BLOG: Blackhawks to Draft 17th Overall in 2020 NHL Draft

With the official end of the First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Friday night, the Blackhawks now know they'll have the 17th overall pick in this year's NHL Draft.

Also, because Calgary and Pittsburgh have also been eliminated -- teams which Chicago owns draft picks from via trade -- all seven selections in the upcoming draft have been solidified, sort of.

The Blackhawks acquired Pittsburgh's second-round selection from the Vegas Golden Knights, along with Malcolm Subban and Slava Demin, in exchange for Robin Lehner on Feb. 22. With Pittsburgh picking in the 15th spot in each round, that second round selection will be 46th overall.

Chicago also acquired Calgary's third-round pick in exchange for Erik Gustafsson on the same day. The Flames were eliminated in the First Round of the playoffs and will pick 19th in each round. Therefore, their natural selection at 81st overall would belong to the Blackhawks -- with one caveat.

As of now Chicago has the 81st overall selection, with the possibility that it could improve to the 76th overall pick. The original stipulation of the trade with Calgary was for "the earlier of Calgary's two third-round picks." As a result of Calgary and Edmonton's Milan Lucic for James Neal trade last summer, Edmonton now owes Calgary a third-round selection in either this year's draft or in 2021. The Oilers have until the start of Round 3 in the draft to determine in which year they will send their pick to Calgary. If Edmonton does send this year's pick, 76th overall, that pick would be transferred to Chicago instead of Calgary's natural selection at 81.

Chicago traded away their natural selections in second and seventh rounds of this year's draft in exchange for Andrew Shaw and Montreal's seventh-round pick in 2021 on June 30, 2019.

This year's draft is tentatively scheduled for early October, pending the end of the 2020 playoffs. Originally scheduled to be held in Montreal on June 25-26, the league postponed the 2020 NHL Draft on March 25 shortly after the season was paused. The official timing and format of the draft will be announced in the coming weeks.

2020 Draft Picks

Rd. 1, 17 overall
Rd. 2, 46 overall(from PIT via VGK)
Rd. 3, 79 overall
Rd. 3, 76 or 81 overall (from CGY)\**
Rd. 4, 110 overall
Rd. 5, 141 overall
Rd. 6, 172 overall

\\yet to be determined

This story was updated to include the conditions of Calgary's third round pick being sent to Chicago