DeBrincat and Dach Shocked by Trades, Colleges Celebrate Draft Selections, and Other Blackhawks Bullets

Kevin Korchinski Blackhawks NHL Draft

It’s been a wild week for the Chicago Blackhawks and their fans. A star is gone and a new generation is now part of the organization’s future. How these young players selected during the 2022 NHL Draft impact the NHL and how their careers develop is now the path we’ll all be watching.

  • Ben Pope at the Sun-Times talked with both Alex DeBrincat and Kirby Dach about being traded. Neither was ready for the news, and they were still digesting the reality on Friday.
  • “The immediate reaction was just shock,” DeBrincat told Pope. “I saw some rumors and stuff, but until it actually happens, it doesn’t really hit you.”
  • “I got the phone call five minutes before it was announced,” Dach said in the article. “I was actually on my way into the rink to go skate. It was a bit shocking.”
  • Shock is the common theme for the players — and fans. While the Blackhawks front office had been fairly transparent about their plans, what DeBrincat said here is spot on: it doesn’t feel real until it is.
  • DeBrincat has already swapped out his Twitter bio and changed his profile image to one of him in an Ottawa Senators jersey.
  • The ‘Cat did say farewell to the fans in Chicago via the media on Friday, however.
  • We put a bow on the entire 2022 NHL Draft for the Blackhawks in one place so you can easily digest their trades and draft picks. The organization needed to add forwards to the pipeline and they did just that, selecting nine. What do you think of the Hawks’ draft class?
  • And this draft coming to a close puts a bow on the Seth Jones trade from last summer, officially. Now we all wait to see how the young players turn out.
  • Colleges with recently drafted Blackhawks prospects weighed in on the selections. Chicago will have two prospects at Minnesota-Duluth next season with the addition of Dominic James to the fold.
  • And Aidan Thompson is joining a pretty impressive list of NHL prospects at the University of Denver.
  • I joined the guys at CHGO during the draft to consider the ramifications of the trades this weekend and what the next week might hold for other Blackhawks veterans as we inch closer to free agency.
  • Let us know how you would grade Kyle Davidson’s first NHL draft performance.
  • Finally, on behalf of Blackhawks fans everywhere, I beg Cubs fans to show all of the appreciation you can to Willson Contreras while he’s still here. He’s earned it. Congrats on being named the National League starting catcher in this year’s All-Star Game, Willson!
  • written by

    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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