The Blackhawks entered Tuesday touting the second-highest odds in the NHL draft lottery and exited the lottery holding the corresponding No. 2 pick.
The probability of that outcome was actually just 14.1%, though, so general manager Kyle Davidson felt pleased about another stroke of relative good luck.
“The way we see this draft . . . No. 2 is a very big win,” Davidson said. “I’ll go to dinner tonight and it’ll be a celebratory dinner.”
The Sharks, who held the best lottery odds because of their last-place finish in the league standings, won the No. 1 overall pick — putting them first in line for consensus top prospect Macklin Celebrini — on an anticlimactic lottery night.
The Ducks, Blue Jackets and Canadiens wound up with the No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 overall picks, respectively.
The Hawks had a 72.4% chance of dropping to either the No. 3 or No. 4 selection — a fate which they avoided. Instead, they’ll become the first team to have a top-two selection in consecutive years since the Rangers in 2019 and 2020.
“I was way more nervous last year,” Davidson said. “Winning last year and having that in our back pocket made this year a little bit easier to navigate. To be honest, it didn’t weigh on me that much. Last year, it consumed everything.”
Beyond Celebrini, the prospect hierarchy this year is murkier than last year. Belarusian defenseman Artyom Levshunov and Russian wing Ivan Demidov have received the most buzz as candidates to go No. 2, but the Hawks will have nearly two months to make that decision before the draft June 28-29 in Las Vegas.
Levshunov is coming off an impressive freshman season at Michigan State; Demidov has one year left on his contract with Russian club SKA St. Petersburg.
American wing Cole Eiserman, Canadian center Cayden Lindstrom, American defenseman Zeev Buium, Canadian defenseman Zayne Parekh and Russian defenseman Anton Silayev are others in the mix as possible top-five picks.
Davidson mentioned how the obviousness of Celebrini as the No. 1 pick means the Hawks will get to dictate how the rest of the first round goes. Conversely, he didn’t bite on several questions about potentially leaning toward forward because of the organization’s defensive prospect-pool depth.
“I think we’re heavy on defense; we’re heavy on forward,” he said. “We can rank the board accordingly and then just go with what fits the best.”
The Hawks will also receive the No. 20 overall pick from the Lightning and own nine picks overall — including three second-round picks, two third-round picks, one fifth-round pick and one sixth-round pick.
