The Chicago Blackhawks will pick fourth in the NHL draft, their fourth consecutive year with a top-four pick.
The Hawks entered Tuesday’s draft lottery with the second-highest odds (13.5%) of landing the No. 1 pick, which wound up going to the Toronto Maple Leafs (8.5%).
The San Jose Sharks then won the second draw, dropping the Vancouver Canucks — who had the highest odds — to No. 3 and the Hawks to No. 4. The New York Rangers will pick fifth.
“We’re going to get a player that we absolutely love that we see as a very important piece of this moving forward,” Hawks general manager Kyle Davidson said. “I think it’s a little more uncertainty there, but we’re going to get a good piece.”
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The Hawks already have the youngest roster in the NHL and will get even younger with the arrival of the new draftee. Forwards Ivar Stenberg of Sweden and Gavin McKenna of Penn State, both 18, are the consensus top prospects in the draft, which will take place June 26-27 in Buffalo, N.Y.
With both players likely off the board when the Hawks are on the clock, they could target Brantford Bulldogs center Caleb Malhotra, who’s considered the third-best forward prospect. While Hawks general manager Kyle Davidson has drafted a long line of forwards in recent years, the pending free agency of Ilya Mikheyev and the uncertain status of André Burakovsky, whom the Hawks might buy out, could open roster spots.
Malhotra, 17, made noise with a dominant showing in the Ontario Hockey League playoffs, totaling 26 points (13 goals, 13 assists) in 15 games to add to his regular-season total of 84 points in 67 games. He could give the Hawks another immediate scoring threat, either adding to their depth at center or potentially flipping to a wing.
Other top forward prospects are Windsor Spitfires left wing Ethan Belchetz, Swedish center/right wing Viggo Björck, Boston College left wing Oscar Hemming, Boston University center Tynan Lawrence and Finnish center Oliver Suvanto.
There’s a very small chance that prospects like McKenna and Stenberg fall further than expected. Toronto and San Jose are teams that would benefit from a young blueliner, opening the door for the Hawks.
There is also the prospect of Maple Leafs’ new general manager John Chayka, who called out his team’s defensive woes in his awkward introductory news conference, passing on the wingers. The odds are low of them falling in the Hawks’ lap, but there’s still a shot.
“It’s probably a little uncertain,” Davidson said. “It doesn’t take too long to get up to speed with the intentions of a manager and what they’re intending for their group.”
That applies to the trade market as well. Davidson’s open to dealing the No. 4 pick, though he said that all options are on the table.
“You have to be open to anything and consider it, but it’s pretty rare that those kind of picks are traded,” Davidson said. “We’ll see what’s out there … something new comes around every year.
“Based on a lot of the press conferences, both new and sitting managers, (it) feels like everyone’s looking to add. Those are interesting waters to navigate when everyone’s trying to do the same.”
Having used high picks in recent years on Artyom Levshunov (No. 2 in 2024) and Kevin Korchinski (No. 7 in 2022), the Hawks are less likely to take a defenseman at No. 4. This draft class has several highly rated blueliners, however, so the Prince George Cougars’ Carson Carels, the Soo Greyhounds’ Chase Reid, Latvia’s Alberts Šmits and North Dakota’s Keaton Verhoeff could be options when the Hawks are on the clock.
“If we’ve got too many players that we like, that’s a good problem to have,” Davidson said. “We’ll solve that one because good players are something that’s in high demand.”
The general manager mentioned there are about “five or six guys” in the mix for when the Hawks select their player at No. 4. As he goes into his fifth NHL draft, Davidson said while his prospect board process hasn’t “evolved a ton,” he’s added some patience in selecting players.
“The more you’re involved in a process — especially early on — you learn the rhythm of things, you understand how much time you actually have and that you don’t need all the answers to the test in April,” Davidson said. “You take until June to turn over every stone and watch every piece of video and pore back over information.”
The Maple Leafs entered with the fifth-highest odds of landing the top pick and moved up four spots. They would have had to transfer their pick to the Boston Bruins if it hadn’t been in the top five.
The Hawks have owned the No. 4 pick once before in their franchise history — Richie Baynes in 1964. They have eight total picks in the upcoming draft.
