The Blackhawks Prospect System is one of the Best in the NHL according to Scott Wheeler

The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler, a highly respected national reporter on the NHL Draft and prospects, is counting down his prospect pool rankings at the moment. With one released per day (until #1 is revealed on the 29th of this month) the Chicago Blackhawks have checkied in with Wheeler at #7.

Thus far only franchises like Anaheim and Philadelphia (#5 and #6 respectively) are ahead of Chicago based on his evaluations of the players not currently “graduated”, but in the system for each team. It’s the graduation aspect that has the Hawks all the way back at #7 though as players such as Connor Bedard, Kevin Korchinski, and Alex Vlasic are now NHL regulars in major roles for head coach Luke Richardson

One notable item on his list of prospects is that Lukas Reichel has returned to the prospect pool. According to Wheeler, “they (Chicago) moved from a planned ranking of No. 8 up to No. 7 here” in reference to Reichel’s re-admission as a prospect.

The complete article may be read on Scott Wheeler’s (@scottcwheeler on “X”) account or by visiting www.theathletic.com for his work.

It is worth noting that, while this number may appear low to most Blackhawks fans, it is expected to soar in the near future. The Blackhawks have 14 picks in the top two rounds of the next three drafts. While one or two of these picks may end up in the NHL (we all hope so), many of them will be part of Chicago’s next wave of prospects.

From Blackhawk Up’s perspective, #7 appears to be about correct… for the time being.