Who should the Chicago Blackhawks select 2nd overall in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft?

[TLEH]

2nd NHL Overall Draft Picks | StatMuse

Artyom Levshunov was chosen by the Chicago Blackhawks with the 2nd overall pick in the 2024 NHL draft.

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From 99-23 I’ve counted 10 or so superstars drafted at #2. It’s not a guarantee to get a home run of a player. Really just depends on the draft and how lucky your options are.

If Lev tops out at a #4D that would be disappointing but anything higher than that, especially Seabrook-level I think we’d be very fortunate

Yeah I get the idea I’m just saying that you hope your team can come away with something better than Seabrook at 2. It might not happen, but you can hope for more.

It would be a fine outcome. But you’re really hoping for something more. Like Doughty or Makar level. Obviously that is not a guarantee in the slightest.

To me it’s less about quality of player and more ensuring that you take the best player you can at that spot. If you pick at 2 and pick the 8th best player in the draft, you’ve failed.

 

[ColbyChaos]

Listening to Chris Peters… can I just say I’m owed apologies on this board lol. I compared Levshunov to Dahlin a month ago and got absolutely murdered. Peters compares them in this podcast. No one bats an eye.

All the Demidov folks punching air right now.

The HFHawks brain trust put out their Bogosian offensive, the lemmings jumped and look where we are now….

Heroes don’t always wear capes.

So stunning, so brave.

 

[Hattrick Kane]

Yeah I get the idea I’m just saying that you hope your team can come away with something better than Seabrook at 2. It might not happen, but you can hope for more.

It would be a fine outcome. But you’re really hoping for something more. Like Doughty or Makar level. Obviously that is not a guarantee in the slightest.

To me it’s less about quality of player and more ensuring that you take the best player you can at that spot. If you pick at 2 and pick the 8th best player in the draft, you’ve failed.

And what if there is no Makar or Doughty in this draft? Then by big braining that shit, you could be hurting your own team. It’s complaining to complain at this point.

 

[deytookerjaabs]

And what if there is no Makar or Doughty in this draft? Then by big braining that shit, you could be hurting your own team. It’s complaining to complain at this point.

Serviceable players aren't hard to get.

Second overall picks are hard to get.

 

[Hattrick Kane]

Serviceable players aren't hard to get.

Second overall picks are hard to get.

Makars and Doughtys are harder to get than 2nd overalls.

They’re usually at the top of the draft. That means Lev has a better shot at becoming that than almost any other Dman in this draft.

 

[Fortyfives]

How long until the draft…..?

 

[giza]

I was looking at some Yakemchuk highlights.....this guy is right there with the rest of them if you ask me......physical, big shot, good hands, reasonably mobile....really like his game.

 

[TLEH]

And what if there is no Makar or Doughty in this draft? Then by big braining that shit, you could be hurting your own team. It’s complaining to complain at this point.

Seems like that’s exactly what I said.

 

[x Tame Impala]

How long until the draft…..?

6 months and 45 days

 

[TLEH]

The question was, would you be happy with Seabrook at number two or not? in which I said you would hope for something more. Obviously not every draft has players that good.

 

[x Tame Impala]

The question was, would you be happy with Seabrook at number two or not? in which I said you would hope for something more. Obviously not every draft has players that good.

Relative to this draft yeah I think you’d have to be ecstatic with Seabrook at 2

 

[deytookerjaabs]

Makars and Doughtys are harder to get than 2nd overalls.

They’re usually at the top of the draft. That means Lev has a better shot at becoming that than almost any other Dman in this draft.

Dahlin, Makar, Heiskanen, Hughes, Bouchard, Fox, Dobson with honorable mention of pedigree in the younger ones like Power, L Hughes, Nemec...

This entire group there's one thing that sticks out for me...they were all dynamic young players.

Lev is a more traditional type of big D at this point. Huge stride, easy to push guys around, nice wrister, gets around the ice effortlessly.

Thing is though...he's big in the NCAA, but at 6 1 3/4 he's barely above average in the NHL.

 

[clydesdale line]

Thing is though...he's big in the NCAA, but at 6 1 3/4 he's barely above average in the NHL.

He's 6'2. Can we stop with the whole quarter of an inch off thing? It's worse than people saying Bedard is 5'9.75 so "he's 5'9".

 

[TLEH]

He's 6'2. Can we stop with the whole quarter of an inch off thing? It's worse than people saying Bedard is 5'9.75 so "he's 5'9".

Sounds like something someone 5'11.75" would say.

 

[x Tame Impala]

1/4" is about the length of the "esc" text on your keyboard for reference. Realistically that's nothing. Levshunov's physicality/toughness will be determined by him, not by his extra quarter of an inch

 

[deytookerjaabs]

He's 6'2. Can we stop with the whole quarter of an inch off thing? It's worse than people saying Bedard is 5'9.75 so "he's 5'9".

If you watch the guy play in the NCAA his size is absolutely a big part of his game right now and no one ever said that about Bedard....so hell no that's a terrible analogy.

And, the NCAA is 1-2 inches shorter on average than the NHL, there are 10 teams in the NHL where 6'2" is the team's average height.

 

[x Tame Impala]

If you watch the guy play in the NCAA his size is absolutely a big part of his game right now and no one ever said that about Bedard....so hell no that's a terrible analogy.

And, the NCAA is 1-2 inches shorter on average than the NHL, there are 10 teams in the NHL where 6'2" is the team's average height.

But size isn't a guarantee of toughness or physicality. It's not like Connor Murphy or Seth Jones are terrors out there with the 6'4" frame

 

[deytookerjaabs]

But size isn't a guarantee of toughness or physicality. It's not like Connor Murphy or Seth Jones are terrors out there with the 6'4" frame

And he currently uses his size/stature a lot. That's my point, his size allows him to push a lot of guys around in the NCAA. His leverage is a big advantage. While Murphy and Jones don't play like, say, Seabrook... They also don't have an issue pinning most any forward in the league against the wall when needed.

Unless Lev grows his other skills, he's going to need to be a physical force for his game to succeed.

 

[x Tame Impala]

They also don't have an issue pinning most any forward in the league against the wall when needed.

Unless Lev grows his other skills, he's going to need to be a physical force for his game to succeed.

That’s an interesting point. We’ll just have to see

 

[DisgruntledHawkFan]

Women lie about their weight and men lie about their height.

 

[Toews2Bickell]

get way more Seabrook vibes from Rinzel tbh...Lev seems more like a Ekblad/Seth type...someone should put Lev and Seth side by side because it feels so similar the way they move around on the ice and handle the puck

 

[DisgruntledHawkFan]

Jones is a lot bigger than Levshunov.

 

[Toews2Bickell]

Jones is a lot bigger than Levshunov.

as someone that has never watched Lev in game, I disagree

 

[10YearsAfter]

I will go on record here. Beckett Sennecke will end up being the 2nd best F in the draft and I would take him without hesitation at 2!

 

[Wally1112pac]

Sounds like something someone 5'11.75" would say.