DENVER — The No. 2 overall pick is about to make his NHL debut.
The Blackhawks called up top prospect Artyom Levshunov on Sunday after he played his 50th AHL game Saturday. The move burned their third of four post-trade deadline call-ups, but in this case, nobody is thinking much about that.
Levshunov is expected to make his NHL debut this week, possibly as soon as Monday against the Avalanche. The Hawks continue their road trip against the Sharks and Canucks after that.
The 19-year-old Belarusian defenseman has improved immensely during the AHL season while handling huge minutes every night for Rockford.
The first few months were rough for him at times, and that wasn’t surprising, considering how little high-level North American experience he entered this season with. He has really turned it on since late January, however, racking up 11 points in his last 14 games and playing much more reliably on the defensive side.
This technically isn’t Levshunov’s first NHL call-up this season, as he previously came up to participate in a few Hawks practices during the AHL All-Star break in early February. But this call-up is much more significant than that one was.
This story will be updated.