this year), it’s worth noting how many of the players making an impact on the ice weren’t selected in the first round.
Quality isn’t exclusive to the first round of the NHL draft. And winning organizations find both depth and quality beyond the 32nd overall pick to take them to the next level.
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