The Blackhawks recent dominance over the past decade has left them with a limited number of high draft picks as trade deadline acquisitions were viewed as a more important trade-off for Chicago’s deep Stanley Cup playoff runs.
Prior to the 2018 draft, the Hawks had not selected in the top half of the first round since 2008, and instead had focused on filling in the bottom half of their roster with a high quantity of draft picks, instead of quality. They’ve been relatively successful at grooming NHL talent through a focus on NCAA, AHL and junior development and have had a high degree of success in finding prospects that have been impact players at the NHL level.