Team Trajectory

[clydesdale line]

I thought the trade up was stupid this year and I'm not sure he's getting enough for cap dumps. They should have gotten a decent draft pick for taking Hall like the Habs did for taking Laine.

I don't think picking 50 vs 54 was the difference between getting Vanacker or not and Boisvert probably would have been available at 20. They gave away a pick for no reason.

A 2nd round pick in a pretty weak draft. The man got 3 1st round picks this year in a draft that is not nearly as strong as last years. I like Boisvert and especially Vanacker's chances of hitting than whatever 2nd rounder they could've drafted anyday.

 

[Hattrick Kane]

I think the problem here is some are expecting immediate results. I consider the rebuild started at the 2022 draft when we traded Cat and Dach.

So technically we just started year three of the rebuild, and already have a very deep pool. The defense is also stacked, which despite what many seem to think, is the most important part rebuild. It’s by far the hardest thing to build (Toronto anyone?) and it’s smart to invest heavily into early.

It’s fun to take point producers, and it looks sexier on paper, but they are simply easier to find.

Jones, Vlasic, Levshunov, Korchinski, Rinzel, EDM, Allan if they can all get to where they need to, will be hard to top. Many are well on their way.

 

[belfour30]

I think the problem here is some are expecting immediate results. I consider the rebuild started at the 2022 draft when we traded Cat and Dach.

So technically we just started year three of the rebuild, and already have a very deep pool. The defense is also stacked, which despite what many seem to think, is the most important part rebuild. It’s by far the hardest thing to build (Toronto anyone?) and it’s smart to invest heavily into early.

It’s fun to take point producers, and it looks sexier on paper, but they are simply easier to find.

Jones, Vlasic, Levshunov, Korchinski, Rinzel, EDM, Allan if they can all get to where they need to, will be hard to top. Many are well on their way.

I'm not expecting a 2007-08 type jump for another few years. I just am not a huge fan of a lot of the forwards other than Bedard. I really like Lev, Vlasic, Korch and Rinzel.

 

[SimpleJack]

I think overall KD has done a nice job and I think the overall 2024 draft haul, especially the later rounds, was impressive and diverse. But the one thing that bothers me is perhaps the most important aspect of the draft and that’s what we did in round 1. Passing on multiple top-end forwards. Hopefully Boisvert pans out and hopefully Lev proves to be a legit #1D, if not we’re gonna be a step behind for the rest of the rebuild process. I personally don’t understand why we didn’t take a flyer on Eiserman when he was still available at #18, especially after passing on Demidov. But oh well.

 

[Beukeboom Fan]

I thought the trade up was stupid this year and I'm not sure he's getting enough for cap dumps. They should have gotten a decent draft pick for taking Hall like the Habs did for taking Laine.

I don't think picking 50 vs 54 was the difference between getting Vanacker or not and Boisvert probably would have been available at 20. They gave away a pick for no reason.

Agree the trade ups weren't very efficient, but with the extensive pipeline it's less of an issue.

On Laine vs Hall, PL does make almost 50% more, and had the player assistance issue hanging over him. Agree in general that KD might not max out the value on the salary retention opportunities.

 

[Kurtosis]

I think people sometimes forget that there are only so many contracts that can be given. I also think that people overrate later round draft picks.

 

[ChiHawks10]

The last couple pages of this thread have been some serious stupid.

 

[statswatcher]

The last couple pages of this thread have been some serious stupid.

think you could point me the pages of hfboards that are seriously intelligent?

 

[MHO]

Back to next year's draft, it's very possible that the Hawks pick top 3. They will be better but I'm not convinced there will be any teams next year that are plain awful and the worst team might end up with 70 points.

The 1 exception for a team with low 50's points might be San Jose as even with Celebrini and Smith, they are unproven and their defense sucks. Anaheim has a nice young core with Carlsson, Gauthier, Zergras, McTavish, Zellweger, Mintyukov, etc with some vets to go with. Who knows what Fantilli will do in Columbus and they have a solid D core.

You never know who gets hurt but I can't quite dismiss the possibility that we see real progress with around 75 points for the Hawks this year and still picking top 3.

 

[Crow]

Wouldn’t be surprised if the hawks were substantially worse in goal due to injury or just the randomness of goaltending among our somewhat inconsistent goalies.

 

[belfour30]

A 2nd round pick in a pretty weak draft. The man got 3 1st round picks this year in a draft that is not nearly as strong as last years. I like Boisvert and especially Vanacker's chances of hitting than whatever 2nd rounder they could've drafted anyday.

Fair.

 

[Drumman44]

Not gonna lie I’m kinda getting jealous of what SJ has done. Seems like they’ve surpassed the Hawks in terms of future outlook all in one summer. Like you said it’s that drop off from Bedard to the rest of our forward prospects that’s hurting us rn. We desperately need to find our “Will Smith”.

I am jealous of their 2C in Smith but any one of Vlasic, Korchinski, Levshunov would easily be their best D prospect after Dickinson

 

[pvr]

I am jealous of their 2C in Smith but any one of Vlasic, Korchinski, Levshunov would easily be their best D prospect after Dickinson

Maybe even better than Dickinson.

 

[Malaka]

We desperately need to find our “Will Smith”.

Nazar: am I a joke to you

I see a lot of optimism for this team and other teams starting to compete and not scaling up(Re: Anaheim/Columbus/Utah etc.)

Have a hard time believing any of the teams listed are going to perform worse than us (except Utah, but they are gunning for a strong start — I’ve rambled enough about this but Anaheim and Columbus are trying to break out of the bottom)

 

[Drumman44]

Maybe even better than Dickinson.

Lev is definitely a better prospect. Vlasic is a proven NHL-er. We will see about KK

 

[ello]

A 2nd round pick in a pretty weak draft. The man got 3 1st round picks this year in a draft that is not nearly as strong as last years. I like Boisvert and especially Vanacker's chances of hitting than whatever 2nd rounder they could've drafted anyday.

This isn't logically accurate since they would've had the 20th overall pick on top of the 3 seconds and snagged an Eiserman, Hage, or even Boisvert who probably wouldve been available.

Plus anything after 20 historically tracks simiarly into the second round. The move certainly wasn't a strong one from an asset managment standpoint so we just gotta hope that they got the right guys. You certainly wouldn't catch most GMs making trades like those though, especially weeks out from a draft.

I do love Vanacker though and the trade to draft him was fine, it's really the Boisvert trade that confuses me

 

[SimpleJack]

Nazar: am I a joke to you

I see a lot of optimism for this team and other teams starting to compete and not scaling up(Re: Anaheim/Columbus/Utah etc.)

Have a hard time believing any of the teams listed are going to perform worse than us (except Utah, but they are gunning for a strong start — I’ve rambled enough about this but Anaheim and Columbus are trying to break out of the bottom)

I like Nazar but I think Smith is clearly the superior talent with the higher upside.

I think we can eventually draft a forward of Smiths caliber next summer if things go our way in the lottery.

 

[SimpleJack]

Maybe even better than Dickinson.

Well shit I’d sure hope Lev would be better/rated higher than Dickinson as of rn given the fact we chose him at #2OA.

Hopefully KK can eventually be on that same level too, he was also drafted higher than Dickinson though it was a different draft/year and Dickinson wasn’t expected to drop quite as far as he did if I recall. Sharks really got lucky landing him with their 2nd first rounder on top of winning the Celebrini lottery.

 

[clydesdale line]

This isn't logically accurate since they would've had the 20th overall pick on top of the 3 seconds and snagged an Eiserman, Hage, or even Boisvert who probably wouldve been available.

Plus anything after 20 historically tracks simiarly into the second round. The move certainly wasn't a strong one from an asset managment standpoint so we just gotta hope that they got the right guys. You certainly wouldn't catch most GMs making trades like those though, especially weeks out from a draft.

I do love Vanacker though and the trade to draft him was fine, it's really the Boisvert trade that confuses me

Considering on the every shift video Davidson and the scouts viewed Boisvert and Vanacker similarly (they thought about taking Vanacker at 18 but gambled on Boisvert and traded back into the 1st round) I would say it is perfectly logical. We don't know what type of grade they had on guys and they clearly felt both guys were 1st round talents and were super close.

 

[HeisenBaez]

I like Nazar but I think Smith is clearly the superior talent with the higher upside.

I think we can eventually draft a forward of Smiths caliber next summer if things go our way in the lottery.

Time will tell if this is true or not.

 

[MHO]

This isn't logically accurate since they would've had the 20th overall pick on top of the 3 seconds and snagged an Eiserman, Hage, or even Boisvert who probably wouldve been available.

Plus anything after 20 historically tracks simiarly into the second round. The move certainly wasn't a strong one from an asset managment standpoint so we just gotta hope that they got the right guys. You certainly wouldn't catch most GMs making trades like those though, especially weeks out from a draft.

I do love Vanacker though and the trade to draft him was fine, it's really the Boisvert trade that confuses me

At some point, a GM needs to focus on winning games over asset management. Yes, they are not mutually exclusive but if you're primarily concentrating on maximizing draft pick value, there are tradeoffs.

At this point, I'm happy that KD identified his guys and went and got them. It'll be a different story if they end up not contributing but for now, I'm cool with it. The flip side is you can have 'too many' draft picks as you might not be able to sign all of them when they have to compete with each other for roster spots. I'm slightly concerned about that with Ryan Greene and have a feeling he's not going to sign because he might rather wait an extra year, graduate, and pick whatever team he wants. He may have signed at the end of last year if he didn't have to contend with all of the bottom six prospects the Hawks have currently signed.

I will say that it's frustrating in hockey that it can take 3-4 years before you can really evaluate a draft pick.

 

[EddieTheEagle]

Might be totally off-base but I think all the players and prospects we have amassed are all relatively in the same vein.

KD seems to be building a hockey team made for winning. Aside from Connor Bedard, who is an absolute blessing for this franchise, he tends towards players that are fast, gritty, and versatile. He overlooks one-trick ponies that may have high ceilings in some regards but lacking in others.

Many of us criticize that we don't have enough high-end offensive talent, myself included. While this may be true, it feels like the next wave of Blackhawks are going to really win by committee. Bedard is an exception to this, as I don't think I'll ever expect him to be Marian Hossa or Toews defensively, but the team feels more well-rounded overall.

Looking forward to the next handful of seasons to see how it all plays out.

 

[CallMeShaft]

I don't know why so many here are envious of what San Jose is doing. Bedard is almost certainly a better player (now and future) than Celebrini.

Sure, they have Smith, but what else up front? Eklund is good, maybe a top line winger, but does anyone see a PPG player in him? They look good at forward, sure, but they hardly look scary IMO.

And defense is currently a nightmare for them. They have Dickinson, and that's a good add for them, but what else do they have? We just had Vlasic be one of the top shutdown D in the entire league (analytically speaking) last season as a 22yo. We also have Lev and KK. There's an argument to be made that guys like Rinzel and Edmonton would be the 2nd and 3rd best D prospects if they were in the Sharks organization. EP Rinkside literally posted their top 100 skaters prospect list a week ago and placed Rinzel and EDM above every D for the Sharks except Dickinson.

So they are good up front and now in goal. But defense is a huge issue for them right now and good RDs are one of the hardest things in the league to acquire. Meanwhile Hawks need to hit big on one foward in 2024 and should be pretty set up afterwards.

 

[ello]

At some point, a GM needs to focus on winning games over asset management. Yes, they are not mutually exclusive but if you're primarily concentrating on maximizing draft pick value, there are tradeoffs.

At this point, I'm happy that KD identified his guys and went and got them. It'll be a different story if they end up not contributing but for now, I'm cool with it. The flip side is you can have 'too many' draft picks as you might not be able to sign all of them when they have to compete with each other for roster spots. I'm slightly concerned about that with Ryan Greene and have a feeling he's not going to sign because he might rather wait an extra year, graduate, and pick whatever team he wants. He may have signed at the end of last year if he didn't have to contend with all of the bottom six prospects the Hawks have currently signed.

I will say that it's frustrating in hockey that it can take 3-4 years before you can really evaluate a draft pick.

I mean the whole point of asset management is so we maximize our odds of finding good players via multiple arrows in quiver ie. winning!!

It just all feels a little, I dont know..like arrogant? They seem very deadset on specific guys in each draft. There's a reason why they're able to find dance partners to make these trades since other teams recognize that historically quantity really does seem to trump quality after the first 15 or so picks. Just maximize the amount of picks and draft the consensus BPA at that range. Like would I bet on Vanacker alone or Artamanov AND Badinka? I think I know my answer

I get what you mean though, it all comes down to if we found the right guys. Just doesn't seem like a great long term strategy and KD hasn't really given us any reasons yet why we should put so much trust in his judgement

 

[Wally1112pac]

San Jose stole their rebuild blueprint from the Leafs.

Top heavy at forward and that's it.

Score lots, golf a lot more.