Mock drafts for the Blackhawks’ second-round selections emphasize adding defensemen with strong skating and size. At No. 34, one projection selects Vanecek, described as a tall, well-skating defenseman with the ability to play both ways and provide potential secondary offense. Another consideration is Pugachyov, a big, heavy, competitive player who fits the team’s draft profile and could be acquired by packaging second-round picks to move up. At No. 37, a projection from Toronto selects Macbeath, a left-handed defenseman who improved as the season progressed and is characterized as a good skater who performs well across roles without standout traits.
"Chicago takes a promising young defenseman in Vanecek, who was productive at multiple levels this season. He's tall and skates well, while showing the ability to play both ways with potential secondary offense in the NHL."
"Pugachyov fits the Blackhawks' draft profile: he's big (6-3, 198), skates well, plays a heavy game and competes. The guys at The Athletic have him coming off the board at 29 to Buffalo (they didn't update their draft order for the conference finals). If there's a guy the Blackhawks are going to package second-round picks to move up and get late in the first, I like Pugachyov. He has two more years on his KHL contract, which buys the Blackhawks some time to settle their current pipeline a bit."
"The Blackhawks add another good-skating D in Macbeath, who didn't finish on a high note in the WHL playoffs and at U18 worlds, but was a riser this season and in the second half."
"Macbeath, again, has decent size (6-2, 188) and his profile reads a lot like... current Blackhawks defenseman Wyatt Kaiser. He's a good skater who does everything pretty well, but there isn't anything that's spectacular."
Read at Bleacher Nation
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]