Blackhawks Daily: Learning From The Champs; Demidov’s Future

There was a lot of debate around the 2024 NHL Draft regarding the Chicago Blackhawks‘ selection at number two overall. Would they take defenseman Artyom Levshunov, forward Ivan Demidov, or someone off the board?

Eventually, they decided to take Levshunov as they didn’t have a true number-one defenseman in the pipeline. There are a lot of good twos and threes there but Levshunov has the ceiling of a top pair anchor.

Now, they have their guy to build the blue line around with other young pieces like Kevin Korchinski and Alex Vlasic amongst others. Levshunov is a big reason that their prospect pool is considered to be one of the best.

Demidov ended up falling all the way down to the Montreal Canadiens with pick number five. Now, they are hoping that he becomes a great scoring forward for them. The early signs are good as you can tell from the story below that comes from Montreal Hockey Now.

In addition to stories from around the network, there are some great ones here at Chicago Hockey Now, including the one on how the Chicago Blackhawks can learn from the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. The team is built very similarly to how the Blackhawks were back in the early 2010s. It will take some time but the pieces are in place.

Chicago Blackhawks

The Florida Panthers can teach the Chicago Blackhawks a thing or two.

The Chicago Blackhawks play in a tough Central Division.

The Chicago Blackhawks offer sheet history during the salary cap era.

National Hockey Now

Montreal Hockey Now: The Montreal Canadiens are hoping for big things from Ivan Demidov.

Boston Hockey Now: An NHL insider has information on Jeremy Swayman’s contract issue with the Boston Bruins.

San Jose Hockey Now: Will Smith of the San Jose Sharks is living with Patrick Marleau this season. He isn’t their only top prospect living with a Sharks legend either.