RSS Blackhawks Team Notes

[Chicago Blackhawks]

How Many of Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson’s Draft Picks Have Signed?

With the Blackhawks signing of Sacha Boisvert to his entry-level contract officially official on Monday, the Blackhawks add another player selected by general manager Kyle Davidson to the payroll.

Which brings us to our friendly update of how many of Davidson’s picks have signed with the club.

Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

2022 NHL Draft​

1-7 — Kevin Korchinski, LHD – signed
1-13 — Frank Nazar, C – signed
1-25 — Sam Rinzel, RHD – signed
2-39 — Paul Ludwinski, C – signed
2-57 — Ryan Greene, C – signed
3-66 — Gavin Hayes, F – signed
3-81 — Samuel Savoie, F – signed
3-90 — Aidan Thompson, F – signed (+ traded)
6-173 — Dominic James, C
6-188 — Nils Juntorp, F
7-199 — Riku Tohila, C

From Davidson’s first draft class, the first eight picks made by the Blackhawks (all in the first three rounds) have signed an entry-level contract with the Blackhawks. The Hawks tried to sign James after his career at Minnesota-Duluth came to a close but he opted to sign with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

From this group, Nazar, Rinzel and Greene have already established themselves as NHL regulars.

Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

2023 NHL Draft​

1-1 — Connor Bedard, C – signed
1-19 — Oliver Moore, C – signed
2-35 — Adam Gajan, G
2-44 — Roman Kantserov, F
2-55 — Martin Misiak, F – signed
3-67 — Nick Lardis, F – signed
3-93 — Jiri Felcman, C
4-99 — Alex Pharand, F
5-131 — Marcel Marcel, F
6-167 — Milton Oscarson
7-195 — Janne Peltonen, LHD

From this draft class, four of the Blackhawks’ first six picks have signed their entry-level contracts. Bedard has emerged as a superstar, while Moore and Lardis were playing their first full professional seasons this year. Misiak has been in Rockford. Marcel signed an AHL contract with the IceHogs previously.

Gajan is still playing collegiate hockey at Minnesota-Duluth. Kantserov’s KHL contract will expire in June and the expectation is that he signs and joins the Blackhawks this fall.

Rob Gray-Imagn Images

2024 NHL Draft​

1-2 — Artyom Levshunov, RHD – signed
1-18 — Sacha Boisvert, C – signed
1-27 — Marek Vanacker, F – signed
3-67 — John Mustard, F
3-72 — AJ Spellacy, C – signed
3-92 — Jack Pridham, F
5-138 — Joel Svensson, F
6-163 — Ty Henry, RHD

From this draft class, Levshunov has been in the NHL this entire season. Boisvert just signed his entry-level contract on Monday. Vanacker and Spellacy previously signed their entry-level contracts and are finishing their OHL careers. Mustard is at Providence (NCAA) and Pridham has an option to play at Boston University next season.

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

2025 NHL Draft​

1-3 — Anton Frondell, F – signed
1-25 — Václav Nestrašil, F
1-29 — Mason West, C
3-66 — Nathan Behm, F
4-98 — Julius Sumpf, F
4-107 — Parker Holmes, F
6-162 — Ashton Cumby, LHD
7-194 — Ilya Kanarsky, G

Thus far, the only prospect selected from the most recent NHL draft class is Frondell, who could join the Blackhawks before the end of this season. However, Nestrašil and Sumpf enjoyed very good first collegiate seasons in Hockey East at UMass and Providence, respectively. West won the high school state championship in football and will head to Michigan State next year. And Behm is having a strong year in the WHL with Kamloops before matriculating to Arizona State next season.

Blackhawks Draft and Develop Working​

Over the course of four drafts as the permanent general manager of the Chicago Blackhawks, Davidson has selected 38 players. He has now signed 17 of those 38 (44.7 percent) — a number that does not include Marcel’s AHL contract with Rockford. That would take Davidson’s draft-and-sign rate close to an even 50 percent.

More impressively, Davidson has already signed 9 of his 11 first-round picks from his four draft classes, with only two from his 2025 class outstanding (both of whom will likely be playing college hockey next season).

And, to date, 8 of Davidson’s 38 draft picks have played in the NHL for the Blackhawks (that doesn’t include Dominic James with Tampa).

Source: https://www.bleachernation.com/blac...ks-gm-kyle-davidsons-draft-picks-have-signed/

 

[Chicago Blackhawks]

Blackhawks Coaches Still Working to Develop Nick Lardis’ Complete Game

As more and more young Blackhawks prospects join the NHL team, whether it’s for a brief look at the end of this season or permanently in the future, there is still a lot of development work taking place. It’s easy for fans to disregard that reality if a player is in the NHL lineup. But it’s important that the organization continues to work with players to improve their complete game.

After practice on Monday, Blackhawks head coach Jeff Blashill was asked about what he’s seen from Nick Lardis since his recall. In his last four appearances in the NHL, Lardis has had ice times of 10:08, 7:18, 12:08 and 8:44 — not exactly the top-line scorer role he had been playing in Rockford and certainly now what he was seeing during his record-breaking season in Brantford last year.

Here are Blashill’s comments on Lardis:

“There are certain things he’s going to have to continue to get better at,” Blashill said. “His play on breakouts, his board plays. He probably has a natural tendency to not want to skate with the puck and it’s something we talked about before, make sure when he gets it he goes. … I’ve doubled in Bedsy a decent amount of times with him so it’s not like when you say ‘fourth line,’ he’s playing decent amounts of times with Connor, to get a look that way and see how he does with him. …

“[The] biggest thing for him, he doesn’t want to try out for six spots, meaning, you don’t want to just try out for the top six. That’s a hard thing to only have six spots to make. He has to show us the depth of his game and that he can add offense without having to be on the ice with the very best players on the team. If he can do that, that’s a real commodity and he’s working toward learning that. It’s hard to learn how to play 10 minutes a night when you’re playing 20 minutes a night. So learning this is an important part of development, too.”

What I like most from Blashill’s comments are that young players can’t only come in with a top-six mindset.

There is absolutely an adjustment period for players who go from skating in prominent roles on their junior/college/international club to being a role player in the NHL. Lardis needs to find a way to consistently impact the game in whatever role he’s getting; as Blashill pointed out, even though he’s been on the “fourth” line, the Blackhawks have been getting him shifts with Connor Bedard.

There was a lot of complaining about Lukas Reichel “needing” to be in the Blackhawks’ top six… but he never earned a long look there. And he never adjusted to the supporting role he was given. Now, he’s… on his third organization this season and back in the AHL.

We’re going to see more of this soon with Sacha Boisvert joining the lineup as well. And other young players are going to come in and have to find a way to put their complete game to use to be an effective, impactful player whether it’s on a top line or taking advantage of the seven or eight minutes they get in a supporting role.

Source: https://www.bleachernation.com/blackhawks/2026/03/16/blackhawks-nick-lardis-developing/