{"id":625990,"date":"2026-05-06T02:25:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T02:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/625990\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T02:25:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T02:25:09","slug":"blackhawks-fall-to-no-4-pick-in-nhl-draft-lottery-as-maple-leafs-sharks-jump-over-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/625990\/","title":{"rendered":"Blackhawks fall to No. 4 pick in NHL Draft Lottery as Maple Leafs, Sharks jump over them"},"content":{"rendered":"

The worst-case scenario, albeit also the most likely one, unfolded for the Blackhawks<\/a> on Tuesday in the NHL Draft Lottery.<\/p>\n

The Hawks, who again finished 31st in the NHL this season, fell to the fourth overall pick in next month\u2019s draft, their lowest slot in four years. They had 13.5% and 14.1% chances of winning the No. 1 or No.\u2009\u20092 picks, respectively. They had a 30.7% chance of getting the No.\u2009\u20093 pick and a 41.7% chance at No. 4.<\/p>\n

The Maple Leafs jumped over them for the top spot, and the Sharks jumped over them for No. 2. That pushed the last-place Canucks down to No. 3.<\/p>\n

Hawks general manager Kyle Davidson joked that the Hawks will \u201ccomplete the set,\u201d having picked at No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and now No. 4 over the last four years.<\/p>\n

They hope to not be in this range again next year or after.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you asked me a couple days ago how many players could be in contention [for the pick] .\u2009.\u2009. I probably could\u2019ve put five or six guys into the mix,\u201d Davidson said. \u201cWe just have to wait and see who\u2019s on the board. There\u2019s a little more uncertainty there. But we\u2019re going to get a good piece.\u201d<\/p>\n

Come draft day June 26, Davidson may end up choosing within a large group of defensemen including Chase Reid, Keaton Verhoeff, Carson Carels and Alberts Smits.<\/p>\n

He likely won\u2019t have a shot at top forward prospects Gavin McKenna<\/a> and Ivar Stenberg, although the lottery wins by the Leafs and Sharks \u2014 two teams who need defensive help more than offensive help \u2014 could inject some intrigue into that discussion.<\/p>\n

One forward who could be in play at No. 4 is center Caleb Malhotra, who has surged in public rankings lately because of a productive playoff run with the Ontario Hockey League\u2019s Brantford Bulldogs. That\u2019s a team the Hawks watch closely because 2024 first-round pick Marek Vanacker also plays for them. But Malhotra\u2019s father, Manny, is the coach of the Canucks\u2019 AHL affiliate, and the Canucks reportedly are quite interested in him.<\/p>\n

Reid, a Michigan State commit, is a dyna-mic offensive defenseman who has emerged as arguably the top player in the draft at his position. Verhoeff, a North Dakota freshman, is a stout defensive defenseman. Carels and Smits fall between them on that spectrum but aren\u2019t quite as hyped.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also possible the Hawks could trade their pick for an established NHL player. David-son said he\u2019s \u201copen to talking to anyone about anything\u201d but he added it\u2019s \u201cpretty rare that those kinds of picks are traded.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hawks have eight picks in all, including three in the second round, so there\u2019s much planning to do. Davidson will begin meeting with amateur scouting director Mike Done-ghey and his staff next week. He also will meet with tons of prospects during the NHL combine May 31-June 6 in Buffalo, New York.<\/p>\n

Davidson said he\u2019s more patient now than he used to be in finalizing internal draft rankings.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou understand how much time you actually have and that you don\u2019t need all the answers to the test in April,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got until June, so you take it to June to turn over every stone and watch every piece of video and pore back over information.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an exciting part of the process, not only for myself but for the scouts. We ask them to come in and pitch us on the players who they love. In a way, you\u2019re asking them to take guys they\u2019ve seen [for] years and be salesmen on behalf of a player or someone they\u2019re really passionate about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Note: Hawks center Connor Bedard won\u2019t play for Canada in the world championships this spring in order to rest and strengthen his right shoulder, which he injured in December.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The worst-case scenario, albeit also the most likely one, unfolded for the Blackhawks on Tuesday in the NHL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-625990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}