Blackhawks Trade Up, Select Left Winger Marek Vanacker with the 27th Overall Pick

The Chicago Blackhawks were aggressive on Friday night and traded back into the first round of the 2024 NHL Draft. Sending picks 34 and 50 to the Carolina Hurricanes, the Blackhawks acquired the 27th overall pick in the draft. With the pick, the Blackhawks selected left winger Marek Vanacker out of Branford of the OHL.

Vanacker has a scoring prowess, but also a physical edge to his game. In 68 games in the OHL, Vanacker tallied 36 goals and 46 assists . Vanacker played with Blackhawks prospect Nick Lardis in the OHL last season, and the Blackhawks surely saw a lot of him when they were keeping tabs.

Here's what I had to say in my mock draft about Vanacker:

A big scorer with 200-foot potential fits the [had him going to Dallas] profile. With a young nucleus already in place, bringing in a player who needs to recover from surgery in June is ok. He will need about four-to-six months, but the Stars can play the long game with their pick. Vanacker had 22 power-play points last season.

Here's what Elite Prospects had to say about Marek Vanacker:

Vanacker anticipates changes of possession and gaps in coverage and times his drive into these pockets to get scoring chances. He steals the puck on the backcheck and on the forecheck and instantly turns these plays into odd-man attacks. And he can traverse a neutral zone quickly with powerful forward strides or deceptive, east-west crossovers, and pick the corners of the net off the rush.

- EliteProspects 2024 NHL Draft Guide

What's On Tap Next?

The Blackhawks now have only four picks on day 2 of the 2024 NHL Draft. Their first pick will be No. 67 in the third round, which is one of two picks in said round. The draft's second day kicks off at 10:30 a.m. CDT.

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