Early May 2 Rounds

If the Hawks take Dickinson at 2, Davidson should be fired. I get it if he's the best guy on the board at 4 if Levshunov and Demidov are gone. But adding another LD with a premium asset just seems like a redundant waste

Why does everyone have Catton falling so low? PHI needs a C for the future, NJD could just put him on the wing, CGY needs Cs, and MTL have also looked at him. I don’t get why he would fall.

Only 1 of Lindstrom or Iginla would fall past MTL @ 5, not both, if either are still available. Also don't see Demidov making it past 4 with that pick order.

I think Demidov slips to MTL, I truly believe the 3 teams right in front of them (at least in this scenario) would all go D. Demidov is the clear 2nd BPA in this draft, but that hasn't stopped teams from taking other guys in the past

I don't really agree with that, Demidov is better but with fairly limited experience and multiple DY injuries, and you could make a pretty fair case that Dickinson > Levshunov (I don't necessarily agree, but I wouldn't call that take outrageous). Given next years draft is forward heavy, if CHI likes a defenseman with that top pick I don't think that's a bad selection at all

Purely circumstantial. I have Catton at 5th on my personal rankings but a lot of the guys behind him are close and I think team need + the dreaded size factor are gonna lead to him falling a lot more than he should

You do realize Vlasic just completed his rookie season and ranks top 3 in the entire NHL in the defensive zone while playing top line minutes against the competitions most difficult assignments. Dickinson is not displacing Vlasic in other words. Then behind Vlasic is Korchinski, who was the youngest defenseman in the entire league this year and 2022 #7 pick overall. Behind that, Hawks have 4 prospects/young players who are fighting it out for the 3rd line.

So in other words, no way will the hawks draft another LHD guy.

See and I can see CBJ taking Demidov > Defence 10/10 times. Also not sure MTL would pick Demidov if he were available anyway, KH loves the off the board picks and has done it a couple times already, I think he has his guys in mind and idk if Demidov is on that radar atm but I could be wrong.

Maybe, maybe not. The one thing I can absolutely, positively, 100% promise you is this: if they like Dickinson as a player more than they like Levshunov, they're not going to not take him because he's left handed instead of right handed

Kyle Davidson's philosophy is to pick the best player available no matter the position on the "blackhawks" draft broad. How many times has KD showed his cards. This rumor out there that the hawks are very interested is Dickinson doesnt mean a thing. Scouting reports coming in as of late have some forwards (Sennecke, Parascak, Iginla) really moving up into the top 10 pushing some dmen back. We are very heavy in solid LHD prospects, we are light on highend forward prospects (especially RW). In my opinion the blackhawks would be looking at Demidov and Lindstrom as of right now. Demidov's creativity and hands are all world, yes he is a hair under 6' but he plays tough and doesnt shy away from physicality. It'll be interesting with CHL playoffs and U18 right now going on.

To play what position? I don't think you appreciate how good Alex Vlasic is, and how much they have invested in Kevin Korchinski, or that Dickinson is not Makar.

Size. Which is a ridiculous argument, and I'm a big Catton fan myself. But scouts associated to NHL teams have openly left him out of their top 5/10 lists because of his size

Add to all of this is that Davidson is really high on Dickinson. I don't agree with it, I think Levshunov or Lindstrom is a far better option.

Yeah I hate how GMs are still favoring size over skating, even after seeing Benson, Caufield, and DeBrincat

Didn't Vlasic sign a six year contract last week?

Top 3 Targets for Montreal:

Iginla
Lindstrom
Sennecke

With that pick order Demidov won't make it past 4 if Levshunov is off the board. Demidov won't fall past Columbus at most.

Correct, which is why he's locked as the first line LHD for the long term.