Chicago Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson has said that he wanted his team to have a first-round pick for the 2022 NHL Draft.
The team recently unveiled their final draft board to their entire scouting department for the first time on Wednesday, over 24 hours before the draft begins on Thursday night. Both Davidson and the team’s scouting director Mike Doneghey have known about the board since May.
Davidson is making and receiving a lot of calls from general managers around the league, with some of them calling multiple times. He will likely enter the first round by trading Alex DeBrincat, although there may be some alternatives.
“You do get a lot of calls, but people know pretty quickly if there’s going to be a fit or not, and you hear the most from the same couple teams, over and over again,” Davidson said.
“It has really distilled down to a few teams that last little while because they know what they want, so we’ll see if it rises to the levels of getting something done.”
If the Blackhawks manage to acquire a first-round pick, Davidson insisted that he would take the best player available, whether a forward or defenseman.
“I’d like to, but again, if there’s nothing that makes sense, I’m not going to do it just to do it,” Davidson said to reporters about trading for a first-round pick. “I’d preferably like to get in the first round, but if there’s nothing there that makes sense for us, then I’m not going to be disappointed about it. But we’re looking.”
Waiting for call
Meanwhile, for the time being, Doneghey is in an indecisive state. The Blackhawks are not holding any picks higher than 38th overall in the second round on Friday. They are still actively looking to acquire a first-rounder regardless. Currently, Doneghey has just been waiting for Davidson to give him a call.
“We just sat on it and showed it to the group today and went over new information and where agents and advisors of players thought they would go,” Doneghey said Wednesday.
“If it was up to the agents, there would be 55 players who would go in the first round,” he said. “They overvalue, which is fine, it’s their job, but it’s our job to read through all that.”
Other potential candidates
Davidson did not share any detail regarding his negotiation efforts, but the New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia Flyers, and the Ottawa Senators are considered the most possible candidates to acquire DeBrincat. They are holding the No. 2 pick, No. 5, and No. 7, respectively.
The 24-year-old DeBrincat has two 40-goal seasons in his career, and he only has one year remaining on his contract of $6.4 million salary-cap hits.
Regardless, Davidson has said that the Blackhawks have talked to the other agents representing their restricted free agents (RFA), starting contract negotiations with some and exploring trade options for other players.
On the Blackhawks’ RFA list, they have Kirby Dach, Dylan Strome, Dominik Kubalik, Philipp Kurashev, Caleb Jones, Wyatt Kalynuk, and other minor league players. Strome and Kubalik will likely be either traded or allowed to go into unrestricted free agency, while most or all of the others can return.
“The RFA trade market is not the most fruitful market,” he said. “Maybe that’s something that will come on the draft floor.”