The Blackhawks have another 2024 first-round pick under an NHL contract.
On Monday, the team announced that they’ve signed Marek Vanacker, the No. 27 overall pick, to a three-year, entry-level deal.
Chicago added the draft pick it used to select Vanacker by trading back into the first round after already making selections at No. 2 (Artyom Levshunov) and No. 18 (Sacha Boisvert) on the opening night of the 2024 draft.
Vanacker, who turned 18 in April, is a 6-foot-1, 178-pound forward who’s spent the last few seasons with the OHL’s Brantford Bulldogs and soared up draft boards during the 2023-24 season by leading Brantford in goals (36) and points (82) while finishing second with 46 assists. He also added seven points (3 G, 4 A) in six postseason games. Along with that time in the OHL, Vanacker scored a goal in six games for Team Canada during the 2024 Under-18 World Juniors.
And Vanacker did all that while playing through a torn labrum in his left shoulder, an injury that prompted an operation in June. The ongoing recovery from that injury will be affecting Vanacker’s development in the short-term, so don’t expect Vanacker to be on his way to Chicago at any point during the upcoming season.
Instead, whenever Vanacker returns from that shoulder operation, he and fellow Blackhawks prospect Nick Lardis — a third-round selection (67th overall) in the 2023 NHL Draft — should be lighting up scoreboards together all over the OHL with Bulldogs next season.
(Editor’s note: Keep an eye on this site for the next few weeks as we shift our attention from offseason trade and free agency acquisitions to players added to the organization in the 2024 NHL Draft.)