LAS VEGAS — There’s a lot to love about defenseman Artyom Levshunov, who probably will turn out to be a member of the Chicago Blackhawks two picks into Friday night time’s NHL Draft. He’s huge. He’s rangy. He skates properly. He’s a gifted playmaker. He’s acquired good arms and good sense. He’s acquired an enormous character that’ll play properly within the room and in Chicago. He’s a identified commodity who performed in opposition to identified competitors, having spent this previous season at Michigan State, continuously underneath the watchful eye of the Blackhawks brass.
Levshunov is a protected choose. A wise choose. A great choose.
There’s a lot to surprise about winger Ivan Demidov, who probably is not going to turn out to be a member of the Blackhawks on Friday night time. He’s wildly proficient, however possibly just a little too small. His puck expertise are tantalizing on tape, however most scouts and executives have by no means seen him in individual. A knee damage saved him out of the draft mix. There’s no clear consensus on the way to translate a participant’s efficiency within the MHL — Russia’s second-tier league — into NHL potential. And there’s at all times the Russian Issue, the likelihood that he may not come to North America as quickly as different prospects.
Demidov is a nervy choose. A daring choose. A high-risk, high-reward choose.
Yeah, properly, protected is demise within the NHL. And Demidov is the proper choose.
Connor Bedard wants assist. Oh, Lord Stanley, does he need assistance. He wants assist now, he wants assist a 12 months from now, he wants assist for the following 15 years. He wants a working buddy, a Kane to his Toews, a Panarin to his Kane, a Draisaitl to his McDavid, a Tkachuk to his Barkov, a Rantanen to his MacKinnon. He wants a real top-line winger with true top-line expertise, somebody to maintain up with him and push him, somebody with the imaginative and prescient and talent to search out him and arrange that huge shot, somebody with the arms to deal with and bury these unimaginable saucer passes.
The Blackhawks have a number of good forwards within the NHL and within the system — Lukas Reichel, Frank Nazar, Oliver Moore and a slew of promising next-tier prospects resembling Ryan Greene, Colton Dach, Nick Landis and Roman Kantserov. All of them might turn out to be helpful NHL gamers, a few of them very productive ones. None of them venture to be nice ones. Demidov does. Or, no less than, he may. And that’s the participant the Blackhawks want. That’s the participant Bedard wants — somebody to convey out the perfect in him.
Possibly you discover that participant through commerce, however the Blackhawks are unlikely to land Mitch Marner anytime quickly. Possibly you discover that participant through free company, and one of the crucial well-liked bits of hypothesis snaking its means via Las Vegas this week is that the Blackhawks have their eye on Minnesota’s spectacular winger Kirill Kaprizov, whose contract expires in two years. However Kaprizov will probably be 29 in two years — that potential pipe dream is the Marian Hossa piece, the ultimate piece, not the Kane piece, the career-long wondertwin.
Extra probably, you discover that participant within the draft. And if normal supervisor Kyle Davidson lives as much as his proclamation that the Blackhawks will now not be bottom-feeders, that they’ll be seeking to be considerably extra aggressive within the coming seasons, this is perhaps their final, greatest probability to choose within the prime two or three, to choose a very elite winger to pair with Bedard.
And it’s one they shouldn’t cross up.
Permit me to pre-empt the inevitable (and comprehensible) criticism of this flip into Meatballdom by freely admitting I’ve seen little or no of each gamers — just a few Michigan State video games through the postseason, just a few video clips of Demidov. I’m not a prospect professional, nor do I declare to be one. However being a Chicago-based hockey author in Las Vegas this week is like having a flashing crimson signal above your head saying “Ask Me Concerning the No. 2 Choose!” You possibly can’t roll a pair of cube with out hitting a prospect author, an beginner scout, an assistant normal supervisor. And since everybody is aware of that the San Jose Sharks are drafting Macklin Celebrini with the primary choose, all of the intrigue begins with the Blackhawks at No. 2.
Distilled to its essence, my job is to speak to people who find themselves smarter than I’m, after which use their perception to attract my very own conclusions. Everybody likes Levshunov. He’ll play within the NHL. He will probably be a very good participant within the NHL. He could even turn out to be a real No. 1 defenseman within the NHL, a useful piece of a championship puzzle. There’s completely nothing fallacious with taking Levshunov. Davidson stated on Thursday that the group has settled on its choose, and nearly all people within the hockey world assumes it’ll be Levshunov. It’ll be a very good choose. A high-quality choose.
The scouting studies on Demidov are just a little extra diverse. Some, like The Athletic’s Corey Pronman, like him fairly a bit however have delicate issues. Some, like The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler, suppose he’s the second-best prospect within the draft. However right here’s the factor you discover when speaking to the draft heads within the hockey world: Those that like Demidov, love Demidov. They see brilliance. They see expertise and instincts you simply can’t train. They see 40-plus targets a 12 months. They see Nikita Kucherov. There’s an enthusiasm, a ardour, that Levshunov merely doesn’t appear to elicit.
GO DEEPER
Making the case for Ivan Demidov as the 2024 NHL Draft’s second-best prospect
That’s price no matter threat you may affiliate with Demidov. That’s definitely worth the No. 2 choose. As a result of that’s what the Blackhawks want.
Whereas I freely acknowledge that you would be able to by no means have sufficient good defensemen, the Blackhawks have a bevy of NHL-ready promise on the blue line already. Chicago traded Alex DeBrincat for the No. 7 choose two years in the past and took Kevin Korchinski, who held his personal within the NHL as a 19-year-old and who can nonetheless turn out to be the No. 1 the Blackhawks envisioned. Alex Vlasic’s sudden rise has been a present from the hockey gods, giving the Blackhawks one other sure-fire top-four defenseman. Seth Jones, no matter whether or not you consider he’s overpaid, continues to be an excellent participant, a worthy top-four defenseman for years to come back. Wyatt Kaiser, Ethan Del Mastro and Nolan Allan are all knocking on the door. One other 2022 first-round choose, puck-moving Sam Rinzel, is on his means. Would Levshunov leap to the highest of that record? Fairly probably. However the want is a lot larger up entrance. And top-two picks (hopefully) don’t come round fairly often.
Demidov expects to come back to North America forward of the 2025-26 season. And any issues concerning the so-called Russian Issue ought to have been alleviated this month, anyway, with the revelation that Matvei Michkov is headed to Philadelphia within the fall, two years forward of schedule. The very best gamers wish to play in the perfect league, and in the long run, nothing goes to cease them.
Demidov will be within the NHL in 2025-26. He ought to achieve this in a Blackhawks uniform. He ought to achieve this skating subsequent to Bedard. And he ought to achieve this for the following decade-plus. The Blackhawks want targets. The Blackhawks want stars. The Blackhawks want daring decisions. The Blackhawks have to do proper by Bedard. The Blackhawks want Demidov.
Take the swing. Take the possibility. Take the winger.
(Prime photograph of Ivan Demidov: Ian Maule / NHLI through Getty Pictures)
