The Chicago Blackhawks have had some very good young players come out of the NCAA over the past couple of seasons and are already impacting the team in the NHL. There are plenty more to come as we are going to highlight four in particular that are having strong seasons in 2025-26.
The Blackhawks still have three first-round picks that are unsigned, and two of them, who are featured in this group, won't sign until they choose to leave college and turn pro. The first is Sacha Boisvert, a 19-year-old 18th overall pick from 2024. There are some strong players on Boston University, where Boisvert plays, like Cole Eiserman and Cole Hutson. Boisvert is tied for fourth on the team in points with 15 (three goals), but is second on the team in point-per-game. He could still see some more time in the NCAA and the expectation is that he starts scoring more goals like he has at every level in his hockey career.
Vaclav Nestrasil is the other unsigned first-round pick of the Blackhawks that is in the NCAA, playing for the University of Massachusetts. He sits second on the team in goals (11) and points (23) as an 18-year-old, and by the way he's tracking compared to Boisvert, though he was drafted a year later, they could both enter the AHL at the same time. This massive winger has a good chance of being an impact player in the NHL in a couple of years for Chicago.
While Boisvert and Nestrasil aren't locks to become everyday NHLers or have long careers, they are much more known and more likely than John Mustard, someone much less talked about in the Blackhawks' organization. This 19-year-old was drafted in the third round in 2024 and attends Providence College, where he has 11 goals and 20 points in 27 games. He will have a bit of a longer path to the NHL if he makes it and hasn't made waves in the NCAA, but he is having a good season and worth mentioning.
The final NCAA prospect of the Blackhawks that is having an impressive season is Adam Gajan, and he needed it. Once seen as the top goalie prospect in the organization, his first season in the NCAA for the University of Minnesota-Duluth was a challenge as he finished 21 games with a 3.33 GAA and .885 SV%. He's now 15-11-0 this season with a much-improved 2.29 GAA and .905 SV%, trending in the right direction. The 21-year-old will likely play another year in college before turning pro, but he could be competing with Drew Commesso soon enough for the next spot on the Blackhawks as the backup.
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