The Blackhawks officially own the No. 2 pick in the 2024 NHL draft.
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The Blackhawks entered Tuesday touting the second-highest odds in the NHL draft lottery and exited the lottery holding the corresponding No. 2 pick.
The probability of that outcome was actually just 14.1%, however, so general manager Kyle Davidson can feel pleased about another stroke of relative good luck.
The Sharks, who held the best lottery odds due to their last-place finish in the league standings, won the No. 1 overall pick — putting them first in line for consensus top prospect Macklin Celebrini — on an anticlimactic lottery night.
The Ducks, Blue Jackets and Canadiens wound up with the No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 overall picks, respectively.
The Hawks had a 72.4% chance of dropping to either the No. 3 or No. 4 selection — a fate which they avoided. Instead, they’ll become the first team to make top-two picks in consecutive years since the Rangers did so in 2019 and 2020.
Beyond Celebrini, the prospect hierarchy this year is murkier than last year. Belarusian defenseman Artyom Levshunov (coming off an impressive freshman season at Michigan State) and Russian wing Ivan Demidov (who has one year left on his KHL contract) have received the most buzz as candidates to go No. 2, but the Hawks will have nearly two months to make that decision before the draft June 28-29 in Las Vegas.
American wing Cole Eiserman, Canadian centers Cayden Lindstrom and Berkly Catton, American defenseman Zeev Buium, Canadian defensemen Zayne Parekh and Sam Dickinson and Russian defenseman Anton Silayev are others in the mix as possible top-five picks.
The Hawks will also receive the No. 20 overall pick from the Lightning and own nine picks overall — including three second-round picks, two third-round picks, one fifth-round pick and one sixth-round pick.
This story will be updated.