The Chicago Blackhawks' front office is putting a lot of focus on the upcoming draft. They are going to miss the playoffs this season for the first time since 2008 and a retooling phase is already underway. The Blackhawks are currently in the lottery, with their own first-round pick, while just acquiring another first-round pick from the Nashville Predators for Ryan Hartman. Two first-round picks is certainly a rarity for the Blackhawks, considering they have had only one in the past three years combined.

One of the top priorities, moving forward, is rebuilding the defense.

The Blackhawks have plenty of forwards, both young and old, including their current top-two promising kids, Nick Schmaltz and Alex DeBrincat. The team’s defensive corps, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook, have seen Father Time take its toll on their performance, and other depth experiments like Jan Rutta and Connor Murphy have also not reached a desirable level.

Lottery pick

Chicago is in a spot to be part of the lottery in the upcoming draft. They currently have 62 points with 19 games left to play. Only seven other teams have fewer points, with the current final lottery team (Colorado) having nine more points than the Blackhawks. The teams with the highest lottery odds, just based on record, are the Arizona Coyotes (46 points) followed by the Buffalo Sabres (49 points) and the Ottawa Senators (52 points).

If the Blackhawks play around .500 hockey in the last 19 games and finish with 80-ish points, they will finish around the middle of the lottery pack.

While numbers are not exact, it is harder to know with the NHL's lottery system, but finishing around the same spot, the Blackhawks are now given roughly a 15-20 percent chance of a top-three pick.

A first-overall pick would be roughly a five percent chance. Again, this is all based on if they play around .500 the rest of the way. Even if they play above .500, they will still be in the lottery, they just won't have as good of a chance to secure a top pick.

If the Blackhawks get insanely lucky and win that first-overall pick, no doubt they are going with Swedish star Rasmus Dahlin in the draft.

Hard to count on it, but there is always a chance.

Nashville's pick

The pick that the Blackhawks got from Nashville for Hartman is a late first-round pick. Considering that the Predators got to the Stanley Cup Finals last year and are one of the top teams in hockey this year, there was never a chance that it would be anything more than one of the last picks in round one. Still, a first-round pick is a first-round pick.

This draft has some very talented defensemen, and the Blackhawks may use both first-round picks on d-men. Or they can go a d-man and a center, since they have good wing depth as it is. Goalies will be an issue to address but that will come in the later rounds.
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