Blackhawks Should Be Worried About Weak 2027 NHL Draft Class

The Chicago Blackhawks have had 11 first-round picks since Kyle Davidson was brought in as general manager in 2022. The list is headlined by Connor Bedard, Anton Frondell, Artyom Levshunov, and Frank Nazar. 

Last season, the Blackhawks didn’t make a first-round selection, as they traded the fourth-overall pick to the Buffalo Sabres for defenseman Bowen Byram. It was a major investment that’s been a rocky road so far throughout the first five games of the campaign, but the same can be said for the Blackhawks as a whole. 

As the Blackhawks are trying to end the rebuild and start competing again, they have three upcoming first-round picks in the 2027 NHL Draft. However, according to Scott Wheeler of The Athletic, the draft class isn’t great.

2027 Draft Headliners

The 2027 Draft is headlined by defenseman Landon DuPont. Defensemen aren’t a need for the Blackhawks right now, as they just put $12.5 million per year into Byram and are taking time with Levshunov. The defensive core is struggling, though, as a whole, and you don’t pass up on someone like DuPont; maybe resetting the pool a bit won’t hurt.

If the Blackhawks wanted to go with a forward, Nazar Privalov would be a good choice on the left wing. Privalov stands at 6-foot-4, 227 pounds, and will offer a physical presence the Hawks desperately need. Down the middle of the ice, Alexis Joseph could add some size at 6-foot-5 if Chicago wanted to stick with that philosophy (which they should). 

There’s also Sergei Skvortsov, another Russian winger who will be a project to develop like Roman Kantserov. After that, there’s a drop in talent, and the draft isn’t very deep.

How to Work Around It 

If the season were to end after the game against the New York Islanders on Oct. 8, the Blackhawks would have the fourth-best odds to win the Draft Lottery. It’s not where they wanted to be, because the expectation coming into the season was that there would be a surge in the standings early, but not having Bedard due to shoulder surgery he got over the summer has been a huge blow for them. 

Wheeler’s evaluation of the class early on was mostly viewed as positive because of the guys listed above. Now, it’s changed to “not great,” and Davidson has a decision to make on how he wants to make use of all of his selections.

The Blackhawks have their own first-round pick, the Edmonton Oilers’ first-round pick, which they acquired in the trade that sent Jason Dickinson and Connor Murphy to Edmonton, and the Florida Panthers’ first-round selection, which they got in the Seth Jones trade. The Panthers pick fell into the top ten in the 2026 Draft, but it was reported late that it was top-ten protected, so the Panthers ended up making the selection.

Chicago should trade away one or two of their late firsts (Oilers and Panthers), along with a piece out of the prospect pool that is one of the best in the league, for an available forward. They can get whoever they want, as they have money to spend. The Blackhawks need to improve their forward core. Davidson has the resources, and it’s the right time to do it. You can only sign veteran forwards on short-term deals for so long.

It’s a little ambitious to be talking about top picks and trading picks in October, especially with Bedard being out and not knowing what this team looks like with him. But it’s never too early to be looking at how the team can be improved, and it’s just too late in the rebuild to draft a project that’s going to take a couple of years to make the NHL. Improvements need to be made, and it starts with the surplus of available draft picks at the Blackhawks’ disposal.