Chicago Blackhawks: 1 prospect is worth rebuilding for in 2021-22

The Chicago Blackhawks, in all likelihood, are going to be a bad hockey team in 2021-22. They are one of the worst ran teams in the National Hockey League and it continues to get worse and worse. With all of the off-ice issues that they are dealing with right now, it is the perfect time to clean house. If they were to do that, they likely would be doing the future of the franchise well.

It would cause the team to be bad for a while but that is the key to rebuilding sometimes. Landing a franchise-altering draft pick is a possibility if they are bad enough in 2021-22. After the Duncan Keith trade, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews are the only core members of the dynasty left. However, there are some good young players to continue building around and developing.

Being a bad team in 2021-22 could be the best thing for the Chicago Blackhawks.

There are some prospects that you watch play for their junior teams or their college teams and they look like NHL stars in the making. Then, there are other players that look just a little bit different than even the best prospects in the world. Everyone knew that kids like Patrick Kane, Nathan MacKinnon, and Jack Eichel would develop into MVP caliber players but guys like Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid were just a little different.

There is a kid like that in the 2022 NHL Draft named Shane Wright. He is going to be the number one overall pick in that draft and teams are going to load up the tank for a player like him. He is known as an exceptional two-way player that can play at an elite level in all three zones.

He played for the Under-18 Team Canada this year as an underage player and led them to a Gold Medal. He was the captain of the team as an underage player which tells you everything you need to know about his maturity in comparison to his peers. In that tournament, he scored five goals and had nine assists for 14 points in five games.

He didn’t play for his OHL team, the Kingston Frontenacs in 2020-21 because of COVID-19 canceling their season. The year before that, he had 39 goals and 27 assists for 66 points in 58 games for them. That is crazy for a kid that was 15 and 16 throughout that season. In fact, that OHL rookie point total broke Connor McDavid’s points per game record. He is going to put up otherworldly numbers in his draft season if he stays healthy.

In order to play in the OHL at such a young age, you have to be granted “exceptional player status”. Obviously, Wright was given that honor. He joins John Tavares, Aaron Ekblad, Connor McDavid, Sean Day, and Joe Veleno as the only players to ever receive that honor. He is going to be a stud in the NHL and there is little doubt about it.

If the Hawks were able to land a kid like Wright, they would have the next big NHL superstar. Being a mediocre team in 2021-22 isn’t worth letting a chance to draft him slip away. Obviously, the lottery balls need to land your way but giving yourself a good chance might be the key.