Chicago Blackhawks: Kirby Dach’s NHL Network ranking too low
The Chicago Blackhawks made the third overall pick in the draft, and the pick got mixed reviews but the newest NHL Network prospect rankings make it worse.
The Chicago Blackhawks got very lucky when they moved up in the Draft Lottery and earned the right to make the 3rd overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft. They were really where the intrigue started with the draft because it was all but known that the New Jersey Devils were going to select Jack Hughes with the first overall pick and the New York Rangers were going to select Kaapo Kakko with the second overall pick.
The Blackhawks were rumored to be thinking of taking many different players. They were horrible defensively in 2018-19 and very good offensively so most believed they would take the best defenseman in the draft, Bowen Byram. They passed on Byram and selected a center named Kirby Dach. It is no disrespect to Dach to say that if Byram is truly believed to be a future number one defenseman than the Blackhawks probably made a mistake.
The NHL Network released their Top 50 Prospect Rankings and it wasn’t very fun to see Dach ranked as the ninth-best prospect in the world after being the third overall pick. It made it even worse to see that Byram was ranked fourth behind Hughes, Kakko, and Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar. Byram and Makar are likely going to be a great duo someday for the Avalanche, right there in the Blackhawks division.
The thing now though is that the pick was made and it is final. The Blackhawks need to be confident with their pick and develop Dach into a high-end NHL center. He certainly has the potential and can hopefully prove everyone wrong about his pre and post-draft rankings. He has looked very good for the Blackhawks in his development camp and for Team Canada in the World Junior Summer Showcase.
He has the ability to use size and skill to make plays and create time and space for his wingers. He made some impressive plays to set up some nice goals in development camp and is showing that his skating is a little bit more improved as he plays in the WJSS for Canada.
He will be given the opportunity to make the team out of camp but it might be best for him to return to junior for another year and get another World Junior Championships tournament under his belt. It would be good to see him dominate his peers at his current level for one more year and then be ready for 2020-21. If he makes the Chicago roster, that means he was impressive in training camp and the preseason and you should trust whatever decision they make.
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It is frustrating to know that this player is being a bit disrespected by these rankings, especially when the Blackhawks passed on Byram after a really bad year defensively. But, Dach is the guy now for Chicago and fans should be rooting for him to prove the doubters wrong.