NHL Central Scouting Has A New Ranking For 2027 NHL Draft, What It Means For Blackhawks

The Chicago Blackhawks are off to a lousy start in 2026-27. They came in with the expectation that young players would take a step forward and that they'd be playing more meaningful games in March. 

They weren't unrealistic and saying it's playoffs or bust, but they wanted to stay much closer to the playoff line as the season moved along. 

That isn't trending to be the case for the Blackhawks after about a month of the season. They are already well below .500 and are more points out of the playoffs than they are in the standings. That's never a good sign, even early. 

When that is the case, teams start to look ahead to the upcoming draft. The Blackhawks would never admit it, but they are trending towards having another top pick. In 2022, they picked 7th. In 2023, they picked 1st. In 2024, they picked 2nd. In 2025, they picked 3rd. In 2026, they had the 4th overall pick but traded it. There have also been other first-round picks sprinkled in there from trades. 

On Monday, NHL Central Scouting revealed its preliminary rankings for the 2027 NHL Draft. If the season continues on its current path, the Blackhawks will make it a 5th straight year with a top-5 pick. 

You can see the prospect ranking from NHL Central Scouting here. The most notable name here that you will see as many people's projected number one is Michigan defenseman Landon Dupont. If the Blackhawks were to win the 2027 NHL Draft Lottery, they would absolutely consider him. 

Other prospects include Nazar Privalov, Alexis Joseph, Sergei Skvortsov, and Carter Meyer, among others. All of them have an A grade, which means that they are receiving a first-round grade. B grades are for second and third-round grades; C grades are for fourth and fifth-round grades, and W grades for for sixth and seventh round grades. LV means "limited viewing", which means that the league's scouts would like to view the player before giving him a grade. 

Of the A-grade players, 21 are forwards, 5 are defensemen, and 1 is a goalie. That is a drastic difference from the preliminary ranking of the 2026 class, which had 15 forwards, 10 defensemen, and no goalies. 

The goaltender is Vilmer Salen Forsberg, who currently plays for the OHL's Brantford Bulldogs. It is unlikely that the Blackhawks will draft a goalie high due to having Spencer Knight and Drew Commesso in the mix, but they do have some recent ties to Brantford when it comes to drafting. 

Only time will tell how these projections play out as the season goes along. For the Blackhawks, they would prefer to not be thinking about the draft so soon, but their performance isn't doing them any favors. At some point, the losing will force the reality that one of these top prospects will be a possibility. 

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