With picks stockpiled, Blackhawks look toward rebuild’s next stage: drafting and developing

The Blackhawks made eight picks in the first three rounds of the 2022 draft and own another eight picks in the first three rounds of the 2023 draft.

They also have accumulated six and five picks in the first three rounds of the 2024 and 2025 drafts, respectively.

Altogether, it’s arguably the most impressive stockpile of picks in the NHL. A few teams (such as the Coyotes) might boast slightly more quantity, but the Hawks’ multiple first-round picks in four consecutive years are hard to match.

They likely will acquire a few more picks in the next few years, and conditionals could slightly change the numbers. If the Rangers make the Eastern Conference Final, for example, the Hawks will lose a pick this year but add it back as a first-rounder in 2024 or 2025.

But, for the most part, the Hawks have completed the first stage of their scorched-earth rebuild, converting all veteran players with value into as many picks as possible. Now general manager Kyle Davidson can look ahead to the second stage.

“We’ve got to do our job at the draft table,” Davidson said Friday after the trade deadline. “We’re in a really good spot now. Entering [the] last draft, we had zero first-round picks, and we ended up with three. Now we’ve got a ton of draft picks moving forward in really valuable spots. We’re really happy with that.

“Would it be nice to add in different areas of the prospect pool? Perhaps. But it’s nothing we’re going to chase because through our own draft selections, we’ll fill up our prospect pool pretty quick. And then it’s all about development. We don’t have to go find assets. We’ve got them in the bank already. It’s all about capitalizing on them.”

Scouting director Mike Donaghey, player development head Mark Eaton and their respective staffs already have been crucial during the past year — since their promotions into those roles — but the pressure on them will only continue to grow in the coming years.

The timeline of the rebuild will depend on how many picks turn into NHL-caliber players — and how many of those turn into stars. With the NHL’s fifth-best prospect pool already (according to The Athletic’s latest rankings) and all those selections, there’s a lot of potential, but there are no guarantees.

“We have some nice prospects in the system, but it’s all about how they develop,” Davidson said. “It has gone really well so far, but until they’re here and you see them reacting in the NHL, it’s tough to see where their development is and how they’re going to play against other NHL talent.

“We’re probably too early for me to say, ‘OK, by this year, we’re going to be competing for a playoff spot.’ The players will dictate that, [as well as] the job that we do bringing in the talent.”

If the Hawks can get lucky in the draft lottery and land a top-two pick this year — in other words, Connor Bedard or Adam Fantilli — that certainly would help.

Either way, they likely will bring in some established veterans next season to mentor the prospects that will soon start trickling into the NHL and field a semi-competent roster. Davidson said that’s “definitely something we’ll look at in free agency” or via draft-day trades.

The Hawks won’t be 2024 playoff contenders (in all likelihood), but they probably won’t tank quite so flagrantly again — even though the long-term plan remains predicated on patience.

“The last thing you want to do is rush [the rebuild], short-circuit it, and then we’re right back in the messy middle,” Davidson said. “That’s not what we want. We want to be in the top third.”