The draft lottery is under a month away, and the Blackhawks hold the second best lottery odds. Due to the immediate need for offensive firepower, the lottery balls hold some interesting implications for the Blackhawks.
The NHL Draft Lottery, which is set for May 5, will have a live drawing of the lottery balls. It will be broadcasted on ESPN, Sportsnet and TVA.
Odds for the 1st lottery drawing below pic.twitter.com/8zvULNZq48
— Alex Baumgartner (@ABaumgartner91) April 18, 2026
The Blackhawks are guaranteed a top-four pick. Although it sounds straightforward, falling below the second overall pick could complicate things. Kyle Davidson has made it a point to prioritize goaltending and defense during the early years of the rebuild. So far, he has built arguably the best prospect pool in the NHL with those two position groups as the foundation.
Next season, the defense could see a serious boom in production. Artyom Levshunov left a lot to be desired, but the flashes were apparent and quite common. Sam Rinzel also fell short of expectations, but with a good offseason and a full 82 games, he can clean up a lot of his shortcomings.
Alex Vlasic, Wyatt Kaiser, and Louis Crevier all seem to have their games under control and will continue to hone their craft. Don’t forget about Kevin Korchinski either, who looked excellent in his end-of-season stint with the NHL roster.
Although the order is debatable, the top two picks stay consistent across many mocks. Gavin McKenna, out of Penn State, is widely considered the first overall pick. McKenna seems to be a boom or bust prospect due to his high-level of raw talent at such a young age.
He’s a skinnier guy with some physical questions to be answered, but he is simply undeniable when it comes to his skill set. A lot of the questions around McKenna are similar to those of his distant cousin Connor Bedard, who seems to be doing just fine in the show.
Ivar Stenberg with Frölunda HC of the SHL has a very similar report. It’s hard to compare the two, given how different the SHL pathway is from the CHL-NCAA pathway that McKenna took. Playing against professional competition in the SHL might make Stenberg a bit more pro-ready. Ultimately, they both have one thing in common. They are true wingers with infinite opportunity as soon as next season if selected by Chicago.
If the Blackhawks select in the top two, then great. They can land one of those two talents, bolstering an already rich prospect pool. More moves to follow, but the pressure of bringing in a big-time forward is slightly reduced. If they have a similar fate to the 2025 draft lottery, it may not be as clear with the remaining selections.
Kyle Davidson, if faced with the third or fourth overall pick, should consider trading the pick. Although there is excellent talent at those picks, they are both likely to be defenseman.
Chase Reid seems to be one of the next picks, and rightfully so. The right-handed defenseman with the Soo Greyhounds of the OHL is over a point per game. After a year at Michigan State next year, he’ll come into his rookie season as a Calder Trophy contender.
Keaton Verhoeff is also a deeply intriguing prospect. At just 17 years old, Verhoeff had an excellent freshman season at North Dakota. Standing 6-foot-4 and 212 pounds, anyone who selects Verhoeff will have a future weapon on their blueline. Some questions remain on his defensive consistency, but that should not deter defense-needy teams from picking Verhoeff with the third or fourth overall pick.
There are very few instances where a lottery team should make draft day decisions based on need, but this could be one of them. Both Reid and Verhoeff are excellent players, but Chicago needs another forward, and Bedard needs another linemate. Not years from now, but by the start of next season. It’s easier said than done, so what should their approach be?
The Davidson regime has been the best of any front office in collecting draft capital. The Blackhawks own 11 draft picks in the first three rounds of the 2026 and 2027 drafts.
In 2027, the Blackhawks can have as many as three first-round picks, depending on the status of the Edmonton conditional pick acquired at the trade deadline. That’s some serious firepower, but what good does a prospect with a three-to-four-year timeline do for a team that’s trying to push for the playoffs next season?
Many teams have had their star players in trade talks. Jason Robertson, Auston Matthews, Matthew Knies, and Brady Tkachuk have all been floated around in this discussion. Each of these players would provide a unique, yet incredibly valuable role to the Blackhawks.
Several trades can be used as a baseline, but none better than Mikko Rantanen getting sent to Dallas. In the trade, Dallas sent Logan Stankoven, two future first-round picks, and two future third-round picks. At the time, Stankoven was in the middle of his first full season, making this trade similar to where the Blackhawks stand with their wealth of young talent.
Another interesting trade, assuming they took a swing at Matthews specifically, is the Quinn Hughes trade. These two are the most similar in terms of calibre when it comes to potential trade targets. In this trade, the Wild coughed up Marco Rossi, Liam Ohgren, Zeev Buium, and a first-round pick. Quite the haul, but something the Blackhawks can match.