When Connor Bedard stepped to the mic in Sphere in Las Vegas in his well-tailored red suit in late June, in front of the Blackhawks’ front office and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman on stage and hockey fans around the world, he calmly announced Artyom Levshunov would be joining him as one of the faces of the next generation of the Chicago Blackhawks. The night after Bedard was named the Calder Memorial Trophy winner, he welcomed another teenager into the fold.
When Levshunov was at the Rookie Showcase in Virginia last week, he spoke with NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman about the possibility of joining Bedard on the NHL ice in Chicago, and what it meant to him to join one of the most exciting forward prospects to join the league in years.
“I think he’s such a good player,” Levshunov told Kimelman. “He’s such a good player on the ice, and such a good guy. Looking forward, yeah, I can’t wait to play with him. I just would look to help him on the ice to score more goals. And he could help me too.”
Having a No. 2 overall pick the year after owning the No. 1 pick doesn’t happen very often. The sky appears to be the limit for Levshunov, who will likely spend most/all of the coming season in Rockford. But it’s exciting to see another young player talking about building something special around Bedard.
- Mitch Brown at Elite Prospects wrote about the most improved prospects in the USHL and NCAA from last season. I’m happy to report that multiple Blackhawks prospects were mentioned. Which you love to see when you’re in a rebuild. He listed Levshunov in his “Smooth USHL to NCAA Transition” segment, saying in part:
There were two big developments for Levshunov: Defence and playmaking, particulary off the rush. Levshunov gapped up earlier to kill plays sooner, upped the physicality throughout the season, and tightened up his off-puck reads and net-front coverage. A massive uptick in pinches and blue-line holds also helped limit defensive zone time. Combined those took his defensive impact went from the 44th percentile in the USHL to 86th in the NCAA – a huge leap.
On the playmaking side, Levshunov’s non-stop activation proved to be a great fit with the high-pace Spartans, allowing him to sneak away from the defence, take a puck, and zip it back across the slot for a better look.
Though Levshunov looked rawer than other top prospects many nights, let’s not forget the unprecedented nature of his development pathway.
- He also mentioned defenseman Sam Rinzel is his “Evolution” segment after a strong freshman year at Minnesota. Here’s what he wrote about Rinzel:
Sam Rinzel is in the middle of a transformation. Back in his draft year, 2021-22, he was an offensive player. Two seasons later, he’s morphed into a well-rounded defenceman with shutdown skills. That shift started back in the USHL with Waterloo, where he started closing sooner and upped the physicality along the walls. In the NCAA, his transformation continued. Stick work, retrievals, physicality, and gap control all took steps forward, and his scoring clip also increased from 0.62 to 0.72 points per game against better competition. Though he could still add more aggression to his game, Rinzel has given himself a multitude of ways to impact the game.
- I wrote about some new NHL-wide prospect rankings that dropped on Monday earlier this morning. Levshunov is ranked very well again. But which other Blackhawks’ prospects made this list?
- Hey, let’s stay on the whole Blackhawks prospects roll that we’re on and talk about rebuilding. On Tuesday morning, Corey Pronman at The Athletic ranked NHL rebuilding efforts. His goal, as he writes, is to answer the most important question: “Which organization is the most likely to build a Stanley Cup contender in the next decade?” At No. 1 on his list: the Chicago Blackhawks. Here’s what he says about the Hawks’ pipeline and projecting it to win:
Chicagoโs rebuild is still a few years away from truly turning the corner, but the club is putting together the pieces it needs. The Blackhawks have the potential superstar every team is searching for in Connor Bedard. They also have a deep stable of young blue line players between Alex Vlasic, Kevin Korchinski, Artyom Levshunov and others. They could use a bit more skill in their organization, but they have premium center and defense talents. The Blackhawks could acquire scoring wingers through the open market as they will likely be a top free-agent choice by the time they start winning again.
- Scott Powers shared some organizational updates at The Athletic on Monday that are noteworthy. Here we go:
- Former NHL defenseman Andy Delmore has replaced Erik Condra as a development coach. Delmore was an assistant with the OHLโs Windsor Spitfire — where AJ Spellacy played last year (and will this year) — and the University of Windsor last season. Condra had been with the Blackhawks since 2020.
- The Blackhawks hired former defenseman Michael Kostka as a mental performance coach. He played for the Blackhawks during the 2013-14 season.
- We’ve previously noted that the Rockford IceHogs replaced Jared Nightingale with Josh MacNevin as an assistant coach. Powers shared this quote from IceHogs head coach Anders Sorensen:
โI think there were a couple of different areas we liked about him in his interview process,โ Sorensen said. โI think No. 1, for me at least, was his view on his development and player development coincided on how myself and (Blackhawks assistant GM of player development) Mark Eaton and guys around the development area on how we think. That was a big part of it. Heโs worked in the Western League. Heโs worked with talented young defensemen in the past, and that was an area as well that obviously attracted us. Especially, he had success of moving those guys on to the pro levels and theyโve done well at the pro levels, so that was a big part of it for us. And then, his personality, heโs got a real good demeanor about him and how he goes about his business.โ
- We’re still waiting for concrete answers about what the heck is going on with the new television home for the Blackhawks. But Powers had a few nuggets of info for us on Monday. I broke it down ICYMI.
- Finally, the Cubs look like they hit a home run with their first-round pick this summer. Well, to be more literal, Cam Smith is hitting a lot of home runs. And he’s already headed to Double-A because he’s raking. Love to see it!