Blackhawks move on from yet another former first round pick

The Chicago Blackhawks have once again dealt a former first-round pick that Stan Bowman drafted. This time sending Nicolas Beaudin to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for Cam Hillis.

The Blackhawks and Canadiens got together earlier this year for another trade of a Hawks first-rounder in Kirby Dach when he was traded on draft day to the Canadiens in exchange for some picks in the 2022 NHL Draft.

The Blackhawks have moved on from yet another former first-round pick

Under Stan Bowman, the Blackhawks drafted 12 times in the first round from 2010 to 2021 – Bowman did not become the GM until after the 2009 NHL draft. Of those 12 first-round picks, only Lukas Reichel and Nolan Allan, the last two first-round picks in 2020 and 2021, are still with the team.

With Beaudin being traded, yet another former first-round pick of Stan Bowman’s has been let go. All but one of the former first-round picks was traded from the team. The one exception is Kevin Hayes from 2010. Hayes decided not to sign in Chicago and waited to become a free agent to then sign in New York.

Beaudin, a former first-round pick from 2018, played just 22 games in a Hawks uniform, scoring two goals and registering four assists during that time. Here is a video from him during his first development camp in Chicago.

The Blackhawks are rebuilding, so you can expect the team to maybe not be in the best position right now. That can be seen in their roster makeup. Of the players on the active roster right now, only five of them were even drafted by the Blackhawks. This team needs to work on rebuilding the group through the draft, and they got a good start on that this past summer when they added three top prospects in the first round.

Phillip Danault, Mark McNeill, Teuvo Teravainen, Ryan Hartman, Nick Schmaltz, Henri Jokiharju, Nicolas Beaudin, Adam Boqvist and Kirby Dach all had varying degrees of success in Chicago. However, they all have one thing in common, they were all dealt from the team in a trade that did not pan out for the Hawks.