DRAFT PROSPECTS HOCKEY

Author: Chris Grab

  • Buffalo Sabres Failed to Capitalize on their 2015-2016 Core

    A failure to reap what you sow. How the Buffalo Sabres have failed to capitalize on their 2015-2016 core.

    With the relocation of the Arizona Coyotes to Utah the Buffalo Sabres stand alone as the biggest joke in the NHL. The team has failed to make the playoffs the past 14 seasons and has a combined record of 424-525-126 (.453PTS%) during that time. Given the team’s 7-8-4 start to the 2025-2026 season, it seems inevitable that the drought will hit 15 seasons. They are currently tied with the NY Jets for the longest active playoff drought in North American sports, the last playoff game the Sabres played was on April 26th, 2011. To put this into perspective Rio was the number 1 movie at the box office, E.T by Katy Perry was number 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100, and if you were born on that day you would be a freshman in high school currently.

    The odd thing with Buffalo is that unlike a lot of teams that get stuck in a never ending rebuild they have actually had players that should have been capable of leading them out of the rebuild and back into the playoff hunt. The most notable examples of this are Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart, Sam Reinhart was drafted 2nd overall in 2014 and Eichel was drafted 2nd overall in 2015. Now while Edmonton definitely got the 2 best players out of these drafts with Draisaitl 3rd overall in 2014 and McDavid 1st overall in 2015 the Sabres were still quite happy with the two young players that they had drafted. They had also acquired a young highly promising center in Ryan O’Reilly who had already been very good on some bad Avalanche teams. During the 2015-2016 season Buffalo began to show some improvement, the team finished 35-36-11 which is bad in a vacuum but when you realize that they went 23-51-8 the year before it’s a pretty big step forward. Their young players in O’Reilly, Eichel, and Reinhart, led the team in scoring. It seemed like the future was bright in Buffalo, that with a few more pieces that they could turn themselves into a regular contender for the Stanley Cup, by the start of the 2021 season every single one of those players would be gone. O’Reilly lost his love for the game in Buffalo and was traded to St. Louis on July 1st, 2018 where he won the Conn Smythe and led them to their first ever Stanley Cup.

    On November 4th, 2021 Jack Eichel was traded to Vegas after the Sabre’s refused to let him get the surgery his personal doctor recommended, he won the Stanley Cup with Vegas during the 2022-2023 season leading the team in scoring during both the regular season and the playoffs. Reinhart is now a two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Florida Panthers and led the team in regular season scoring during those two seasons. Since leaving Buffalo those 3 players they have combined for 4 Stanley Cups, 432 goals, and 1032 points. The sad part is these are far from the only players that Buffalo has wasted in this time span, other names include. Evander Kane, Robin Lehner, Linus Ullmark, Rasmus, Kyle Okposo, Dmitry Kulikov, Evan Rodrigues, Jake McCabe, Casey Mittelstadt, Jeff Skinner etc. They are currently wasting the talents of Dahlin and Tage Thompson among others, the sad thing is that there is no end in sight, the culture of the Sabers has been completely destroyed. Losing isn’t only acceptable at this point it’s expected. This organization needs open heart surgery, but it’s worried about leaving a scar on its chest. The only way I could see things improving is if the team is sold and even then, it would require a serious gutting of the organization.

  • Analyzing the rest of Kyle Davidson’s Tenure as GM of the Chicago Blackhawks

    In my previous article for Draft Pros I went over Kyle Davidson’s first two seasons and draft classes as general manager of the Chicago Blackhawks. In this article I plan to cover the rest of his tenure up to the current day. Including his 2024 free agency class, 2024 draft class, and we will also cover the 2024-2025 season. 

    The 2024 offseason was definitely a controversial one in hindsight. To give some context after Conor Bedard’s phenomenal rookie season it seemed like the team wanted to provide him immediate help for the next campaign. The problem was none of the major prospects the Blackhawks had in their system were ready for the NHL. While Korchinski was also an NHLer during the 2023-2024 season it was clear that he would be starting the next season in Rockford after a poor rookie campaign where he struggled mightily defensively and only put up 15P in 76GP that season. I feel like it’s worth pointing out that one of the main reasons Korchinski made the Hawks to begin with is that the team felt he was too good to go back to the WHL, and also Korchinski’s father passed away in December during that season. Losing a parent as a young man is always hard, but I imagine it’s even harder for someone trying to find their feet in the NHL, especially when the team around him is struggling so much.

    Frank Nazar also signed his ELC towards the end of the 2023-2024 season where he played 3 games and even scored his first career goal. While he showed promise the team was in no hurry to repeat the mistake they made with Korchinski and decided to start him in the AHL for the 2024-2025 season. With no immediate help coming up through the pipeline the Blackhawks turned to free agency signing most notably Teuvo Teravainen and Tyler Bertuzzi, as well as veterans Patrick Maroon, Craig Smith, Alec Martinez, Tj Brodie, and a goaltender Laurent Brossoit. This free agency class has been a mixed bag to say the least. Tj Brodie was a disaster on ice and was bought out the following offseason, Laurent Brossoit still hasn’t played a game for the Blackhawks and at this point and it doesn’t seem like he ever will. Smith, Martinez, and Maroon did provide good leadership off the ice but their actual impact on games was limited, which you should expect from three players with a combined age of 108. Martinez and Maroon both retired as Blackhawks at the end of the season and Smith was dealt to the Red WIngs on March 7th, 2025 he is currently a free agent. While none of those 5 players worked out or were at best mediocre signings they won’t really affect the Blackhawks future in any meaningful way. Three of them are out of the NHL, Brodie’s buyout will be over after the 2026-2027 season, and Brossoit’s contract is over after this season. The more important players to talk about are Bertuzzi and Teravainen. Bertuzzi signed a 4 year $22 million contract and Teuvo signed a 3 year $16.2 million contract.

    Both players had rocky patches during the 2024-2025 season but overall, I think the Blackhawks were satisfied with both players’ performances. Bertuzzi had 23G and 46P in 82GP last season and Teuvo had 15G and 58P also in 82GP. With both of these players having hot starts to the 2025-2026 season and with the salary cap rising rapidly I think it’s fair to say that both of these contracts should be considered hits!

    Now that we’ve talked about free agency, let’s move onto the 2024 entry draft. The Blackhawks selected three players during the first round, 2nd overall Artyom Levshunov, 18th overall Sacha Boisvert, and 27th overall Marek Vanacker. Other players from this class that are worth mentioning are AJ Spellacy a former two sport athlete who I believe can turn into a good bottom six energy player in the future, John Mustard a speedy winger with size and a good shot who’s currently PPG during his sophomore season at Providence, and Jack Pridham who has looked solid during his limited time with the Kitchner Rangers of the OHL. I think it’s fair to say that the Levshunov pick is probably the most controversial pick Davidson has made up to this point, mostly because of the fact that it meant passing on Ivan Demidov. He has had a weird start to his pro career, he missed his rookie season training camp due to injury, he performed ok as an 18 year old rookie in Rockford 52GP 5G 22P but he was far from spectacular most nights, but then he played 18 games for the Blackhawks to end the season and looked ok in those games as well. All in all his rookie season was a mixed bag but he did show promise, he needs to work on his understanding of the game and what is going on around him. If he can improve in that area I have little doubt that he can be a top pair defenseman in the NHL.

    Sacha Boisvert was the Blackhawks next pick in this draft and I cannot wait for him to be a Blackhawk. He had a very strong freshman season on an average NDSU team and then transferred to BU for his sophomore season. He started PPG at BU but unfortunately has picked up an injury that has seen him miss the last few games. Still with a heavy shot, a big frame, and good passing ability I think Boisvert will be a key player going forward for the Blackhawks once he decides to sign his ELC. Lastly, we have Marek Vanacker who despite missing the first 23 games of his D+1 season still played well. Vanacker is off to a phenomenal start in his D+2 season he has 11G in 11GP and is currently on pace for a 108-point season in his final year in the OHL, I expect that he’ll probably be on Rockford’s first line next season.

    The 2024-2025 season was rough for the players, staff, and fans of the team. Head coach Luke Richardson was fired on December 5th, 2024 after an 8-16-2 start. During his time as Blackhawks head coach the team had a combined record of 57-118-15. While I think it is unfair to judge the head coach of a rebuilding team solely on their record, especially a team that was actively tearing down the roster, I do think this firing was justified due to the fact that a lot of the young players on the roster either stagnated or got worse during his tenure. For example Lukas Reichel went from a highly touted prospect who had two great seasons in Rockford 111GP 41G 108P and then had 15P in 23GP in the NHL during the 2022-2023 season struggled to get in the lineup the next season. He was recently traded to the Canucks for a 4th round pick. That’s not to say that every young player struggled under him, Alex Vlasic is someone who has become a core part of the Blackhawks future and his career took off under Richardson. I think at the end of the day it was a matter of fit, I believe in a few years Luke will get another chance to be a head coach and I wish him the best of luck.

    The last major event of the 2024-2025 season was the Spencer Knight trade. The Blackhawks traded disgruntled defenseman Seth Jones and a 2026 4th round pick to the Florida Panthers for Spencer Knight and 2026 first round pick. This deal is looking like a win win for both teams, obviously the Panthers repeated as Stanley Cup Champions and Seth was a key contributor to their success, the Blackhawks meanwhile acquired their goalie of the future who is already playing great for the team and that 1st round pick may prove to be more valuable than initially thought with Florida’s current injury crises. 

    That takes us to the current day, it’s a little bit too soon to start judging the 2025 draft class since we’re only a month into the season although I will say that Frondell, Nestrasil, and Behm have been the standouts so far. The NHL team also looks much improved this season! I believe it’s due to a combination of things, namely the overall level of talent on the team improving, a mostly new coaching staff led by Jeff Blashill, and the amount of effort and desire also dramatically increasing on a nightly basis. At the time of writing both Frank Nazar and Connor Bedard are currently point per game players, Spencer Knight has a 930SV%, and the team has a record of 5-3-2. Is this level of play sustainable for the whole season? Probably not, but for the first time in years the Hawks aren’t just watchable, they’re enjoyable! I can see this group seriously challenging for a playoff spot next season.

  • What Has Kyle Davidson & Co Built

    General Manager Review

    Analyzing Blackhawks General Manager Kyle Davidson as Blackhawks General Manager

    In order to better understand hockey and the processes that NHL teams use to build their rosters into championship contenders I feel it’s important to analyze the men making these decisions. In this article we’re going to look at and analyze the first two draft classes as well as some free agent signings and trades of Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson.

    Before we jump into his moves and deals I feel that it’s important to give some context about the situation that Davidson inherited from his predecessor Stan Bowman who is now the GM of the Edmonton Oilers. Kyle Davison became interim Blackhawks GM on October 26th, 2021 before becoming the full time GM on March 1st, 2022. The Blackhawks to be frank were a disaster, the Kyle Beach scandal had rocked the organization, Jeremy Colition was still the head coach of the team until Davidson relieved him of his duties on November 26th, 2021 following a 1-9-2 start to the season, and the roster itself was an odd mix of veterans and young players along with Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews.

    One thing that became very clear from the jump with Davidson is that he wanted to completely rebuild the organization from the ground up. Since 2016 the team had found itself stuck in this weird limbo state between rebuilding and still trying to compete with Kane and Toews. The team’s roster had some good young players most notably Brandon Hagel, Dylan Strome, Kirby Dach, and Alex Debrincat but they hadn’t reached their full potential yet with the Blackhawks. Brandon Hagel would be traded to Tampa Bay during the regular season, Alex Debrincat and Kirby Dach would be moved at the draft, and Dylan Strome left via free agency. Patrick Kane would be traded to the NY Rangers the following season and Toews would play his final game for the Blackhawks on April 13th, 2023 before taking his sabbatical from the NHL as a whole. The dynasty years of the 2010s were truly behind the team now and the rebuild was in full swing. 

    Now is a good time to talk about Davidson’s first two draft classes as they go hand in hand with one another and with the moves he made during his first two seasons in charge. The Blackhawks did not have their first round pick going into the 2022 NHL Draft as they had traded it in a deal for Seth Jones previously. Obviously this is a huge roadblock for any NHL team going into a rebuild but despite this Davidson would end up selecting three players in the first round that year. Alex Debrincat was traded to the Ottawa Senators for the 7th and 39th overall picks as well as Ottawa’s third round selection in 2024, with that 7th overall pick the Blackhawks selected Kevin Korchinski of the WHL, while Korchinski hasn’t exactly bursted onto the scene yet, he is still a very highly thought of player in the Blackhawks system and is expected to play a big role for the team in the years to come.

    His next move was trading Kirby Dach to the Montreal Canadians for the 13th overall and 66th overall picks. This move may be the best move Kyle Davidson has pulled off during his tenure as Blackhawks GM, Kirby Dach has struggled with injuries his whole career and that has continued in Montreal, meanwhile Frank Nazar who was taken with the 13th overall pick has excelled in his short pro career so far. Frank Nazar recently signed a 7 year $46 million deal to be a Blackhawk long term and it’s fair to say the Blackhawks won this trade in a landslide. His final major draft pick of the 2022 class was selecting Sam Rinzel 25th overall after a trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs. This pick did confuse people at the time but in hindsight it is looking like the Blackhawks may have gotten the steal of the draft. Despite only being 21 years old and 16 games into his NHL career Rinzel is already playing top pair minutes and is excelling in the role. He looks poised to be a key contributor on a championship level team in the future.

    The 2023 Blackhawks draft class landed the team something that every rebuilding team yearns for and craves, a franchise level talent. The Blackhawks with a bit of help from the lottery gods were able to select Connor Bedard from the Regina Pats of the WHL. To say that Bedard was the most hyped up 1st overall pick since Connor McDavid would almost be understating it, he put up insane numbers in the WHL and lit up the World Junior Championships in his draft year. After a phenomenal rookie season which saw him win the Calder trophy on a bad Blackhawks team, he faced a lot of criticism and adversity during his second season in the NHL but so far into his third season he has responded very well and has played great to start the season. Growing as a leader on and off the ice, I would not be surprised if he is given the captaincy next season.

    Oliver Moore was also taken 19th overall during this draft and after a strong showing in the NCAA for two seasons, where he was roommates with Sam Rinzel, he signed his pro contract towards the end of the 2024-2025 season. Moore had a strong showing at the end of last season for the Blackhawks as well as a strong training camp for the Blackhawks but he was still sent down to Rockford to begin the 2025-2026 season, however with how well he has started the season for Rockford it’s very likely that a callup will happen sooner rather than later, more importantly for Moore it’s about capitalizing when he gets his callup and making sure that he sticks around afterwards.

    While these 5 players are the major picks from Davidson’s first two draft classes there are other players that I feel deserve a mention. From the 2022 class Ryan Greene and Samuel Savoie, and from the 2023 class Roman Kantserov and Nick Lardis. Ryan Greene signed his ELC at the end of the 2024-2025 season and has made the most of his opportunities earning a roster spot out of training camp to start 2025-2026 season and has played well to start the season so far in a bottom 6 role, Samuel Savoie has become a favorite among Rockford fans and is a guy that I can see becoming an Andrew Shaw type of player. Roman Kantserov and Nick Lardis have both become prized prospects in the eyes of both Blackhawks fans and the organization. Lardis lit up the OHL last season scoring 71 goals and having 117 points, he has started this season with 2 goals and 8 points through 5 games in the AHL so far this season. While his overall game definitely needs some work he has shown clear scorers instincts and seems like a viable top 6 option in the future.

    Roman Kantserov also seems like a viable top 6 option, he’s been point per game so far this season for Magnitogorsk in the KHL and it seems very likely that he’ll be signing with the Blackhawks as soon as Magnitogorsk wraps up their season.

    In summary I think Davidson’s first two years on the job are the textbook way that a major rebuild should be done. He took a franchise that was in disarray and built a strong foundation for the future.