The Chicago Blackhawks are stockpiling for a bright future

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When spring rolls around, 16 teams will do whatever it takes to chase the Stanley Cup. For the other 16, it’s finally a chance to get some sleep.

But for a select few teams, there was only one goal in mind this season: being as utterly terrible as humanly possible. They’ll never admit it, and the players won’t bother participating. The real tank starts off the ice, with GMs selling off all the assets they can to create the worst team imaginable.

And no team understands that more than the Chicago Blackhawks. They spent the summer trading away key young assets without making a real effort to improve in any category. And, really, it’s hard to blame them. The playoffs were never an option. So if you’re going to lose, you might as well do it spectacularly.

The NHL Trade Deadline has come and passed. The team’s top scorer, Max Domi, was moved to Dallas. Patrick Kane, one of the best Blackhawks ever, has finally said his goodbyes. Seth Jones, a defenseman, is now the team’s top scorer with 31 points. Nobody else has broken the 30-point barrier. It’s all about limping to the end at this point, but Hawks fans accepted that reality many moons ago.

They’ll likely pick in the top three this year, resulting in either Connor Bedard, Adam Fantilli or Leo Carlsson. All three have franchise-changing elements, with Bedard considered to be the best prospect since Connor McDavid. I don’t need to tell you about him, though – Hawks fans have known about him for years.

This feels a bit like the mid-2000s when the Blackhawks took Kane and Jonathan Toews and quickly became one of the most successful teams of the salary cap era.

Let’s be clear: the Hawks are going all in here. They have six first-round picks over the next three years and eight in the first three rounds this year alone. That number skyrockets to 19 in the first three rounds until 2025, adding to a prospect pool that saw Chicago draft Kevin Korchinski, Frank Nazar and Sam Rinzel in the first round in 2022.

Chicago has one of the best prospect pools in the league, led by Lukas Reichel, Korchinski and Nazar. They have depth at every position, something very few teams can say. Reichel, in particular, is one Chicago is very high on. The 20-year-old has five points in seven games with the big team while sliding uncontested into a scoring role. But, more impressively, he’s the top-scoring U-21 AHLer with 46 points in 51 games, building upon a year that saw him score over a point per game with Rockford. He’s about to be joined by quite the scoring threat through the draft – but Reichel, truly, is someone who will make a difference.

Korchinski will be one of the cornerstones of Chicago’s blueline, and Jones will be a good mentor for him. There isn’t a single U-19 NHL-drafted WHL blueliner with more points than Korchinski’s 63 this year. The Seattle Thunderbirds defenseman was excellent at the World Junior Championship and will be Canada’s only returning rearguard next year. The sky’s the limit here for the team’s top defensive prospect.

And then there’s Nazar, who immediately made an impact with the University of Michigan after missing most of the season with a lower-body injury. He’s healthy now, back to putting points on the board and showing why he was highly rated ahead of the 2023 draft. Had he been healthy, he would have been a strong candidate to turn pro for 2023-24. Instead, expect him to go for a full season with Michigan where he’ll play a significant role.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg. The team has a potential future starting goaltender in Drew Commesso. Boston University’s Ryan Greene looks like he’s going to be something, too. Rinzel and Ethan Del Mastro both look like they’ll have NHL futures. And then there’s the seemingly infinite number of picks the team has over the next few years, and this rebuild might not take as long as some fans are making it out to be.

If you’re a betting fanatic, I’d put a substantial amount of money on the Hawks trading a couple of the picks to get actual hockey players ahead of the draft. The cost for picks rises in the days leading up to the draft, and Chicago and Arizona are holding the rest of the league hostage.

I’ll be the first to say first-round draft picks are overrated – ask Tampa Bay and Colorado, who have essentially emptied the cupboard in recent years to make long playoff runs. In Chicago’s case, they have one of Tampa’s, which will be a late first-rounder. Could that be trade bait? Absolutely. Fortunately, given the team’s situation, Chicago’s in a win-win no matter what with that pick. They’ll either get an asset they can utilize immediately, or another first-round-caliber player. They have flexibility – this year, and in years to come.

According to Cap Friendly, they also have $42.169 million in projected cap space next year. Of the six pending RFAs, don’t expect a ton to cost much. Only Jones ($9.5 million) and Tyler Johnson ($5 million) make $5 million or more. The Blackhawks currently sit third in the NHL Draft lottery odds, but are three percentage points behind San Jose. So, let’s say they grab Fantilli with the second pick and line him up with Reichel. There’s a chance that they’ll have two top-line players on the first line combining for a $1.85 million salary hit. I wouldn’t rule out Korchinski making the team next year, which would clear some extra cap room.

So, to recap: the Hawks have a strong prospect pool. They’re going to land a top-three pick in the draft. They have substantial draft capital to either use in a trade. They also have significant cap space to fill spots for approximately four forwards, three defensemen and one goalie. There will likely be a few re-signings to go along with young players on entry-level contracts, too. If the Hawks want to splurge this summer, they can easily do so. Luring talent with Bedard or Fantilli in the stable will be quite easy, too.

Chicago, I don’t envision these dark days will last for long. The rest of the season is going to be brutal. Next year likely won’t be much better. But Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson has positioned the team to gain as many assets as possible quickly. No matter the direction he goes, that’s exciting.

So while the present might be tough to watch, the future looks bright. If you were around for the rebuild in the early cap days, you know what’s possible.

The Chicago Blackhawks are stockpiling for a bright future

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