Chicago Blackhawks: Profiling second round pick Alex Vlasic
The Chicago Blackhawks made a really smart pick in the second round of the 2019 NHL Draft that should really excite the fans.
The Chicago Blackhawks made a bit of a splash when they selected Kirby Dach with the first overall pick and it certainly got mixed reactions. Some people thought they would go in a different direction with that pick but Dach is the guy in that round.
In the second round, however, there wasn’t much debate on whether or not they made the right decision. They selected defenseman Alex Vlasic from the United States National Development Program with the 43rd overall pick in the draft. This player fell to the Hawks at 43 because he was ranked by most in the late 20s or early 30s. Normally those fringe first/second rounders get picked right around their spot but the Blackhawks may have found a gem with Vlasic at pick 43.
If you feel like you’ve seen the name Vlasic connected to hockey before its because you have. Alex’s cousin is San Jose Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic. Marc-Edouard was and still is an incredible defenseman for the Sharks and was also a stud for Team Canada in his career. Hard to project that Alex was that good but it certainly isn’t a bad thing to have a guy like that in your family.
He played for the absolutely stacked United States National Development Program team that had more than half their team drafted and eight of them in the first round. In 61 games he had 4 goals and 23 assists for 27 points. He was very good defensively and can turn that into rushes using his skating and great hockey IQ. He has the ability to keep shooting and passing lanes for opponents closed as well as defend odd man rushes.
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Selecting Vlasic was an awesome decision by the Blackhawks. You can never have too many defensemen in the system and hope as many of them pan out as possible. They still don’t have a future number one guy and they passed on Bowen Byram for Dach, but they have plenty of depth at the position in the organization now. This kid could develop into a great player and some time at Boston University will do him good. That is where you will be able to catch Vlasic next season as he prepares to make the jump to the NHL one day.