Lottery Odds, Draft Rankings, Frozen Four, the Plan on Defense, Bedard’s Passing, and Other Blackhawks Bullets

Mar 25, 2024

This weekend was filled with amazing comebacks, both on college basketball courts and on the ice in San Jose. The Blackhawks erased a four-goal deficit in the second half of their game to stun the Sharks… or did they? The Sharks allowed five unanswered goals to the offensively-challenged Blackhawks twice inside a single calendar week. So what did they win? A more confident spot at the top of the 2024 NHL Draft Lottery odds. The Blackhawks’ odds of having the best odds may be effectively gone at this point. But they didn’t have the best odds last year and that worked out okay… right?

Not impossible, but after two wins over #sjsharks last week, going to be hard for #Blackhawks to finish in 32nd place.#sjsharks are in the driver's seat in Slackin' for Macklin.

Latest #NHLDraft Lottery odds: https://t.co/QHvwVi6tAn pic.twitter.com/ape9Dvny4Q— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) March 25, 2024

Scott Wheeler at The Athletic updated his prospect rankings for the 2024 NHL Draft. I’m going to dig into them more this week and break down how they have changed from his previous edition — and how they compare to other analysts I respect. But here’s the link so you can digest it yourself. Feel free to consider my full two-round mock draft from this weekend while reading.

New #2024NHLDraft ranking is out at @TheAthletic:
– Top 64 prospects ranked
– 41 honourable mentions
– Full scouting reports
– Player tiers
– Customizable user interface

The list:https://t.co/j1zfB0DTMM pic.twitter.com/y4ZELnooSU— Scott Wheeler (@scottcwheeler) March 25, 2024

The guy everyone is chasing in the draft — and at the top of everyone’s mock drafts and draft rankings — is Macklin Celebrini. He’ll be in the NCAA tournament, skating with Blackhawks prospect Ryan Greene and the BU Terriers as the No. 2 overall seed. The Blackhawks will have six prospects in the dance this year competing in three of the four regions. I have the full breakdown of the bracket for you.

Six #Blackhawks Prospects Will Play in the #FrozenFour Field https://t.co/f3JQrGJiht
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) March 24, 2024

Scott Powers at The Athletic took a look at some defensemen the Blackhawks might consider in free agency this summer. My first thought was: the Blackhawks have five defensemen on the NHL roster coming back — Seth Jones, Alex Vlasic, Kevin Korchinski, Connor Murphy and Wyatt Kaiser — but I will also acknowledge that Murphy’s health is a very real concern. The Blackhawks need a veteran to play the right side and play it well to pair with Korchinski. If Murphy is limited at all next year, it’s best for the organization to build a blue line only needing him to be a third-pair defenseman. I do believe Ethan Del Mastro will get a look at the NHL next year, but the Hawks cannot go into a full season with Korchinski, Kaiser and Del Mastro making up half of their blue line. Power put together an intriguing list of considerations.

Last week, we looked at forwards the Blackhawks could sign in free agency. Today, we examine the defensemen. https://t.co/eKFsOY7msn
— Scott Powers (@ByScottPowers) March 25, 2024

I enjoyed the notes Ben Pope shared this weekend regarding Connor Bedard‘s passing evolution this season as he learns the NHL.

Earlier this year, Connor Bedard's "lofty passes side-to-side" kept getting broken up.

Luke Richardson has seen him adjust to making shorter, safer passes.

That leads this new Blackhawks notebook: https://t.co/7OGRUzskm5— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) March 23, 2024

There were some really impressive individual accomplishments this weekend, with a couple guys hitting the 50-goal mark and Auston Matthews getting closer to 60 goals. But what Nathan MacKinnon is doing in Colorado is remarkable. He’s my front-runner for the MVP this year.

#GoAvsGo Nathan MacKinnon now holds the second longest home points streak to start a season at 34 consecutive games.

Wayne Gretzky (points in all 40 home games in 1988-89) stands alone above him.

MacKinnon also set COL franchise record today for most points in single season.— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) March 24, 2024

Finally, baseball is really, fully back this week! And the Cubs’ initial pitching rotation is set.

Initial Cubs Starting Pitcher Schedulehttps://t.co/Un2mPQXTvb pic.twitter.com/hsDuPdg6uv
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) March 25, 2024

written by

Tab Bamford

Tab Bamford has been writing about the Chicago Blackhawks for almost two decades. He joined Bleacher Nation as the lead Blackhawks writer in May 2022. Tab is a member of the Professional Hockey Writers Association and is the author of two books about the Blackhawks: "100 Things Blackhawks Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die" (Triumph Books) and "Chicago Blackhawks: An Illustrated Timeline" (Reedy Press, 2021). Find him on Twitter/X/Instagram/Threads at @The1Tab

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