Blackhawks Daily: Marek Vanacker Signs; Prospect Rankings

There are signings taking place all over the NHL. There have been little ones here and there all summer long but there have also been a few notable ones lately too. 

On Monday, the Chicago Blackhawks got in on the fun. They signed first-round pick Marek Vanacker to a three-year entry-level contract. Vanacker is out until December with an upper body injury, but had a tremendous season in spite of playing injured for the latter portion of it.

Vanacker was not the only first-round pick Chicago made in 2024. They selected Artyom Levshunov and Sacha Boisvert as well. 

Outside of Connor Bedard, Chicago doesn’t have that second elite forward. They would like to see one of these other first-round picks develop into that. All of them will be good but that next level of scoring prowess may evade a lot of them. This signing is Vanacker’s first step toward Chicago and allows for a peace of mind to “play his game” with pen to paper.

Chicago Hockey Now has another layer of the prospect ranking with a new wave of honorable mentions. In addition to that, there is a lot of good late off-season analysis around the entire network:

Chicago Blackhawks

Kicking off CHN’s ranking of Chicago Blackhawks prospects, a look at prospects #7-10 led by Nick Lardis.

Oliver Moore leads prospects #4-6 in the Chicago Blackhawks pipeline.

Ethan Del Mastro is the #3 prospect in the Chicago Blackhawks system.

The Chicago Blackhawks have studs in Frank Nazar and Artyom Levshunov. Who is #1 in the pipeline?

There are some great honorable mentions in the Chicago Blackhawks prospect ranking.

What do the recently graduated Chicago Blackhawks prospects look like now?

National Hockey Now

Boston Hockey Now: Nikita Zadorov has a safe zone with the Boston Bruins.

New Jersey Hockey Now: The New Jersey Devils traded Alexander Holtz to the Vegas Golden Knights who hope to unlock his potential.

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Three biggest issues facing the Pittsburgh Penguins right now.