The Chicago Blackhawks 2016 Draft netted them a star in Alex DeBrincat. It would remain possibly their best job in the draft for the rest of Stan Bowman’s tenure.
Chicago Hockey Now continues the Rebuild Report series with the 2016 Draft, looking at how the foundation was either helped or hampered by the lack of draft choices making it to the big club.
To set the stage, the graph below comes from the well written Dobber Prospects piece that focuses on the success of draft picks by round in the draft. This is where our story starts.
Photo from Dobber Prospects – 5/16/20 article by Jokke Nevalainen
The Blackhawks gave up their first round pick for a second go around of Andrew Ladd, which didn’t exactly turn out how they envisioned. But in one of Stan Bowman’s best draft picks of his tenure, he hit an absolute home run with his first pick in the second round.
Maybe you’ve heard of him? It would be Bowman’s finest pick in not only this draft, but likely the final six years of his managerial career with Chicago. Passed on by several teams because he was seen as a benefactor of Connor McDavid with Erie, some teams also sneered at his shorter stature. It didn’t scare off Chicago. DeBrincat recorded two 41-goal seasons and enjoyed some great offensive output. Davidson dealt him to Ottawa at last year’s draft, officially signaling the full on rebuild.
Chicago had three second round picks and they would only hit on DeBrincat but Krys would at least stick around with the organization for a chunk of time. He spent four seasons with the IceHogs before he was traded to Toronto in 2021-22. Krys played in the Austrian league this past season.
Kayumov never left the KHL. His numbers have been good in the Russian league, but he was never an option in Chicago. A huge miss.
Peeters never made it past the EIHL, and that was in 2019-20.
The good news? Carlsson made it to the Blackhawks. The bad news is he ended up in Florida and is now in their AHL affiliate, putting up 54 points in 61 games, 20 finding the back of the net. With 60 games in the NHL, Carlsson got close to that 99 game marker, but unfortunately, it didn’t do much to help the Blackhawks. But his trade did net Chicago some players they would use later, like Riley Stillman. He was flipped to Vancouver for Jason Dickinson, who had a career year with Chicago in 2023. So yes, the Carlsson pick did hold some value.
But it’s still not enough to be considered a “hit.”
Noel played 71 games with Rockford, but has most recently been in the ECHL with the Newfoundland Growlers where he had three points in 27 games.
From never made it to North America, instead playing in Sweden, Germany, and Denmark.
Hillman’s only NHL goal came in his four-game stint with Chicago back in 2017-18. From there, he spent a season with Rockford before bouncing between the AHL and ECHL. He finished last season with the Hartford Wolf Pack, the New York Rangers’ affiliate.
Ryczek made it three games in the AHL and primarily in the ECHL. He spent last season in the Slovak League.
DeBrincat is clearly the lionshare of games played here but it’s already a better showing than 2015 by a long shot. Bowman hit gold with DeBrincat, and Davidson used that gold to potentially get dividends out the initial investment. Carlsson didn’t have a spot to fit in but still at least has 60 games to his name, which as a fourth round pick is good in and of itself. Hillman got a cup of coffee but little else.
From a view of where they picked, this was the most impressive of Bowman’s post 2015 drafts. Once 2017 is out of the way, the Blackhawks would creeper higher on the draft board and with it, get more NHL caliber players. But as we near that, it’ll be obvious that despite having that talent, Bowman and company couldn’t figure out how to properly develop or build around it.
Previous Rebuild Report Draft Pick Series: 2015 Draft – Swing and a Miss
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