NEWSLETTER
The Blackhawks will open their annual development camp on Monday — again, it will be all off-ice this year — with a packed house of draft picks. But there aren’t going to be as many players as we’ve seen in other recent camps because so many players are now on professional contracts.
Only one player — Frank Nazar — will be in the camp with NHL experience. Of course he was a professional for a whole three games. Interestingly, Roman Kantserov is on the roster; he did not attend last year.
There will only be five defensemen at the camp: Artyom Levshunov, Sam Rinzel, Taige Harding, Ty Henry and Janne Peltonen. Levshunov and Henry are 2024 draft picks.
There will only be two goalies in camp: 2023 second-round pick Adam Gajan and Ben Gaudreau, who was drafted by the Sharks in 2021.
There will be 23 forwards in the camp, including Nazar. Here’s that list:
* = 2024 draft picks
Bold = already signed a pro contract
So who isn’t attending the development camp? Connor Bedard, Kevin Korchinski, Landon Slaggert, Colton Dach, Ethan Del Mastro, Nolan Allan, Drew Commesso or Wyatt Kaiser.
From the three draft classes under Kyle Davidson’s watch (2022-24), the only player not on the list who hasn’t appeared in the NHL already is Marcel Marcel.
