Lottery talk and some prospecting.
Some talk about the Blackhawks upcoming draft lottery and Marek Vanacker's Rockford assignment.
Now that the dust of the Blackhawks’ season has settled, we can start looking forward to the Blackhawks’ summer. And that begins with the draft lottery.
Tony Marchese wrote a nice little primer over at On Tap Sports Net, you can find that link below.
I’m not sure how I feel about this year's draft lottery odds for the Blackhawks. On one hand, winning the No. 1 pick is mighty trade bait. As of now, Matthew Schaefer is the projected No. 1 draft pick. And it’s not even a consensus. He’s also a defenseman, which the Blackhawks have plenty of. You want to pick a high-level forward. The Blackhawks have a lot of potential solid-bottom-sixers, Frank Nazar looks great, Connor Bedard is him… and that’s about it?
Of course, you could always trade the No. 1 pick if you get (hence, trade bait). But, that’s rarely done in the NHL. You could use that pick to trade for a more established winger. Who could that be? I have no idea.
The Blackhawks assigned Marek Vanacker to the Rockford IceHogs as they make their way to the playoffs. Vanacker was the third first-round pick the Blackhawks had in last year’s draft. He had a decent season in the OHL, which you can read about in the link below. He’ll join the IceHogs for the playoffs and will return to the OHL next year since he’s 19 years old.
For Rockford, they’ll play the Chicago Wolves in the first round. The IceHogs just got the tar beat out of them when they played the Wolves for their last regular season game on April 19. Wolves won 5-0. Ouch.
That’s it for now.