The Blackhawks weren’t quite done after making two picks in the first round on Friday night.
First, they added a third pick in the first round by sending out a couple of second-rounders to the Carolina Hurricanes:
And with that No. 27 pick, the Blackhawks drafted left wing Marek Vanacker from the OHL’s Brantford Bulldogs.
Some of the initial responses to the Vanacker pick suggested this may have been a bit of a reach on the part of the Blackhawks, especially considering that they used a second-round pick (50th overall) to move up seven spots from 34 to 27 and make this pick.
Vanacker, who turned 18 in April, is listed at an even six feet tall and weighed in at 179 pounds. He’s been skating with the Brantford Bulldogs for the last two seasons and didn’t produce a ton in 2022-23, with just 16 points (4 G, 12 A) in 55 games. He broke out last season, though: 68 games, 36 goals and 46 assists, good for a team-high 82 points. Vanacker added 7 points (3 G, 4 A) in 6 postseason games. And Vanacker did all that while playing with a torn labrum in his left shoulder, an injury he sustained in November but did not have an operation on until June.
Here’s a quick scouting report from Elite Prospects:
Vanacker anticipates changes of possession and gaps in coverage and times his drive into these pockets to get scoring chances. He steals the puck on the backcheck and on the forecheck and instantly turns these plays into odd-man attacks. And he can traverse a neutral zone quickly with powerful forward strides or deceptive, east-west crossovers, and pick the corners of the net off the rush
Corey Pronman at The Athletic offered this assessment:
Vanacker isn’t going to run players over, but he’s a decent-sized forward who works hard, wins a lot of 50/50 pucks and gets to the net to create offense. He makes plays, but I wouldn’t call him a top-tier playmaker or a true offensive threat. He has the traits of a bottom-six wing in the league.
Here’s a clip sure to endear Vanacker to certain segments of the fan base:
Much more is available here: