Hawks have more that 1 D prospect...

Korchinski 1st Rd 2022
Rinzel 1st Rd 2022
Allan 1st Rd 2021

They can also make some sound decisions to bring in quality FA help when the time comes. They have more than those 3 the D room is getting deep for the Hawks.

You realize the only one whose age is significantly (?) different is Draisaitl right?

So assuming all other variables are the same except age I would go in this order.

Draisaitl - in my opinion the third best forward in the world behind McDavid and MacKinnon
Rantanen - he was a major contributor on a Cup winner and carried the Avalanche this past season when their roster was decimated by injuries.
Matthews - gets the edge over Marner because of positional value.
Marner

Matthews behind Rantanen wow... and you said it, injury history. Anyone of these players takes the Hawks to another level and none of them are anything less than studs. They would make the Hawks a better team and help elevate a crop of talent.

That is wrong. We have like 8 promising D prospects, and 3 promising G prospects, and after this last draft we have a glut of F prospects as well, some that project as good role players, some that project as top 6, and some that have the potential for either direction, and most of which can play any forward position. Not to mention all the picks we have over the next few years to add to that pool. Our GM has preached patience with development, letting the team grow into a contender organically, patience with the rebuild overall, and building for LONG TERM success. Using those things as guidelines, and knowing what we went through with Bowman with the constantly depleting our assets for win now moves that never pan out, I am all in on the patient approach. We don't need to win now, all we need to do is help these kids grow into great players, stay above the cap floor, and have some patience.

We also have the assets to make acquisitions when and where they are required. In fact, if you are referring to Korchinski, I am not even as enamored with him as most people seem to be. Sure he can provide offense from the backend, but personally, I like defensemen who can play effective and efficient DEFENSE. But we do have a lot of those as well, who are young and promising defensive minded dmen, some of which have shown they can contribute offensively at every level they have played thus far. Del Mastro, Allan, Vlasic, Phillips, Kaiser, Korchinski, Rinzel, etc. all have promising trajectories.

Serious question: do you know who Ethan Bear is?

I was thinking of Korchinski, thank you. And I agree. I absolutely love what Davidson is doing with the rebuild. What I'm saying is that the team isn't going to be in the playoffs in the next couple of seasons like some of the other posters are claiming. They shouldn't be. It takes time to cook.

These guys are likely 4-5 years from making an impact. I think you're underestimating the rebuild turnaround time.

Oh, yeah. I completely agree. I misunderstood you. They definitely need a lot more time. If they start trying to load up with free agents and trading all their assets, it is more likely that they end up with a bunch of cap issues, road blocks, and unwanted contracts, than achieving their goal of "long term success". I keep seeing non CHI fans say stuff like "they should be trying to win now during Bedard's ELC", and I think they couldn't be further from the truth. Sure, I don't want to squander his talents for the next decade, but we can afford a few years of patience.

Last two seasons:

Regular Season

Rantanen - 157 games - 91 goals - 106 assists - 197 points - 1.255 ppg
Matthews - 147 games - 100 goals - 91 assists - 191 points - 1.299 ppg

Play-offs

Rantanen - 27 games - 12 goals - 23 assists - 35 points - 1.296 ppg
Matthews - 18 games - 9 goals - 11 assists - 20 points - 1.111 ppg

When you also consider how Rantanen elevated his games last season when Colorado had Landeskog out for the full season, Makar, Lehkonen, Nichuskin all missed roughly a quarter of the season if not more, hell even MacKinnon missed roughly a dozen games, he was really the only consistent top end player in the lineup game in, game out and yet put up arguably his best statistical season.

So ya, I have Rantanen ahead of Matthews. If you see it the other way that’s fine, I just don’t see as being outrageous as you apparently do.

So I want to challenge this roster on some of the more minor details . . . and maybe you're just thinking of the rest as filler for the purpose of posting the big moves, but there's a few things worth mentioning . . .

Vlasic is not getting that much $$$ so soon. Guttmann, either: he is recovering from surgery and may not even start this year with Chicago. Not sure some other guys will be ready: Misiak, Savoie . . . Commesso, maybe. I heard Chris Peters, I think, saying that Moore is likely needing two years of development in college hockey.

Agree but nonethelesss, Hossa had way more experience in the playoffs than Matthews

Out of who's available yes, but Matthews isn't a top 3 player in the league. I'd much rather have McDavid or McKinnon then Matthews; both of their styles fit better to what the Hawks are trying to build with speed.

That's not true at all. We are loaded with defensive prospects. On the left side, we have a logjam of prospects and young players who will easily fill out the 3 spots. Korchinski, Vlasic, Roos, Kaiser, Allan, Del Mastro...just to name those off the top of my head and that's all on the left. Korchinski and Vlasic are locks, but there is certainly one more that will make the team out of the rest of those guys filling out the 3 spots.

On the right we have Jones and Murphy locked in, we have a couple right hand guys in the system such as Rinzel, but it is a point of weakness from shear volume of prospects/young players.

Goaltending we have Soderblom, Drew Commesso, and we drafted the first goalie in 2023 and arguably best prospect with Gajan.

The net is, goaltending and Defense are our strongest pool conversely to what you assumed whereas top 6 upfront is an issue outside of Reichel, Nazar, Bedard, and Moore.

I think the hawks continue rebuilding this season, and next, but the summer following they are going to make some free agent moves and start competing 25/26 season. I get what the poster is suggesting with Matthews next summer despite rebuilding in 24/25 with Matthews...I don't agree they will compete in 24/25 nor should they in my opinion. Would rather see is pick up a star the following summer going into the 25/26 season.

This season 23/24, and next season 24/25, continue to be rebuild years. However, the summer going into 25/26 I'm willing to bet Chicago makes a couple big splashes and starts competing and they should. Whether they make the playoffs, who knows, but they should try to compete and make moves to do so; you can't sit in a rebuild for 5+ years. The team can't sit in the basement forever. That has a huge impact on the players, culture, etc. (see Ottawa, Buffalo, etc.)

Remember, this is not the first or second year of a rebuild despite being Davidson's 2nd year. I'd argue we already have been rebuilding for 3 years.

We have not been rebuilding for 3 years. 21-22 was a year they went into thinking they were going to be a playoff team. Whether they did or not is irrelevant. The rebuild technically started when the interim tag was removed from Davidson and he announced his intentions just before the 2022 TDL and began tearing things down. We are just barely over a year into a rebuild that he openly stated would be 3 to 5 years or longer.

Every move he has made and detail he has alluded to about his intentions suggests that this rebuild is happening from within and will happen organically with no short cuts. Will they make some free agent or trade acquisitions? Yeah probably. Will they be significant long term additions? Possibly. Will they be elite star players intended to help them go to the next level? Unlikely, unless the given player checks a lot of boxes and the price is right.

I'd argue that point that the rebuild started just over a year ago regardless of what anyone told the media as the "new guy" coming in. The state of the rebuild, and more importantly the remaining duration, is not based on anything else then the quality and readiness of the prospect pool hands down. The quality is drastically improved over the last several drafts, in 2020 (Reichel, Commesso, Kaisser), 2021 (Allan, Dach, Del Mastro) 2022 (Korchinski, Nazar, Rinzel, Ludwinski, Greene), and 2023 (Bedard, Moore, Gajan, etc). Give all these kids another 26 months of development, and a good handful of them will be Blackhawks players heading into the 2025/2026 season. Add to it a top pick or 2 in 2024 as this team will be bottom feeding again and hopefully the lottery keeps us within the top 5 picks.

Now consider other young players like Vlasic, Kurashev, Raddysh, Guttman, Soderblom and you start seeing a picture of the roster being large in part filled out to compete in 26 months WITH the addition of 3 or 4 key additions of which 1 or 2 are likely to be really big additions such as a #1RHD (Jones will not likely be that guy in 26 months or at least the following season) and or a top 6 star. I'm not saying they are winning a cup, or even making the playoffs in 2025/2026, but what I am saying is the roster will large in part (90%) be complete by the beginning of that season. That roster will need time for chemistry of course, but objectively, the rebuild will be mostly complete and over with. No more tanking.

If we are waiting 5 years from now, we are simply in a spin cycle of rebuilding and wasting too many years of the young kids and prospects we have now. There is a balance that is critical between transitioning from a bottom feeder to deciding it's time to bring in some key vet additions and a star or two and let's go play hockey....effectively ending the rebuild.

I disagree with anyone that says we should add next summer or this year or compete in the next 2 seasons and that is based off of my evaluation of where these prospects and young players are, but equally anyone saying we should rebuild for the next 5 is going to end up loosing too many young players/prospects or wasting their prime.

Follow the template that happened 2 decades ago back in 2006 through the 2009/2010 season.

Ok. That makes sense. Personally, I think they will be trending upward as soon as this season but more likely the 24-25 season. Still, I don't think the rebuild can officially be considered over for two or three more years.

(2002 - 2009) 7 year build to Cup
Duncan Keith was drafed 54th overall in 2002
Brent Seabrook was drafted 14th overall in 2003
Corey Crawford was drafted 52nd overall in 2003
Patrick Sharp was acquired via trade with Flyers in December 2005
***NHL LOCKOUT SALARY CAP ERA BEGINS***
Niklas Hjalmarsson drafted 104th overall 2005
Johanath Toews was drafted 3rd overall 2006
Patrick Kane was drafted 1st overall 2007
Brian Campbell signs with Hawks July 1st 2008 (Major Contract at the time)
Marian Hossa signs with Hawks July 1st 2009 (Major Contract at the time)

2020-2027
Lukas Reichel was drafted 17th overall 2020
Drew Commesso drafted 42nd overall 2020* Crawford
Seth Jones acquired via trade from CLB 2021*Campbell
Nolan Allan was drafted 31st overall 2021 * Seabrook
Kevin Korchinski drafted 7th overall 2022* Keith
Frank Nazar drafted 13th overall 2022* Sharp
Sam Rinzel drafted 25th overall 2022* Hammer
Connor Bedard drafted 1st overall 2023* Kane
Oliver Moore drafted 19th overall 2023* Toews
TBD Big Free Agent July 2024* Matthews? = Hossa
TBD Big Free Agent July 2025
TBD 2026
TBD 2027