The Blackhawks will find out during the NHL Draft lottery at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday which one of the top four picks in the draft they will make next month.
Canadian center Macklin Celebrini is the Connor Bedard equivalent this year — the prize up for grabs for the team that lands the No. 1 overall selection.
As a freshman at Boston University this season, Celebrini carried the Terriers to the Frozen Four and became the youngest player in history to win the Hobey Baker Award as the NCAA player of the year. He racked up 64 points (32 goals and 32 assists) in 38 games.
The Sharks have the best odds of winding up No. 1 at 25.5%, but the Hawks have the second-best odds at 13.5%. They won the lottery last year with an 11.5% chance — odds that this year belong to the Ducks. The teams with the next-best odds are the Blue Jackets (9.5%), the Canadiens (8.5%) and the new Utah franchise (7.5%).
If the Hawks don’t get the No. 1 pick, they have a 14.1% chance of winning the No. 2 pick. Unofficially, they have a 30.7% probability of dropping into the No. 3 pick and a 41.7% probability of falling into the No. 4 pick, the lowest they can go.
Beyond Celebrini, the prospect hierarchy this year is murkier than it was last year. Belarusian defenseman Artyom Levshunov (coming off an impressive freshman season at Michigan State) and Russian wing Ivan Demidov (who has one year left on his Kontinental Hockey League contract) are slight favorites to go second and third, but that could change.
U.S. wing Cole Eiserman, Canadian centers Cayden Lindstrom and Berkly Catton, U.S. defenseman Zeev Buium, Canadian defensemen Zayne Parekh and Sam Dickinson and Russian defenseman Anton Silayev are others in the mix as possible top-five picks.