The Stanley Cup Final showed a huge Blackhawks draft mistake

The Chicago Blackhawks have made a lot of mistakes through the years. There have been more mistakes than triumphs lately and that is why they are one of the worst teams in the National Hockey League right now. Then there are the successful teams that take advantage of the bad team’s mistakes.

One of those elite teams is the Colorado Avalanche. They won their franchise’s third Stanley Cup on Sunday in six games over the Tampa Bay Lightning. It was an amazing performance for them as they finally reached their true potential.

Colorado took advantage of one of the Blackhawks’ biggest mistakes that they made. In 2019, the Blackhawks were lucky enough to win the third spot in the lottery. With the third overall pick, they selected Kirby Dach.

It was obvious that Bowen Byram, a defenseman, was the best option for them as he has the potential of being a number one guy. With guys like Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook on their way out, it was clearly something they could have used.

The Chicago Blackhawks let Bowen Byram slip away and now he’s a champion.

Well, thanks to a good trade, Colorado had the fourth pick and they didn’t miss. Byram was there for them because Stan Bowman didn’t want to take the best player that just so happened to fit his team’s needs as well.

Colorado selected Byram and developed him the right way. This year, he has gotten to gel with some of the great defenders that they have on that team and he was amazing. He didn’t blow up the score sheet every night as Cale Makar did in his rookie year but that part is coming.

He was a very good player on both sides of the puck that Colorado is going to enjoy for over a decade now. He even made one of the biggest plays of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final as he put one on a tee for Nathan MacKinnon to rifle home for a goal. He has the ability to do that regularly.

Of course, things would be different if he were on the Chicago Blackhawks as the roster is nowhere near that of the Colorado Avalanche. However, they would be much closer to rebuilding the right way if they had Bowen Byram in their system.

Kirby Dach is not a bad player but he would go much later if that draft was redone. Having a defenseman like Byram right now would be amazing as this team tries to move forward but now they have to try and find the next version of him. This is going to be a long rebuild.