Prospect Info: 2024 2nd Overall - Artyom Levshunov

[Chelios]

Imagine losing out on Kane lol, but buddy try again he’s wiping the floor with Kucherov’s stats at his age in the KHL, so ceiling can possibly be 144 point season plus if that continues. That’s the craziness of passing on him. We have such a smart GM, we should all feel warm and fuzzy inside, so smart and amazing, the one before him was even smarter, we are so lucky.

It wasn't only our GM that passed on him. In fact, our GM tried to move back up and select him but Columbus decided against the deal... to select another player not named Demidov.

Demidov may be great. Maybe we should have taken him. The reality is we won't know that for a while yet and there is no sense dwelling on that at this stage.

As far as Lev goes, his first few games in the AHL, which I watched, were impressive and certainly did nothing to have me questioning why he was selected when he was.

 

[MHO]

Imagine losing out on Kane lol, but buddy try again he’s wiping the floor with Kucherov’s stats at his age in the KHL, so ceiling can possibly be 144 point season plus if that continues. That’s the craziness of passing on him. We have such a smart GM, we should all feel warm and fuzzy inside, so smart and amazing, the one before him was even smarter, we are so lucky.

The pick was made before we had the data of his performance so far this year and a lot has to happen before we can determine who becomes the better player. Is KD any good at his job? Who knows as there hasn't been enough time to evaluate him. I'll say that I like what he's done so far but if all of his picks end up being garbage, then I'd say no.

Also feel free to disagree with me without acting like a condescending bag using a strawman argument.

 

[Crow]

If we would have taken Demidov some posters would inevitably find some reason to bitch and moan as well.

 

[ColbyChaos]

We all know Blackhawks would be crying horny tears into his Stan Bowman doll about trading our first this year if we were able to get Demidov and Lev this past draft

 

[u2wojo]

I'll admit I don't know much about the upcoming draft as some others do but it looks like the Hawks will be picking near the top again and there will be plenty of forwards that project like Demidov but I don't think there's any defensemen with the potential of Levshunov this year.

'24 draft certainly seemed much deeper on D and Levshunov was by most account the best. Schaefer seems compareable to Levshunov as a potential #1D with a floor of probably still top pairing. But Schaefer is LHD and there is a drop off beyond him at D way more significant then this draft year had. Haegens and Ryabkin are 2 guys that are somewhat similar to Demidov. For me taking the RHD a year earlier when D take longer to develop and the '25 class being MUCH deeper at F AND with with several real good option of guys with some size at the top which will compliment our F prospects better than Demidov would have.

 

[WarriorofTime]

'24 draft certainly seemed much deeper on D and Levshunov was by most account the best. Schaefer seems compareable to Levshunov as a potential #1D with a floor of probably still top pairing. But Schaefer is LHD and there is a drop off beyond him at D way more significant then this draft year had. Haegens and Ryabkin are 2 guys that are somewhat similar to Demidov. For me taking the RHD a year earlier when D take longer to develop and the '25 class being MUCH deeper at F AND with with several real good option of guys with some size at the top which will compliment our F prospects better than Demidov would have.

Yes, the top RHD coming into the year was likely a kid named Logan Hensler who played for the USNTDP last year, and like Levshunov was an October (meaning technically Aged 18 season as a draft eligible) birthday playing for a Big Ten team in the NCAA.

Hensler has not been nearly as impressive as Levshunov was last year. Through 6 games with Wisconsin, Hensler has 1 point (assist), and is a -6 (tied for worst on the team). Some may recall that Levshunov last season ended the year with 35 points in 38 games, was (easily) a team best +27 on one of the better teams in the country (ended the year as Double Big Ten champs (regular season and tournament) #5 in the country, as a number 1 seed that fell in the Regional Finals) and was named Big Ten Defenseman of the Year.

It'll all shape out how it shapes out, and time will tell who is the best/2nd best player in the Draft, but I have often felt people are weirdly kind of low on Levshunov. Don't sleep on this kid. He's every bit a Number 2 NHL Draft pick.

 

[Blackhawks]

All the people saying it wasn’t only our GM, again I will say I don’t care what 2 other GMs of two bottom feeders do, this is the Chicago Blackhawks, we need to be competing for cups every year, I am not comparing us to some bums. I am trying to tell you guys Davidson is a moron and he needs to go now before we waste anoth r 4 years. Also to the ones saying we have to wait to find out, no we don’t it’s clear cut right now we got pucked hard and this pick will haunt this team for MANY years just like the Panarin trade and Seth Jones garbage but to the next monumental haunt kinda level. We didn’t even draft on need, this team has enough D, our offense is absolute garbage, there are no excuses, this was once in a life time opportunity to put two crazy guys together in Bedard and Demidov and this idiot blew it.

 

[CallMeShaft]

All the people saying it wasn’t only our GM, again I will say I don’t care what 2 other GMs of two bottom feeders do, this is the Chicago Blackhawks, we need to be competing for cups every year, I am not comparing us to some bums. I am trying to tell you guys Davidson is a moron and he needs to go now before we waste anoth r 4 years. Also to the ones saying we have to wait to find out, no we don’t it’s clear cut right now we got pucked hard and this pick will haunt this team for MANY years just like the Panarin trade and Seth Jones garbage but to the next monumental haunt kinda level. We didn’t even draft on need, this team has enough D, our offense is absolute garbage, there are no excuses, this was once in a life time opportunity to put two crazy guys together in Bedard and Demidov and this idiot blew it.

So have you thought up some names of GMs you would prefer? Preferably one that would have picked Demidov with that 2nd overall pick?

Figured you've had a few days since I initially asked, so at this point you must've come up with a couple guys you'd like in that role who would take the actions you find appropriate for the team.

 

[statswatcher]

this is the Chicago Blackhawks, we need to be competing for cups every year, I am not comparing us to some bums.

i'm starting to get an idea for why you are such a miserable f***.

Also to the ones saying we have to wait to find out, no we don’t it’s clear cut right now

no we do it's not clear cut right now. damn, it sure is easy to just negate what someone else said and pass it off as though it were profound.

what do you think would be the actual effect if all of us were as incredibly gifted as you? do you genuinely think that it would improve matters whatsoever if every fan of the same hockey team as you immediately recognized and vociferously criticized every poor decision on the part of the team? do you have some delusion that you are holding someone to account? like you're speaking truth to power, and if only the damn rabble would join their voices with yours they'd have no choice but to listen? or are you just looking for some small modicum of accomplishment to rest your oversized ego on and the only thing that you can look upon proudly is your knack for being an insufferable prick on an internet hockey forum? these are genuine questions. your psychology is almost as fascinating as fiddy's.

 

[SimpleJack]

The wrong kid was chosen.

I'm always gonna look at Artyom Levshunov like Dewey Cox's father looks at him.

By the way, we are playing Montreal in the 2nd to last game of the season. So we will get to see Demidov light up our team when he joins Montreal after his KHL stint

Well, truth be told....Dewey proved to be "the right kid" after all. He walked....HARD. His dad was just too foolish to see his talent. Kind of like some people are being rn with Levshunov.

 

[EbonyRaptor]

It's no secret I wanted Demidov but I have to accept that KD picked Levshunov instead. Hopefully Levshunov becomes the player KD and his scouting staff project him to be and then it won't matter as much whether or not Demidov turns out to be a star player. The fact that Demidov is playing so well as an 18 year old in the KHL when his idiot coach is screwing around with him and giving him virtually no power play time is even harder to take because Levshunov has played only 3 games since coming back from injury and hasn't looked particularly good in those games - and yes I watched all 3 of his games. Hopefully he is just adjusting to live action at a higher level and he'll settle in and make us all believe we will be happy with the pick.

 

[Mjul Qvist]

If we would have taken Demidov some posters would inevitably find some reason to bitch and moan as well.

Can´t please everyone and that is clearly not GM´s job.

 

[Dead Meat]

What's the end game here Blackhawks? Do you need people to admit that you're right or something?

 

[crazyhawk]

As far as Lev goes, his first few games in the AHL, which I watched, were impressive and certainly did nothing to have me questioning why he was selected when he was.

because Levshunov has played only 3 games since coming back from injury and hasn't looked particularly good in those games - and yes I watched all 3 of his games. Hopefully he is just adjusting to live action at a higher level and he'll settle in and make us all believe we will be happy with the pick.

I didn't see the games but I see a couple opposing views on Lev's play ... does he so far lie somewhere in the middle between hasn't looked particularly good and impressive?
So ... average or holding his own without shining?
That's a good sign I would think given the circumstances.

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

Ideally in a few years we all come back to laugh at the "Dilemma" as Lev is our #1 RD of our cup winning top 4 of

Vlasic-Levshunov
Korchinski-Rinzel

 

[Toews2Bickell]

Here is a question to consider - what is/was the perceived difference between Lev and the other defensemen projected to go top 15 and could KD have swung a trade for one of them instead of doing the opposite by taking Lev and trying to trade up for Demidov...he could've taken Demidov and tried to trade up for a defenseman that might be slightly lessor to Lev perceived upside but still address what he felt was a need, a blue chip forward with Bedard is and was a more pressing need than another defenseman if you could only have one and they had equal upside

 

[TheFridge]

Here is a question to consider - what is/was the perceived difference between Lev and the other defensemen projected to go top 15 and could KD have swung a trade for one of them instead of doing the opposite by taking Lev and trying to trade up for Demidov...he could've taken Demidov and tried to trade up for a defenseman that might be slightly lessor to Lev perceived upside but still address what he felt was a need, a blue chip forward with Bedard is and was a more pressing need than another defenseman if you could only have one and they had equal upside

They answered that question when they took Levshunov.

 

[Toews2Bickell]

They answered that question when they took Levshunov.

Its one opinion, I don't care about just their opinion. A lot of people had the defense split among consensus who was the best in the draft, Demidov was the clear consensus 2 behind Macklin...So my question is, could they have taken Demidov and traded up for one of the other 5 or 6 defenseman the consensus had just below Lev if at all and bet on whoever they picked to have some reasonable probability of being better than Lev and still walk about with a top 4 defenseman and top line forward instead of just one...Is it possible that strategically they went the wrong direction in their pick selection is what I'm asking...Take Demidov and then you have a pool of a half dozen defenseman that were all considered by some on par with Lev and you offer a similar package as you did to Columbus for a top 10 pick, maybe not unprotected since its not top 5 and their's was very likely to be at the time of the pick, Columbus wouldn't make the deal, would someone else have if they had went Demidov? MTL? They wanted Demidov so if he was off the board do they swing that deal that was offered to Columbus and you go Levshunov or another defenseman?

 

[Chelios]

I didn't see the games but I see a couple opposing views on Lev's play ... does he so far lie somewhere in the middle between hasn't looked particularly good and impressive?
So ... average or holding his own without shining?
That's a good sign I would think given the circumstances.

I watched all 3 and would say he was better in the first 2 than the 3rd. Was a little lackadaisical in the 3rd game, but the skills and the tools are obvious.

 

[Toews2Bickell]

Not saying Lev was the right or wrong pick, more so curious what others think that actually watch these prospects and their thoughts on if this FO actually should've went the other direction with their pick selection knowing they had a plan to try to get both, perhaps they don't end up with Lev after trading back up into top 10-15 but they still end up with a high end defensive prospect, IIRC people were high on more than a couple

 

[Kevin Musto]

Not saying Lev was the right or wrong pick, more so curious what others think that actually watch these prospects and their thoughts on if this FO actually should've went the other direction with their pick selection knowing they had a plan to try to get both, perhaps they don't end up with Lev after trading back up into top 10-15 but they still end up with a high end defensive prospect, IIRC people were high on more than a couple

I just think they went for positional value.

They looked at a handful of prospects that were in the same tier, and said "If they all project to be similar caliber players, let's take the RHD"

We also know they were impressed with the raw potential. They liked that he went from Belarus juniors to NCAA with ease.

In general, they like going after guys that are behind the development curve relative to their peers. Rinzel was like that. Even Spellacy is like that in how he hasn't been fully committed to hockey for very long.

 

[Toews2Bickell]

I just think they went for positional value.

They looked at a handful of prospects that were in the same tier, and said "If they all project to be similar caliber players, let's take the RHD"

We also know they were impressed with the raw potential. They liked that he went from Belarus juniors to NCAA with ease.

In general, they like going after guys that are behind the development curve relative to their peers. Rinzel was like that. Even Spellacy is like that in how he hasn't been fully committed to hockey for very long.

What I'd be curious to know is if the Hawks went Demidov 2 and offered the CBJ deal to MTL who wanted Demidov do they get both...I suppose maybe they did talk to MTL and other teams about that deal and were told no, people like to make their picks, but it would be interesting to know

 

[Kevin Musto]

What I'd be curious to know is if the Hawks went Demidov 2 and offered the CBJ deal to MTL who wanted Demidov do they get both...I suppose maybe they did talk to MTL and other teams about that deal and were told no, people like to make their picks, but it would be interesting to know

I think they clearly liked Arty more that they saw no point in taking that chance

 

[EbonyRaptor]

I didn't see the games but I see a couple opposing views on Lev's play ... does he so far lie somewhere in the middle between hasn't looked particularly good and impressive?
So ... average or holding his own without shining?
That's a good sign I would think given the circumstances.

I've seen him be out of position a few times where it looks like he's flat footed puck watching and not noticing an opposing playing getting behind him and it also looks like he's trying to not make mistakes where he makes a weak pass rather than trusting his ability to make a strong play. Both seem to be and likely are simply early tentativeness that should disappear as he settles into this new environment.

 

[clydesdale line]

What I'd be curious to know is if the Hawks went Demidov 2 and offered the CBJ deal to MTL who wanted Demidov do they get both...I suppose maybe they did talk to MTL and other teams about that deal and were told no, people like to make their picks, but it would be interesting to know

I think it was the unpredictability of Anaheim at 3. There was rumors they wanted Levshunov and they do need a RHD prospect in their system. If the Hawks picked Demidov at 2, there was a chance they would've went with Levshunov over Sennecke.