"Country Strong" Marek Vanacker, Blackhawks' Third 2024 First-Round Pick, Impresses With Grinding Work Ethic

Vanacker is working on shoulder rehab, not a watermelon farm, this summer as he preps for big season with OHL Brantford Bulldogs.

Marek Vanacker is used to grinding work. The 6-foot-1 left wing usually spends summers helping his uncle on a watermelon farm near his hometown of Delhi, Ontario, earning him the label "country strong" in one scouting report.

It's fitting. In Dutch "Vanacker" refers to someone from the farmland.

Vanacker, drafted 27th overall by the Blackhawks in June, has had to take easier this offseason as he recovers from a what turned to to be a significant injury. No, he didn't get his "melon rung" in an OHL game with Brantford Bulldogs, but had surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder. He played with the condition most of his second junior season when he scored team-leading 36 goals and 82 points for the Bulldogs. 

"He plays so hard," Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson said. "Gets his nose into every battle, he's not afraid and scores greasy goals. I believe his game is extremely translatable to the pro level."

Davidson actually had gone to see Nick Lardis, a 2023 draftee, play with Brantford last winter. But the GM was so impressed by Vanacker that he returned to scout the winger "six or seven times and just came away every time really impressed and he always impacted the game positively." See following video.

So Davidson went out his his way to add a third first-round slot at the 2024 Upper Deck NHL Draft that allowed him select Vanacker. The Blackhawks obtained the 27th overall spot from the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for the 34^th and 50^th overall picks (second-rounders) in the 2024 draft.

"We liked him enough where it was necessary to do that," Davidson said. "You never know. We don't think he would have been there at 34, but we just had him high enough on the list and enough value in him as a player where it was a no-brainer to try and move up" See following video.

Chicago had already selected defenseman Artyom Levshunov with the No. 2 overall pick and forward Sacha Boisvert in the 18th slot. See stories in the links.

Vanacker, 18, posted career highs in games played (68), goals (36), assists (46) and points (82) with the Bulldogs during the 2023-24 campaign. 

The 18-year-old had surgery in late spring and is expected to be sidelined until December. Vanacker will return for a third season with the Bulldogs, whose home rink is about 30 miles up the road from Delhi. 

"I'm looking to do some big things, hopefully be in a key role for my team back in Brantford," Vanacker said. "We're going to have a strong team and I just want to be a key part in that all over the ice.

"No real set numbers or anything like that, kind of just play my game and set myself as that go-to player."  See the following video.

Vanacker sustained his shoulder injury back in November in a game against the London Knights, but didn’t think it was a broken bone and dismissed it. He didn’t miss a single game.

“I don’t think it affected me a whole lot," Vanacker said. "I just kind of played through it and didn’t know what it was at the time anyways. I just tried to remove it from my mind."

After Brantford was eliminated in the first round of the OHL playoffs, Vanacker played for Canada at the IIHF U18 Men’s World Championship where his team won gold. After his season concluded, Vanacker learned he had torn his labrum and would need surgery to repair it.

Including Vanacker, Chicago has now made the most first-round selections of any NHL club over the last three Upper Deck NHL Drafts (Eight picks).