BUFFALO, N.Y. — When the regular season ended, Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson felt further along in the scouting process than he did at that time the past two years, when he and his front-office staff were still learning the most efficient ways to gather the information they want.
But on Friday, with the NHL scouting combine winding down and the draft — June 28-29 in Las Vegas — just three weeks away, the Hawks’ internal debate over whom to select with the No. 2 overall pick was still raging.
That’s entirely a reflection of the quality of the options — namely Belarusian defenseman Artyom Levshunov and Russian forward Ivan Demidov — and how difficult it is to determine which one possesses a better skill set and a brighter future than the other.
“The debate is still very real,” Davidson said. “I thought we would have maybe a decision at this point, which is not a bad thing at all, but there are some really good options out there. So it’s something that we’re knocking around. We’ll take a little bit of a break after the combine, revisit that in 7-10 days and start going through things again.”
One thing potentially holding up the decision is the fact the Hawks haven’t met face-to-face with Demidov yet, as Russian players were not invited to the combine. That meeting will finally happen later this month at an event in Florida organized by agent Dan Milstein.
Levshunov has played in the U.S. for the past two seasons — with Green Bay in the USHL in 2022-23 and with Michigan State in 2023-24 — and has been much more accessible. The Hawks took him out to dinner Thursday night in Buffalo and have talked to him “lots of times,” Levshunov said.
The Hawks also need to devote significant attention to the No. 18 overall pick, their two second-round picks (Nos. 34 and 50 overall) and their two early third-round picks (Nos. 67 and 72 overall). They also own fifth- and sixth-round selections. They’re “getting close” to finalizing their full draft rankings.
Davidson is aware the public pick-valuation models didn’t consider their trade with the Islanders a few weeks ago — when they gave up picks No. 20, 54 and 61 for picks No. 18 and 50 — a fair exchange. The Hawks’ internal model did, however, consider it favorable due to a formula difference he didn’t divulge.
“We’ve had a lot of volume [of picks] in the last two drafts, so it just made sense,” he said. “It wasn’t a precursor [to another trade] or anything like that.”
Davidson unsurprisingly called it “very unlikely” the Hawks would trade down from No. 2, but he also unsurprisingly expressed a willingness to trade up further from No. 18 if the right opportunity presents itself. The Devils’ No. 10 pick and the Sabres’ No. 11 pick are rumored to be available, so those would be the most likely landing spots.
Later-round strategy
Since the Hawks have already stocked their prospect pool with so much talent — drafting 22 guys the past two years — Davidson might take some higher-risk, higher-reward swings later on in this year’s draft.
“We’re much more free to go in different directions and get creative with things,” he said. “It’s not necessarily taking more risk in our selections, but we’ve just given ourselves the freedom to branch out and go elsewhere if we feel it’s advantageous.
“We’re willing to sacrifice some areas for others. Because our prospect pool is pretty strong in one aspect, maybe we need something else. Whatever that is, we’re open-minded and willing to ... stray from what people think we’ve especially focused on in the past.”
The Hawks have prioritized players with elite skating and strong compete level under Davidson so far, although he has referred to the perception that he only drafts those types of players as a “runaway train.” It would make sense if they therefore targeted some larger, more physical players this year, since many of their elite skaters are on the smaller side.
Moreover, the NHL’s 50-contract limit means the Hawks will only be able to sign so many of their prospects down the road. If they can convert their eight selections this year into two or three high-end players instead of five or six borderline NHL-caliber players, that would be preferable, regardless of type.
Then again, the draft is too inexact a science to think quite like that.
“It’s hard enough to just find NHL players to then get so specific with [like], ‘We’re just going to find a No. 1 center or a No. 1 defenseman,’” Davidson said. “Because at that point, you’re probably making [up] players — you’re creating your own wishlist — versus evaluating what’s actually in front of you. That’s my philosophy.”
Free agency updates
Even after re-signing Alex Vlasic, Lukas Reichel and Zach Sanford, Davidson said the Hawks are still talking with “a few” more of their pending free agents about new contracts. Joey Anderson, who seemingly earned another deal with his play this past season, is probably one of the guys Davidson was referring to.
Beloved ex-Hawk Patrick Kane will also be a free agent again this summer, but Davidson shot down any possibility of him returning to Chicago.
“We made some really tough decisions [last year] on some longstanding players, [and] I don’t foresee us going back on that,” he said.
On the other hand, Davidson did not exactly shoot down rumors about Jake Guentzel, this year’s top prize among free-agent forwards. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported Friday the Hawks may have interest in him.
Signing Guentzel would require making a large, long-term contract commitment, something Davidson has been previously unwilling to consider. If he’s now willing to do that — as long as he believes it won’t hamstring the Hawks’ future salary-cap flexibility too much — the whole tenor of the offseason could change.
“For me, with free agency or trades — because players you trade for could have term — it just has to make sense,” Davidson said. “If they don’t, you move past them. If they do, you consider them.
“The number of things we take in and evaluate and try to make sense of, there’s a ton of them, and so few of them ever happen. But it would be a disservice not to consider every trade or every free-agency option.”
