How far could Demidov fall

Useless debate. He's going to Chicago at 2.

I have a hard time seeing Demidov fall past 5 or 6, I think Montreal might take the risk on Demidov now and Utah showed last year with Simashev, But they aren't scared of the Russians

i think he gets picked bewteen 4 and 6 but can fall up to 7-9.

If he was there at #7 and we didn't take him I would stop watching hockey lol

You should ask many Blackhawks reporters of who will gonna be draft at 2 and the vast majority of them will gonna said Levshunov.

Yes, I would agree 5/6 is probably safety net. Maybe even if someone moves up for him.

But hard to find an obvious team in top-6 that would forego other needs to add him. Just seems like all the teams that would covet a smaller skilled winger are picking later in the draft.

Sounds right to me.

SJS isn’t taking him
CHi has other needs to address
ANA sounds very unlikely
CBJ (?)
MTL sounds somewhat unlikely

So Utah, Ottawa, Seattle, Calgary range perhaps. Or maybe one of them jumps Utah to grab him at #5.

And pass on Levshunov? That would be a surprise, but Hawks fans are more up to speed on Davidsons plans than me.

Let's go into the rabbit hole. I'll say no. 9 is maximum.

No. 1 is Celebrini.

At no. 2 Blackhawks don't need additional wingers. With Dach in mind I doubt they'll take Lindstrom with his health concerns at no. 2. If they don't trade up they will most probably take D-man. They are high on Dickinson, but it might also be enyone else. Let's say they take Levshunov who is older and shots right.

At no. 3 are Ducks loaded on star forwards and have two interesting guys there. Buium is local guy and Parekh is teammate with Dionicio, Ducks' prospect. With Drysdale's health experience behind and Parekh's slight health concerns and riskier style of play Ducks might select Buium. He also looks NHL/AHL ready, which Parekh isn't.

At no. 4 could Columbus go either direction. They need forwards the most, so big center Lindstrom could be preferred in front of smaller winger Demidov. Their LHD prospects pool is also numerous, but not necessery the best. So let's say Silayev or Dickinson also make sense to them. Sure, Columbus can select Silayev in front of Demidov.

At. no. 5 it could come down to Montreal. Would you rather have Lindstrom or Demidov? I would say they would prefer Lindstrom. They might have the most numerous prospects pool, but are almost empty on centers (Owen Beck?).

At no. 6 is Utah almost empty on RHD (Soderstrom is 23, Lamouroux is 20). I can justify they could select either Parekh or Yakemchuk in front of Demidov. Each of the couple is a 30-goal scorer. These D-men are rare while offensive wingers are common. Sure, Utah selects 6ft3 Yakemcuk.

If at no. 7 Ottawa would have a chance to draft Parekh, would they pass on him? I don't think they would. Again, 30-goal scoring D-men don't come along often. So I say Ottawa selects offensive RHD in front of offensive winger.

At no. 8 Seattle has great forward group in the AHL/juniors. Defense? Not so much, especially LHD. With Evans being at least part-time NHL-er it's more or less just Caden Price. Sure, Seattle takes guaranteed NHL-caliber D-man, Dickinson.


Let's say the order so far is Celebrini, Levshunov, Buium, Silayev, Lindstrom, Yakemchuk, Parekh, Dickinson.

At no. 9 it comes to Calgary to decide between Jerome's son and Demidov. Should I try to justify Calgary should select Iginla in front of Demidov? I give up, Calgary selects Demidov. Jerome is a grown man, he will understand.

So at no. 2 Chicago selects Demidov or... ?

See? There is no obvious fit at top of draft and many teams would be passing on major needs to take him. For others, I would be uncharacteristic if their general managers.

Taking your scenario a step further…if Calgary takes Tij. I don’t believe NJD would take him. Buffalo is loaded with young wingers. Philly then becomes the question…and it would be wild if PHI gets Michkov at #7 and Demidov at #12.

Excuse me?

All year long, Chicago fans #1 counter argument for Bedard over Faber for the Calder, aside from him being the presumptive winner of said award before the season started, was that he was playing on a island with nobody's and was that productive despite playing with 4th line scrubs.

So, which is it?

Does Chicago need talented wingers next to Bedard? Or are they so good on the wing that they can afford to miss on a potential franchise winger? Whose dynamism is comparable to Patrick Kane.

Michkov is currently considered the best winger prospect in the world, and yet the talking heads are saying that Demidov is a better player with better potential then him.

Hawk fans can't have it both ways. It's one or the other. You either desperately need the winger to pair with Bedard, or you lose the *being on a island alone excuse when it comes to the Calder argument*.

Yes, there is a legitimate argument to be made that if you want a #1RHD, this is the draft to do it. But the one instance you take the winger over the future #1RHD is when that winger has franchise level potential.

Davidson just acquired more draft capital this past week. It would make sense that he's planning on using that to try and move up the board on draft day. IMO, he's planning on taking Demidov at #2 and then try and move back into range to nab himself one of the remaining D with top-pair potential around the #11-14 selection range.

The problem with that, is that Chicago has just as big a need for a franchise winger level talent to pair with Bedard as they do for a future #1RHD.

So I am really not understanding this idea that Demidov isn't a fit for the Hawks. Because he absolutely is.

Given the disparity between finding a almost surefire franchise level wing is actually worse than finding a #1RHD. They should take Demidov over Levshunov, and then move back into range to nab one of the remaining D-men who's left in the 11-15 range.

Could see that. But do they want a 1st unit with Bedard and Demidov? I am all for littles, but I think they would be better off with Levshunov and one of the middle-1st forwards (Iginla, MBN, Sennecke, Boisvert)

2025 draft has some really good power forward options with size and top-six potential. I think could go that route then, especially if they can obtain any additional 1st's for next year's draft.

Or look to FA. They'll have both the cap space needed and with Bedard + Demidov, they'll be a Hotspot destination for future FA signings.

I am a Hawks fan, that is not true

At least to me, Levshunov does not look like a #1 D. He looks good at most things but great at nothing. Not the kind of guy you take with the 2nd pick. Demidov's skill is too much to pass up. Hawks do have many small ish forwards but Demidov is clearly BPA and that is what the Hawks' GM said he was going to do

I think Monteal would take Demidov at 5 to be honest.
Just my opinion.
They need ONE THING: elite offense.

I don't think your choices are too bad, I also don't think demidov is going to fall, especially as far as not even having him on the 1st round. lol. as far as your other choices go, i don't think you have researched some of the players enough yet to determine them going as far down as you have, such as Carter yakemchuk and sam dickenson. Now i will go as far to say that the top 10 players in the first round can go anywhere in the top 10. except celebrini and artyom who are clear top 3 players. but you have some players ranked pretty high also that probably shouldn't be that high like adam jiricek at 17? i will also say that sometimes in the draft players jump into crazy positions that make everyone go whaaaa??? but those are a little far off to agree with that will happen to with how you ranked them, dont you think? after researching every teams roster and what they could use in ths draft from whatever info i know of them, a lot of these teams would benefit from trading up or down for players as well, so i think it is possible some drop further than they are listed to be drafted at only becuase teams aren't in need of those positions. Nice list and thanks for sharing.