On May 8th, 2022, the Chicago Blackhawks won the draft lottery and got the number one pick in the NHL draft even though they had an 11.5% chance of getting the first pick. 2023’s Draft Class was special compared to others because of Connor Bedard. Connor has been the most hyped prospect since Connor McDavid in 2015. A lot of teams tried tanking games for Connor due to him being a once-in-a-lifetime player and being just 18 years old! The Blackhawks drafted Connor on June 28th, and he immediately became a starter. Connor has been living up to the hype, and currently, he has 33 points in 39 games! Connor Bedard leads all the rookies in points even though he’s missed 5 weeks due to a jaw injury. The Blackhawks having Connor is already scary enough for other teams, but with their having the highest chance to get Macklin Celebrini in the next draft, it’ll get even scarier.
Macklin Celebrini is a center who currently plays for Boston University and is also the consensus number-one pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. As of January 8th, Celebrini has 21 goals and 18 assists in 24 games! Macklin also played for Canada in the World Juniors, scoring 8 points in 5 games. Unfortunately, Canada got eliminated in the quarter-finals, but Celebrini still had a great performance. These stats have more than solidified his spot at number one in the upcoming draft. Celebrini, becoming a Blackhawk and teaming up with Bedard would make them a deadly combo, as they’re both players who could be at the top of the NHL soon. Bedard and Celebrini would also bring fans flashbacks to the Blackhawks dynasty.
The Blackhawks’ peak years were 2010-2015, winning 3 Stanley Cups in 5 years. In these years the Blackhawks had one of the best duos in the NHL with Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. Patrick Kane was the first overall pick in the 2007 NHL draft and played right wing for the Blackhawks, and Connor Bedard just so happens to be one of the most hyped prospects of all time who also plays RW. Jonathan Toews was also a top pick in the Draft of 2008 and played center just like Macklin Celebrini does now. Macklin Celebrini also plays very similarly to how Jonathan Toews plays. If everything falls into place, the Blackhawks could have a duo very similar to the one that won them 3 Stanley Cups.
The only obstacle stopping Celebrini from being the next Toews is, ironically what got them Connor Bedard making all of this even possible, the NHL Lottery. Unlike many sports, the NHL doesn’t just give the top pick to the worst team in the NHL; instead, it has a lottery system. The NHL lottery works like this: “Each team has four-digit combinations (the combination amounts relative to the team’s specific odds) that are generated by a computer. 14 numbered ping-pong balls are entered into the lottery machine (to create 1,000 possible combinations), and four balls are drawn.” So if the Blackhawks end up falling down the draft board due to the lottery, the idea of the Blackhawks dynasty coming back could just be an idea that torments Blackhawks’ Fans for years to come.
