RD Artyom Levshunov (2024, 2nd, CHI)

[Peasy]

I think people care to much about holding onto ELC years. Does it really matter for Lev and the Hawks? I doubt theyre in a position in 3 years to really take advantage of the low cap hit. Why not reward your high picked prospect with some extra cash to close out the season? Sometimes it even works out for the club because coming off their ELC sooner theyre less likely to be hitting their peak so sometimes you could end up with a discount contract.

 

[pvr]

He’s absolutely going back to Rockford.

Zero chance they burn a year of his deal.

You can’t imagine the Hawks aren’t gonna burn a year off his ELC for a couple of meaningless games? Strange take.

Looks like I was right.

 

[Kaners PPGs]

I think people care to much about holding onto ELC years. Does it really matter for Lev and the Hawks? I doubt theyre in a position in 3 years to really take advantage of the low cap hit. Why not reward your high picked prospect with some extra cash to close out the season? Sometimes it even works out for the club because coming off their ELC sooner theyre less likely to be hitting their peak so sometimes you could end up with a discount contract.

Sometimes it works out for a team and they sign the player to a longterm deal before they breakout. Jack Hughes comes to mind.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Lev can gain a lot of experience in the last 9 games in the NHL as well as see how fast he can adapt. If the Hawks believe Lev will start next year with the NHL club, then they might as well leave him in the NHL to soak up as much as he can. That will give the standard, or carrot, for Lev to be working for in the off-season. A total of 18 NHL games under Lev's belt to end the season is a good strategy and it also keeps him in the Calder race talks for next season, which could also serve as another carrot.

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

Finished year with Hawks (Thus burning year)

18 GP
6 assists
20:19 TOI

Looked every bit the part of a NHL defender since joining league. Don't see any reason to think he ever goes back to AHL at this point

Finished -13 but that as always doesn't tell truth story as he ended up on ice for a decent # of empty net goals which of course would skew that stat

Overall as a Hawk fan very happy with what he and other young defenders (Rinzel, Del Mastro, Korchinski, etc) showed

 

[kmwtrucks]

Finished year with Hawks (Thus burning year)

18 GP
6 assists
20:19 TOI

Looked every bit the part of a NHL defender since joining league. Don't see any reason to think he ever goes back to AHL at this point

Finished -13 but that as always doesn't tell truth story as he ended up on ice for a decent # of empty net goals which of course would skew that stat

Overall as a Hawk fan very happy with what he and other young defenders (Rinzel, Del Mastro, Korchinski, etc) showed

I think many hawks fans thought DEMIDOV was a a safer pick IE floor 70pts wing ceiling is 100 pt. and were not sure if LEV thought the game at a #1 level. his size skating shoot are High end. If he can get his hockey IQ to match up. High end RD are hard to find. I still prefer DEM but LEV has looked the part for considering he is 19 year old playing with a bunch of other young D.

 

[CallMeShaft]

He certainly wasn't perfect, but for a defenseman in his D+1 season, he was good.

Hard to believe that he was playing in Belarus 3 years ago. He went from Belarus, to the USHL, to the NCAA, to the AHL, and finally to the NHL in a 3 year span. That's an insane trajectory.

 

[EbonyRaptor]

I think many hawks fans thought DEMIDOV was a a safer pick IE floor 70pts wing ceiling is 100 pt. and were not sure if LEV thought the game at a #1 level. his size skating shoot are High end. If he can get his hockey IQ to match up. High end RD are hard to find. I still prefer DEM but LEV has looked the part for considering he is 19 year old playing with a bunch of other young D.

I was one of those who (quite loudly) preferred Demidov over Levshunov, and I based my opinion by watching games - not highlight reel clips. To me, Demidov had superstar winger all over him, whereas I could see many of Lev's good attributes but what I didn't see was a guy who knew how to play defense with too many times being lost in the d-zone.

Since then, I've seen him play and make significant improvement from his first games in the AHL to his run with the Hawks down the stretch. He still has some warts defensively but the emergence of a bona fide NHL d-man can now be seen. And here's the thing - with Rinzel playing as well as he has in his 9-game NHL audition - Levshunov may not need to be the #1 d-man because Rinzel may prove to be even better than Levshunov. Time will tell and Rinzel is a year older and a year ahead of him in the development process - but as it stands right now the Hawks have their RD1 and RD2 spots locked in for the foreseeable future regardless which one has the official RD1 title, and that means that between the two of them they should cover about 50 minutes of ice time per game.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

It’s also a lot easier to find wingers later in the process. And they’re quite literally just less important in building a contender.

I’m a fan of a team, NYR, that invested a ton into wingers (Panarin with a huge UFA contract, we had Buchnevich as one of our best players right before we traded him, Kreider with a big contract for UFA years, and then three top ten picks including two top 2 picks on Lafreniere, Kakko, and Kravtsov in a three year span).

It’s not a good strategy. Quite literally the biggest issues have been everything other than our true core players up the middle (Fox and Shestyorkin). Didn’t have good enough centers to match up in the playoffs with the best play driving centers in the league. Didn’t have good enough top 4 defensemen outside of Fox in the playoffs. And wingers, especially skill ones, can disappear when there’s less space, as Panarin has year after year.

So I know that sounds self important and just because it was true for one team doesn’t guarantee it’ll be the same for another, but this is a good example of how you build up the middle of the ice in the NHL. Having seen this experiment the other way up close, I now have strong feelings towards taking players at premium positions in those early draft spots.

 

[WarriorofTime]

It's also a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy, as wingers are seen as lower priority/more easily replaceable, and so teams don't prioritize wingers, make them more available for trade, making them more likely to get signed as UFAs, etc. The Rantanen/Avalanche situation shows how that can play out. Could be a similar scenario if Leafs let Marner walk.

 

[majormajor]

It's very hard to find good RD via trade but it doesn't follow from that that they should be prioritized at the top of the draft. The success rate with drafting D at the top, relative to drafting them around pick #30, is not as high as many think.

In other words, you don't prioritize D such that you take Lev at #2 when you can find Rinzel at #25 and Vlasic at #43.

I don't think Chicago will have an easy time finding wingers the caliber of Demidov.

 

[CallMeShaft]

It's very hard to find good RD via trade but it doesn't follow from that that they should be prioritized at the top of the draft. The success rate with drafting D at the top, relative to drafting them around pick #30, is not as high as many think.

In other words, you don't prioritize D such that you take Lev at #2 when you can find Rinzel at #25 and Vlasic at #43.

I don't think Chicago will have an easy time finding wingers the caliber of Demidov.

I don't think it's about whether the Hawks will be able to find a winger as good as Demidov and more a question of whether they necessarily need to focus on getting that caliber of winger to be able to contend in the future.

There's also the question of how much better of a winger Demidov is compared to Levshunov as a RHD? If it's close, Hawks can live with it knowing they got a guy (two with Rinzel) that can play 24ish minutes a night on that right side.

 

[majormajor]

I don't think it's about whether the Hawks will be able to find a winger as good as Demidov and more a question of whether they necessarily need to focus on getting that caliber of winger to be able to contend in the future.

There's also the question of how much better of a winger Demidov is compared to Levshunov as a RHD? If it's close, Hawks can live with it knowing they got a guy (two with Rinzel) that can play 24ish minutes a night on that right side.

The Hawks do need the Demidov type of star playmaking forward, yes. Maybe they land Marner, or maybe they trade Lev or someone else for a playmaking forward who can carry the puck for Bedard. But either way they're dying for a possession forward who can create some space out there.

 

[WarriorofTime]

It's very hard to find good RD via trade but it doesn't follow from that that they should be prioritized at the top of the draft. The success rate with drafting D at the top, relative to drafting them around pick #30, is not as high as many think.

In other words, you don't prioritize D such that you take Lev at #2 when you can find Rinzel at #25 and Vlasic at #43.

I don't think Chicago will have an easy time finding wingers the caliber of Demidov.

This doesn’t match up with RHD in particular rather than D in general. There just aren’t a slew of quality RHD in nhl in general, so you do see them get somewhat over prioritized in draft because if you have reasonable belief someone in draft has high likelihood to be top 4, or even better, top pair RHD that may be your only chance… any later RHD draft pick becomes more akin to a straight lotto ticket which if they hit frequently enough like you imply would mean there should be a fairly decent number of them league wide, which is not case.

As far as “a Demidov” an ability to find, of course just comes down to how good Demidov were to be.

Biggest issue of confusion for people appears to be a popular internet narrative that Levshunov was a reach pick, that was off board and for need alone, when all consensus stuff out there had him very high and in range with a possible number two pick.

 

[KaprizovSaveUs]

Knockoff Rinzel

 

[FiveTacos]

So I know that sounds self important and just because it was true for one team doesn’t guarantee it’ll be the same for another, but this is a good example of how you build up the middle of the ice in the NHL. Having seen this experiment the other way up close, I now have strong feelings towards taking players at premium positions in those early draft spots.

It's true in principle, but sometimes when you're picking high you're at the mercy of what talent happens to be available.

It's very hard to find good RD via trade but it doesn't follow from that that they should be prioritized at the top of the draft.

I would argue that when you're picking super high, it shouldn't matter if he's a RD ... if you wouldn't pick him at that spot if he were a LD, then he's not good enough to spend a premium pick on.

 

[FlyguyOX]

Hawks already have a star winger in Bedard. They were right to take a potential #1 RHD.

 

[kmwtrucks]

Hawks already have a star winger in Bedard. They were right to take a potential #1 RHD.

the fact that the hawks got a 1st and spencer knight for jones with $2 mil retained shows you the value of RD. when neil ponik gets 7 mil per year for 6 years and will be 30 when the season starts. he is a 2nd paring RD. I still would have taken DEMI but I do understand.

 

[Nico Cauzuki]

time will tell but i think both our clubs will regret passing on Michkov/Demidov for RDs not that i dont think Levshunov and Reinbacher wont be good but just that the two russian wingers look like future stars in the league

I would go Misa this draft if you guys get #1 or 2 ( i think SJ takes Scheafer )

 

[Putt Pirate]

time will tell but i think both our clubs will regret passing on Michkov/Demidov for RDs not that i dont think Levshunov and Reinbacher wont be good but just that the two russian wingers look like future stars in the league

I would go Misa this draft if you guys get #1 or 2 ( i think SJ takes Scheafer )

KD tried to trade up to get Demidov also that draft. Would have been bold if they had accomplished that feat.

As a Hawks fan I am very happy on the back end. Getting that right is very important for a rebuild as are C. Still a ways to go but we have some good pieces developing as well and are a couple years out.

 

[EbonyRaptor]

I've seen Misa play a bunch this season and even though he didn't have a good playoffs - I feel pretty confident that he's the right pick - if Schaefer is not there. I haven't seen Schaefer play but a couple times - once when I tuned in to watch Erie play to watch Misiak - but that was back in the fall, and the other time was a part of a game when he got inured in the WJC. So I really don't have much personal observation from which to draw my opinion of him. But - if I can be convinced that he's the second coming that many evaluators think he is - then I'd strongly consider taking Schaefer even if Misa is still on the board. The old BPA rationale.

I think a top-4 of Schaefer-Rinzel and Vlasic-Levshunov gets us closer to Cup contention than adding Misa to the forward group.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

time will tell but i think both our clubs will regret passing on Michkov/Demidov for RDs not that i dont think Levshunov and Reinbacher wont be good but just that the two russian wingers look like future stars in the league

No offense, but I would not say the gap between Michkov and Reinbacher is similar between Demidov and Levshunov. Lev was viewed as the 1D in a strong defensemen draft. Reinbacher was viewed as the 1D in a very weak defenseman draft that people were trying to find any half decent defenseman for defensemen needy team to take in the top 10 (because there's always a team or two that has a huge need and so the best player at a weak position for the draft always goes higher than their raw value).

 

[dj Mahoney]

No offense, but I would not say the gap between Michkov and Reinbacher is similar between Demidov and Levshunov. Lev was viewed as the 1D in a strong defensemen draft. Reinbacher was viewed as the 1D in a very weak defenseman draft that people were trying to find any half decent defenseman for defensemen needy team to take in the top 10 (because there's always a team or two that has a huge need and so the best player at a weak position for the draft always goes higher than their raw value).

Lol yah right . Kyle D still needs to thank Habs for Nazar & Hayes . Dach's career will be injury rddled

 

[bert]

Lol yah right

He isn't wrong. Levshunov was a way better prospect going into his draft and had a very strong year. He is going to be a top pairing all situations minute munching D man for 10+ years. While maybe they do end up regretting not taking Demidov the situations are not the same.

 

[dj Mahoney]

He isn't wrong. Levshunov was a way better prospect going into his draft and had a very strong year. He is going to be a top pairing all situations minute munching D man for 10+ years. While maybe they do end up regretting not taking Demidov the situations are not the same.

Levshunov is showing things only the very elite can manage .