Blackhawks News: A goalie leads their second-round selections

Before the second round of the 2023 NHL Draft began, the Chicago Blackhawks made a trade with the New York Islanders. They took a 2026 second-round pick to take Josh Bailey for a year for future considerations.

Obviously, that is a very smart trade for Kyle Davidson. Bailey will play some good minutes for them and they get a second-round pick down the line out of it.

Not long after that trade was made, the second round got underway. The Hawks made the third pick of the round (35th overall) and they selected a goalie.

Adam Gajan was the first goalie selected by an NHL team this year and he is hoping to call Chicago home one day. He is a very good goaltending prospect out of Slovakia.

The Chicago Blackhawks made a few surprising moves in the second round.

It is somewhat of an odd pick considering the Hawks have Arvid Soderblom and Drew Commesso in their system right now but you can never have too many good goalies.

They came up again with pick 44 and selected Roman Kantserov. He is a forward that comes from Russia. He is a very nifty passer that can make quick plays using his hockey smarts.

Right after that, the Hawks made a trade. They sent pick 51 to the Philadelphia Flyers for pick 167 and a second-round pick in 2024 that originally belonged to the Los Angeles Kings.

That left one last pick in the second round for Chicago as they took Martin Misiak with the 55th overall pick. The Hawks could use some size down the middle and that is what they will be getting in their organization with the Slovakian, Martin Misiak.

This is a very interesting set of selections by the Chicago Blackhawks here in the second round. Only time will tell if they are good but there were some reaches. There are plenty of good players to consider in the other rounds of this great draft as well.