With the #3 overall pick, who do the Hawks draft?

They have roughly $16M in cap space next year, below are all their assets today.

Quite bold of you not to include a cap increase next year which is estimated to be 83.5m plus most of their bonus money isn’t going to be spent outside of debrincat which is 137k and maybe some of stromes. The hawks are going to weal and deal this summer. It’s hard to really pinpoint what space they have tbh

Interested to get a bunch of opinions here because it seems like both the sports writers and fans are all torn who the Hawks draft with the #3 pick.

Podkozlin - surely the most upside and talent but committed to Russia SKA for 2 years
Byram - game changing #1 defenseman

Hawks also need to think about a future center to take over for Toews on the 1st or 2nd line in the next 4 to 5 years.

Quite bold of me? Dude, clearly this shows 2018/2019 season and the intent was to show the roster as is. Who they are going to draft has zero to do with the cap hit and that is the intent of the post.

Trade down two or three slots and still get a future #1 C.

Podkolzin is committed to the K, but Charlie Roumeloitis said on the hawks talk podcast that he doesn't think Podkolzin would have a problem getting out of that contract and playing next season if he's NHL ready.

I don't think replacing Toews is important right now with Strome and Cat looking like Toews and Kane did in their first couple years together. Hawks have Boqvist, Beaudin, Mitchell, Krys, Jokiharju and even Lucas Carlsson looking to make jumps in the next couple seasons. Plus, D men tend to take much longer to mature. The hawks have plenty of assets to move for a top 4 D man if they wish.

In my personal opinion, the hawks should take Podkolzin at 3. The reason the hawks have missed the playoffs the past couple seasons would be because of weak team defense, correct? Funny coincidence, Marian Hossa has been retired for the past couple seasons. Podkolzins reminds me so much of Hossa it'd be a no brainer not take him at 3. Byram is sick, but the hawks have a ton of D men that are impressive. Podkolzin is a strong 200 foot winger with an unbelievable work ethic and extremely high offensive skill. He's really the complete package.

I would go with Podkolzin, but wouldn't be surprised to see the Hawks go with Turcotte either

The issue with Podkozlin and the Russian contract is it is rumored he is getting $2M a year from SKA. Not that uncommon as they don't have rules around ELC.

Cozens or Dach could step in and become the 3C allowing the Hawks to clear cap of Anisimov plus both players are pretty much locks for a 2C or even 1C in the future. Toews's play will digress in 4 to 5 years to the point of making a 3C or 2C. The argument with such a deep class of centerman why not start preparing and going C now lets a Dach or Cozens work at 3C for awhile and trade AA's cap at the same time.

I don't disagree on Podkolzin; he's a clear step ahead of everyone else not named Kappo or Hughes and the comparison to Hossa may indeed be warranted. Draft on need or best available; if best available Podkozlin is it. If need then one can argue C is it.

The argument to draft Byram would be valid if the Hawks move at least one of Beaudin or Krys.

I can agree with your reasoning. If Podkolzin is hungry, he will try to hit his rookie bonuses to eclipse the 2 million mark in the best league in the world. I think the hawks are going to take a long hard look at every forward available because it's a tough decision to make. I do think the hawks have better center prospects in the system than wing prospects, which has mean wanting Podkolzin.

Who do they have at center besides Barratt and Wise who neither are supposed to be more then a 3C? Kurashev, Hagel, Entwistle are wingers and Highmore is unkown. Keep in mind, Centers are higher value then wingers but agree on Podkozlin since he is a class above which is who I voted for in my poll. If not him, then definitely Cozens. We are all going to slap ourselves in 5 years for not drafting Byram though I have a feeling.

To me its Cozens unless a couple things occur. If a D prospect gets traded...Byram. if pods is a 110% sure thing...zero questions...Pods. I'd accept Dach happily, but he isn't my 1st choice at center.

If you have the option of a good winger or a future top pairing d-man, you never pass up on the defence. Defence wins championships for a reason. A lot of the defensive prospects coming up for Chicago focus their game around offence, Byram's all around complete game would be a perfect fit. Byram - Boqvist as a future #1 pairing.. don't take the risk with the Russian when the reward is greater with the d-man. Good ol' Canadian boys are always the answer

Throw your vote in

To me, its Podkolzin, only if he is coming to North America this fall.
Byram, only if we can trade our D-prospects (Krys, Beaudin, maybe even Saad package, for a 5-9 pick, so we can still get decent center, like Turcotte.)
Or trade down to # 5 or 6 and get a decent prospect winger and draft a C.
Or maybe trade up with NYR, yeah Kakko is great, but I'm sure they looking ad Podkolzin as well, they have some nice russian prospects and Panarin might join them. So not out of the question.
It would be nice to get Kakko to put into Strome line.

I guess U18 is starting soon, so we will see if Podkolzin is real deal or not.

Don't forget to vote

Think its gotta be either Pod or Cozens and its entirely dependent on how sure we are and how soon Pod can come over. Certainly wouldnt be unhappy with either but Podkolzin could become a tarasenko level player. Hes one of three gamebreakers in the draft and for that reason alone I think its pretty likely Bowman takes him. In early rounds he typically loves those high ceiling guys with with skill over size or pedigree (read: Cozen, Dach). Theres tons of examples: Boqvist over Bouchard or Wahlstrom, taking a flyer on Debrincat with an early second, Ian Mitchell, Schmaltz, etc.

Barring a dman being traded for a top 6 forward or getting another early 1st taking byram would be a huge mistake

I don't think you can pass on Podkolzin, he's a winger but plays like a C. He has an outstanding 200 foot game a la Hossa. Passing on him is a mistake in my opinion.

So what happens if he stays in Russia? SKA is known problem to deal with by the NHL. Bottom line; I don't think anyone disagrees with you but again, the fact that he's not only in Russia but SKA of all places, makes Podkozlin anything but a sure bet.

#1 d-man are a lot tougher to find than wingers though. Byram would be a nice compliment to all the right handed d-man that Chicago has. They won their 3 cups on defence, and the defence needs quite a bit of work still. Byram probably gives them one of the top 5 futures on d. They've proven that they can win with a couple good centres and complimentary pieces to them. But defence is integral

I'd be open to moving Jokiharju and some other assets to get 5 from LA to take Byram. Wouldn't wanna trade with Colorado though, they have enough assets as is. Even then, what's stopping Colorado from taking him at 4? I think the hawks have to take best player available and Podkolzin is 3 on most mock lists. I think he can get out of Russia if need be since he's high enough in the draft order similar to Ovechkin.

Top line centers and top line D are both more valuable then a top line winger. You definitely can't draft based on the player's ability to play to today, you draft based on their ceiling. Arguably, Byram might have the highest ceiling in the entire draft.

Here's the problem Nick; he might not want to leave Russia. I had a good friend who played in Russia 15 years ago and a couple top guys on the team had offers to play in the NHL but they stayed in Russia where they made more money and were treated like rockstars.. Russian players are risky, not all of them want to play in the NHL.

LA won't trade they are rebuilding. Colorado might as they also have 2 1st rounders. If the Hawks had the #3 and #4, it would be well worth Jokiharju, 2020 1st and someone like Kahun but doubt that does it.

To play devils advocate, they won in 2015 relying heavily on Hjalmarsson, Keith, Seabrook and Oduya. And when I say heavily I mean 28+ minutes a game in the playoffs. Of those names, only one was a first rounder.

I 100% understand your argument, but so many crucial D men that help teams win cups are found drafted in late rounds. Letang round 3, Manson round 6, Klingberg round 5. I could keep going but you get the point.

Large in part because D men develop much later so they are harder to judge. That said, that is also why the failure rate on D men is much higher. Look at some of the guys the Hawks are dealing with now....lots of fringe players. Byram is a known entity which is hard to find in any draft at such a young age.

If the Hawks had a D prospect or 2 that was a bigger prototypical D guy like Byram it would be an easy choice to go with a forward, but the issue is they don't. Bowman has been drafting these smaller offensive guys which does make me nervous.

All in all, I think the player to take is Cozens, as he immediately allows the Hawks to move AA and has the talent to be a 1C plus he's fast and dynamic something Strome is not and never will be.

Fair, draft Byram and move some D prospects around, but it still just seems unlikely.