Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson has plenty of decisions ahead after draft lottery result

CHICAGO — If the Chicago Blackhawks had won the first or second pick in the 2026 NHL Draft Lottery on Tuesday, general manager Kyle Davidson’s offseason would have gotten a lot easier.

Davidson could have drafted Gavin McKenna or Ivar Stenberg with one of those picks and known he was likely adding a winger who would join the Blackhawks’ lineup for the 2026-27 season. If that happened, and if forward prospect Roman Kantserov decided to leave Russia and sign with the Blackhawks for next season, Davidson’s offseason could have been mostly complete. In that scenario, he would have had two exciting top-six forwards to add to his mix, and the future would have looked somewhat different.

The lottery balls didn’t pop the Blackhawks’ way on Tuesday, though, and they had to settle for the fourth pick, their lowest possible after finishing in 31st place.

While the Blackhawks wish they were picking first or second, it’s not as if they dread picking fourth. They weren’t even sure a year ago they’d be drafting this high again and would have been content not to. The only draft lottery that really mattered to them was 2023, the year they won the right to select Connor Bedard.

They expected another early pick in 2024, and that came in higher than expected with Artyom Levshunov as the No. 2 pick. To also get the opportunity to draft Anton Frondell at No. 3 last year and then whoever they take at No. 4 this year is welcomed by the Blackhawks, even if not fully planned for.

Davidson is more than fine with fourth this year.

“I think we were expecting, based on the odds, that it was going to be three or four and it was four,” Davidson said after the lottery. “We’ll have picked one, two, three, four in my tenure here, so complete the set. But we’re going to get a great player. We’re going to get a really good player. If you had asked me a couple days ago how many players could be in contention for something like this, I probably could have put five or six guys in the mix. So we’re going to get a player we absolutely love, we see as a very important piece of this moving forward.”

Two things can be true. The Blackhawks can view another No. 4 pick as a positive in the bigger picture. It can also mean Davidson could have a less straightforward offseason ahead of him.

For one, what piece the Blackhawks are adding to their Stanley Cup-building puzzle isn’t as obvious as it would have been if they were drafting first or second. It’s extremely unlikely that McKenna or Stenberg will fall to them at No. 4. Beyond them at forward, Caleb Malhotra could be intriguing as potentially the best center in the draft, but he doesn’t exactly fit what they already have in their pool. Tynan Lawrence is another forward who was considered a potential No. 1 pick earlier in the year, but his draft stock has fallen.

If the Blackhawks are drafting the best possible player at No. 4, it could be a defenseman. A lot of draft pundits, including at The Athletic, have maneuvered a handful of defensemen inside their top six all year, along with McKenna and Stenberg. Carson Carels, Chase Reid, Alberts Smits and Keaton Verhoeff could be among the defensemen at No. 4.

Of course, drafting another defenseman would complicate the Blackhawks’ roster pool. Between Levshunov, Sam Rinzel, Alex Vlasic, Wyatt Kaiser, Kevin Korchinski, Louis Crevier and Ethan Del Mastro, the Blackhawks have seven defensemen who are 25 or younger and whom they see as potential NHLers. Levshunov and Rinzel, both right-handed and envisioned as potential top-four and power-play defensemen, could make the Blackhawks lean toward a left-shot defenseman such as Carels. Again, drafting another potential high-end defenseman isn’t necessarily a negative, but it would create some tough decisions for Davidson.

Davidson welcomes that possibility. This is what it often takes to build a Stanley Cup contender. Because of all of Chicago’s early-round picks, he’s always expected to make tough decisions eventually.

“We’re looking for the best players and who is going to be the best, not right away, but long term and who is going to be the best fit,” Davidson said. “So there’s going to be competition if that’s the direction we go and we were to draft another defenseman, same thing if we draft another centerman or winger. It’s a competition.

“We want to be the best team we can be. The way we do that is by creating competition. Again, if we’ve got too many players we like, that’s a good problem to have and we’ll solve that one. Because again, good players are something that’s in high demand, so we can figure that out. We’re just looking for the best players, then we’ll find what the optimal mix is at the right time.”

Drafting another defenseman that high could mean that player is ready for the NHL within a few years, just like Levshunov and Rinzel. The Blackhawks’ other defensemen will be older and more experienced at that point, so some of that could be clearer. Davidson also has an interesting decision ahead of him this offseason in whether to pursue a veteran defenseman to add to the young group that ended this season. A veteran, puck-moving defenseman might be beneficial, at least in the short term. But adding someone like that also brings along other decisions.

Davidson will also have to give some additional thought to his NHL forward group for next season. While Kantserov is still a real possibility — Davidson said he hoped to talk to him in the coming weeks about next season — not having the chance to draft McKenna or Stenberg does alter what the future forward group will look like. Could Davidson be more aggressive in searching for a top-six forward in free agency or via trade? Time will tell. He has said he’d explore that.

There is always the chance Davidson could trade the No. 4 pick, too.

“No matter where we ended up, I would have been open to talking to anyone about anything, up, down, out, who knows,” Davidson said. “You have to be open to anything and consider it. But it’s pretty rare those kinds of picks are traded, but we’ll see what’s out there. Something new comes along every year, so we’ll see.”

Davidson’s offseason may have been a little less wait-and-see if he had landed the first or second pick. Now with the fourth pick, it’s not necessarily worse, just different. There are more lanes for him to choose from. We’ll see.

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated Anton Frondell’s draft position. He was the No. 3 pick in last year’s NHL Draft.