LAS VEGAS – The Blackhawks won’t announce who they’re selecting with the No. 2 pick until general manager Kyle Davidson takes the stage at the NHL Draft on Friday, but they’ve already made the decision internally.
“We’re pretty confident about where we’re going to go,” Davidson said Thursday.
The streets of Las Vegas have been too hot this week — temperatures hovered around 108 degrees — allowing Davidson to physically walk around and test fans’ inability to recognize him, as happened last year in Nashville, Tennessee.
But word on the street is that Belarusian defenseman Artyom Levshunov has emerged as the favorite player, with Russian forward Ivan Demidov – all other candidates – now looking less likely. As of Thursday afternoon, FanDuel’s betting line for Levshunov to go No. 2 had risen to minus-420, an implied probability of more than 80%.
Davidson noted that he had the pleasure of meeting Demidov in person in Florida last week, and came away impressed. Nonetheless, the Hawks have had a chance to track down and talk to Levshunov more often than not last year at Michigan State.
“(The process) has been really exciting,” Davidson said. “It was good for the group to have an opportunity to talk about different options and different paths we could take.”
The Hawks’ decision-making focus now shifts to the No. 18 pick later in the first round, as well as six picks to be made on Saturday: two second-round picks (34th and 50th overall), two third-round picks ( 67th and 72nd), fifth round pick (138th) and sixth round pick (163rd).
“You’re looking at ranges and trying to figure out where players can be or who can come into play in certain areas,” Davidson said. “It’s a bit pointless. You’re guessing, just like everyone else is guessing. But you still do it, and you spin your wheels. However, that’s the fun of it – guessing and trying to juggle things in your mind.
The Sharks advanced to the middle part of the first round on Thursday, allowing the Sabers to pick Nos. 14 and 42 to get No. 11, and Davidson said several other teams potentially made their own calls about trading up or down. Are.
“Last year, we were trying to move on (from pick No. 19), and there was less conversation around it,” he said. “It seems like there’s more things like that (this year).”
The Hawks may try to trade up again this year if their preferred prospects in that range decline faster than expected.
“As the selections start coming off the board, you have to be ready for that,” he said. “(As) you look at your list, if there’s a group of players there, you can move back as well.”
business breakdown
Davidson provided some information about the Hawks’ trade with the Canucks on Wednesday, saying the Hawks had been interested in forward Ilya Mikheyev for “quite a while” — whom he viewed as a negative asset due to his large contract. Had achieved. He believes Mikheyev will be able to take a step forward next season.
It also appears a priority will be to sign familiar forward Sam Lafferty, whose rights they have re-acquired, before free agency begins Monday.
And the fact that the picks included in the deal were 2027 selections made it a priority, not a concession. That was the closest year the Hawks did not already have multiple second-round selections.
“As we build it out and the team improves, you can choose that option or its currency to use in the trading market,” Davidson said. “(We’re) just trying to spread out the selections to make sure we get a good base going forward, not just five a year or something.”
forward addition
Davidson answered questions about adding more top-six talent next week, mentioning that having Taylor Hall and Andreas Athanassiou healthy would provide an internal boost to the forward corps.
However, he ultimately admitted that he is looking into the market for upper-tier forwards – potentially at a higher level than Mikheyev and Lafferty – who the Hawks can acquire without long-term salary-cap commitments. After all, some current Hawks forwards will miss time due to injury next season as well.
“We’ll find out next week when we figure out where the prices are and whether we’re attractive to people,” Davidson said. “We will also explore business. This is something that is going on. There are options out there. We just have to decide if any of them mean anything, and up to this point nothing has.
“I would love to add to the group, but sometimes you can only control what you can control.”
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