The Blackhawks’ emphases on skating and work ethic have been common themes in their drafting throughout general manager Kyle Davidson’s tenure.
The entire NHL has figured that out.
But another common theme hasn’t received as much attention: The Hawks believe they can find good market value in so-called “toolsy” players who might not be terribly impressive at the moment but project to be potentially effective pros in the future.
Most hockey scouts and teams seek out prospects who are dominating their peers and already demonstrating they know how to succeed on the ice. These prospects are typically either scoring a ton of goals or playing lockdown defense.
But the Hawks focus more on specific attributes — such as size, strength, speed, agility, athleticism, vision and intelligence — even if those attributes belong to prospects who haven’t quite put it all together yet. In that sense, it’s almost an NBA-like draft approach.
The usual term for that is “raw,” and the Hawks haven’t shied away from that word. From their perspective, rawness is almost a good thing. It means a prospect has more room to grow, figuratively and literally, than his peers. It might take him years to reach his ceiling, but that ceiling could prove to be higher than someone else who plateaus sooner.
“We’re just very confident that if we stick to the traits, we’re going to give ourselves a better chance to hit on a player,” Hawks scouting director Mike Doneghey said Saturday. “I say it until I’m blue in the face, [until our scouts] are sick of hearing it: ‘Stick to the traits. Stick to the traits. Stick to the traits.’ ”
The Hawks are able to follow this strategy in part because Davidson and Doneghey have two rare advantages: a massive existing prospect pool and a long leash from chairman Danny Wirtz. They aren’t in win-now mode. They can afford to think years down the road, unlike GMs on hotter seats.
But they’re also intentionally choosing to gamble on rawer guys. It’s a risk; many of them will never put it all together. But the Hawks have made so many picks — thrown so many darts at the board — that they’re confident enough will hit to sustain the rebuild.
“The more you pick early in the NHL, you’re more likely to succeed,” Davidson said Friday. “[And] I think we are beating the odds and getting a few more players out of drafts than the odds may dictate. So hopefully that continues.”
Davidson first struck gold using this strategy in 2022 on defenseman Sam Rinzel, who now looks like a budding top-pairing NHL stud after critics labeled him as a reach with the No. 25 pick that year (when he was coming out of high school).
Davidson applied the strategy to a higher-stakes decision in 2024 when he selected Artyom Levshunov second overall. The Belarusian defenseman’s physical abilities are as remarkable as his decision-making is erratic, but after several years of gaining experience and wisdom, it’s easy to imagine him becoming a star.
The next day last June, Davidson rolled the dice on two long-road-ahead forwards in the third round: A.J. Spellacy and Jack Pridham. Both of them impressed in 2024-25 — Spellacy in Hawks training camp; Pridham after his midseason jump to the OHL — and are trending ahead of expectations.
The Hawks’ two late first-round picks Friday, Vaclav Nestrasil and Mason West, are the latest additions to that category.
They’re both huge (6-5 and 6-6), good skaters for their size and raw. They’ll need lengthy stints in college — at UMass and Michigan State, respectively — to develop. In West’s case, he still has his senior year of high school football to complete first, and that football interest scared off some NHL organizations.
But the Hawks are extremely excited about both. Davidson’s golden quote about his decision to trade up to No. 29 to select West exemplifies his mentality.
“At that size, that athleticism, that skating ability and that talent, the sky is the limit,” Davidson said. “I just really wanted to get back into the first round and take what I thought was a grand-slam hack. I was swinging for the fences and figured, ‘Why not? Let’s go for a big one here.’ ”