Chicago Blackhawks select Artyom Levshunov with 2nd overall pick in NHL Draft
LAS VEGAS -- The Chicago Blackhawks influenced how the NHL Draft unfolded Friday in having the No. 2 pick, a year after choosing center Connor Bedard with the No. 1 pick in 2023.
The team took Michigan State defenseman Artyom Levshunov of Belarus. Bedard announced the pick at the Las Vegas Sphere.
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GM Kyle Davidson said his staff enjoyed a healthy debate in reaching their decision.
"There's great options. And so when you have great options, then you have to talk it through," Davidson said Thursday. "If it was a no-brainer, then we probably would have known months ago or whenever the lottery was."
The prevailing wisdom had Chicago's choice split between Levshunov, another defenseman, Russian Anton Silayev, and Russian forward Ivan Demidov.
While Levshunov left his native Belarus to play in North America two years ago, the Russian prospects raise questions because NHL teams are restricted from entering the country to scout and meet players since the war in Ukraine.
Davidson didn't meet Silayev, who is listed at 6-foot-7 and 211 pounds, but did get a chance to meet Demidov at a player agent-run combine of Russian players in Florida last week.
"A really impressive young man," Davidson said of Demidov. "It was a really great piece of information for us. And a great sort of button to put on the draft process that was necessary for everything to come in."
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The San Jose Sharks added a foundational piece to their rebuilding plan by choosing Boston University center Macklin Celebrini with the first pick in the NHL draft Friday.
Celebrini's selection came as no surprise after the 18-year-old became just the fourth freshman to win the Hobey Baker Award as college hockey's top player. He did so as the nation's youngest player, too, finishing second with 34 goals and third with 64 points in 38 games.
The 6-foot, 200-pound player from North Vancouver, British Columbia, already has ties to the Bay Area. Celebrini played for the Junior Sharks program after his father, Rick, was hired to be the Golden State Warriors' sports medicine director.
Celebrini was undecided on whether he will return to BU for a second year, but he deepens a talented prospect pool on a Sharks team in the midst of its longest playoff drought, now spanning five years.
Anaheim was set to pick third, followed by Columbus and Montreal. The Utah Hockey Club was set to pick sixth after the franchise relocated from Arizona to Salt Lake City in April.
Celebrini's selection was announced by former Sharks star Joe Thornton - drafted No. 1 by Boston in 1997. Thornton opened by saying, "The San Jose Sharks are proud to select from Boston University," before briefly pausing with a smile, and then said Celebrini's name and pointing to him in the stands.
The draft featured the added spectacle of being held at the year-old Sphere, a globe-shaped venue over-looking the Las Vegas strip and featuring video screens on the inside and outside of its structure.
The 32 teams were gathered at tables beneath the wrap-around screen covering almost three-quarters of the curved wall broadcasting scenes from the draft to the crowd overlooking the floor and seated the multi-deck facility. The draft opened with the screen featuring pictures of more than 100 of the eligible prospects.
A small stage was erected in the middle of the floor, where Commissioner Gary Bettman was joined by teams to announce the selections.
Celebrini failed to register a point in just six games at BU. His production accelerated over the second half of the season by combining for 22 goals and 39 points in his final 17 games in helping the Terriers reach the Frozen Four, which they lost in the semifinal to eventual champion Denver.
An NHL Central Scouting report referred to him as being "a strong skater with fluid stride, elusive speed and quickness. ... The go-to for one-timers on the power play. Plays a heads-up complete game."
Whenever Celebrini turns pro upon consulting with his family, the Sharks and BU, he'll join a Sharks' youth movement that includes their two first-round picks last year, forwards Will Smith and OHL forward Quentin Musty. Then there's the Swedish duo of Filip Bystedt, San Jose's 2022 first-round pick, who made his minor-league debut last season, and William Eklund, who has 18 goals and 52 points in 97 NHL games since being drafted seventh in '21.
"Having the first overall pick, it's a big moment for the organization, to have someone hopefully that can be a big part of our core and play here for a long, long time," third-year GM Mike Grier said earlier this week.
"It's definitely doing a good job of laying (the foundation). I don't know if it's finishing the foundation," he added. "It's definitely an important time, an important draft, but we still got some work to do to kind of round things out and keep building up the prospect pool."
