The Blackhawks selected an excellent crop of prospects at the 2023 draft and it has the potential to be the best in franchise history.

The Chicago Blackhawks have done very well in the drafts in recent years, especially the 2023 NHL Entry Draft that could very well turn into the best in team history. 

There's more to 2023 for Chicago than just No. 1 overall pick Connor Bedard. 

General manager Kyle Davidson and his staff have been drafting high-end talent for several years. They've stocked Chicago's organization and pipeline very well so the Blackhawks can thrive for a long time.

It's not so easy to have the best draft in franchise history though, especially on an Original Six team. A lot has to go right, and it has started the right way for the group of 11 prospects drafted last summer.

It should be a fun ride. Chicago has had three drafts that stand out as top tier that 2023 should stack up to. 

One is a bit of recency bias from 2011 that had pieces that lead to Stanley Cups during the Blackhawks' 2010s dynasty era. Another is the famous 2003 draft. The oldest is the 1980 draft that may be forgotten about, but was stellar.

Players From the Big 3 Drafts in Blackhawks History

The Blackhawks 2011 draft may be the weakest of the three, but it was important at the time and helped Chicago win. The three main names attached were Phillip Danault, Brandon Saad and Andrew Shaw.

Blackhawks 2011 Draft Notables

Danault was a first-round pick, but not the initial first-round pick that year by the Blackhawks. He might not be the example of what helped the Blackhawks win, but he is a very good two-way center who has impacted the Montreal Canadiens and Los Angeles Kings in a great way for nearly his entire career. 

Danault has 117 goals and 351 points in 631 games to go along with four top-8 finishes in Selke Trophy voting and five seasons in which he received votes (excluding 2023-24 where the results have yet to come out).

Saad was drafted in the second round in 2011, but was the Blackhawks' fourth pick in the draft, meaning that there was a second-rounder drafted before him. He is a two-time Cup winner (both with Chicago), seven-time 20-goal scorer, received votes for the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy in four seasons, and votes for the Selke Trophy in one. Saad has scored 253 goals and 499 points in 863 games while always stepping up in the playoffs.

Shaw was the latest impact player drafted that year and he went in the fifth round. He didn't have a long career as he's already retired, but he was a disturber that is the type of player that is needed to win. 

Shaw played 10 seasons in total, but seven for the Blackhawks and won two Stanley Cups, making big plays and scoring big goals in the postseason. He had injury problems, but scored 116 goals and 247 points in 544 games to go along with 573 penalty minutes and 1044 hits.

There were five other players who played at least a game in the NHL in the 2011 draft and only three of 11 who didn't, a good ratio. Klas Dahlbeck played 170 games, Adam Clendening played 90 games, and Mark McNeill, Michael Paliotta, and Alex Broadhurst all played just two games. The draft produced three solid NHL players, but it's nothing compared to the 2003 draft.

Famous 2003 NHL Entry Draft

The 2003 NHL draft is known to be the best in history, and the Blackhawks struck gold, drafting Brent Seabrook, Corey Crawford, and Dustin Byfuglien — all key figures on their Stanley Cup teams.

Seabrook played 15 years, all for the Blackhawks, won three Stanley Cups, and received Norris Trophy votes in three seasons. He was one of the pillars of the Blackhawks' dynasty. Seabrook played 1,114 regular season games and 123 playoff games while being an amazing shutdown defender.

Crawford played in 488 games, a good amount for a goalie, especially with the quality he gave the Blackhawks as a franchise netminder. Crawford was a two-time Cup winner, two-time William M. Jennings Trophy winner, and received Vezina Trophy votes three times (all top-8 finishes). He had a record of 260-162-53 to go along with a career 2.45 GAA, .918 SV%, and 26 shutouts. 

Byfuglien only won one Stanley Cup with the Blackhawks before being traded in 2010 to the Atlanta Thrashers. He was one of the most physically dominant players to play in the NHL and combined that with a ton of talent considering he finished nine seasons with 12+ goals and reached the 20-goal mark twice in his career as a defenseman. Byfuglien received Norris trophy votes in six seasons and Hart Trophy votes once.

The rest of the draft included Chris Porter (234 games played), Lasse Kukkonen (159 GP), Michal Barinka (34 GP), and Mike Brodeur (seven GP).

Stellar 1980 Draft

The 1980 draft by the Blackhawks had three players were outstanding, even they didn't help Chicago win Stanley Cups as the trio from 2003 did.

The electric Denis Savard was the third overall pick and this draft selection was a beauty. The Hall of Fame center played 1,196 games and scored 473 goals and 1,338 points. He won one Stanley Cup (with Montréal) and had Hart Trophy votes in four seasons. Unfortunately for Savard, he played during the entire Wayne Gretzky era, so it was difficult to win and get as much attention. Savard also put up five 100-points seasons in his career.

Troy Murray was chosen in the third round and put together a solid career of 915 games. He was a great two-way center who won the Selke Trophy and received votes in eight seasons to go along with his votes for the Hart Trophy in the year he won the Selke. Murray scored 230 goals and 584 points while also winning a Stanley Cup.

The hidden gem of this draft came in the sixth round when the Blackhawks drafted Steve Larmer. He won the Calder Trophy, coming in hot to the NHL with 43 goals and 90 points as the right winger on a high-scoring line with Savard and Al Secord. Larmer won a Stanley Cup with the New York Rangers in 1994, and was a Selke Trophy finalist one year and received votes five times. He finished fifth in Hart Trophy voting once and received votes for the Lady Byng in five seasons as well. He recorded 441 goals and 1012 points in 1,006 games.

Other players who have played NHL games from this draft are Carey Wilson (552 GP), Steve Ludzik (424 GP), Dan Frawley (273 GP), Jerome Dupont (214 GP), Ken Solheim (135 GP), and Don Dietrich (28 G). This draft saw a lot of talent come out of it and it is impressive how many draft picks ended up making it to the NHL.

Blackhawks' 2023 Draft Potential

The trend here: At least three players from each of these drafts turned out to be solid NHLers or better.

There's no guarantee, but odds are Bedard will be one of the best all-time Blackhawks if he sticks around for most or all of his career.

Bedard had a stellar rookie season and showed he's a very high level NHLer at 18 years old. He had very little help and still scored 22 goals and 61 points in 68 games on the second-worst team in the league while going up against the top lines on every opposing team. 

Bedard is seen as on par at his age with some of the very best in the game like Auston Matthews, Jack Hughes, and Nathan MacKinnon when they were starting their careers. Bedard quite a leadoff man for the excellent draft class of 2023 for Chicago.

The Hockey News 2024 Future Watch rates center Oliver Moore as the No. 1 prospect in the system. He was drafted in the first round at 19th overall in 2023.

Heading into his sophomore season the University of Minnesota, Moore has the compete and high intensity to go along with his great skating ability. As the top prospect for the Blackhawks in a deep pool, this is some high praise for a deserving and talented forward that could be a top-6 player for a long time.

Adam Gajan won't arrive for the Blackhawks for several years as goalies take time to develop and he's set to play as a freshman next season at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. 

Gajan is the top goalie prospect for the Blackhawks and the fifth-ranked prospect in the system. He was named the best goaltender at the 2023 World Junior Championship for Slovakia and is very athletic. If he becomes the starter for the Blackhawks down the line and plays a few hundred games in his career, this will elevate the 2023 draft a great deal.

Roman Kantserov may be a name you're not as familiar with as he's playing in Russia and was drafted behind three names that garnered much more attention, but he stepped up his games nicely in the KHL this season as a rookie. He thinks the game well and was a higher pick for a reason. Kantserov has the potential to be a big contributor if his development continues at this pace.

Nick Lardis is the fifth member of this draft that has a good amount of potential and is seen as a probable top-6 forward in the future. He is another name that might have gotten lost in the shuffle of the 2023 draft, but had a great season in the OHL. He's just breaking into the AHL, so it might be a couple of years until he's seen at the NHL level, but the Blackhawks seemed to have found something in this third-round pick who is known to find the back of the net by any means necessary.

We won't know for a long time whether the 2023 draft by the Blackhawks stacks up to these three other great drafts. But the excitement should be there as these talented young players start arriving and making an impact.

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