Artyom Levshunov’s second season pro featured promising glimpses and plenty of frustrating moments that filled the living rooms of Blackhawks fans with expletives. Levshunov’s 68-game season was cut short due to a hand injury and featured a midseason reset due to on-ice struggles. The former second overall pick scored two goals with 22 assists, numbers that aren’t eye-popping or cause for much concern for a 20-year-old defenseman. But given the context that Kyle Davidson drafted Levshunov with the intent of him being their No. 1 defenseman of the future, the numbers and performance may be a little worrisome.
But defensemen take time to develop, right? Let’s dig into this before we look at his past performance this season.
A lot of people like to compare Duncan Keith to just about any young Blackhawks defenseman. Keith was drafted in 2002 and didn’t debut in the NHL until 2005 (9 G, 12 A in 81 games) after spending two full seasons in the AHL. But that was 23 years ago, with two full decades for the game to develop and change. While most defensemen do take time to develop, that’s not true for a lot of high-end talent—which is what Keith was and what we hope Levshunov will be.
Lane Hutson was drafted in 2022 and played his first full season in 2024 (6 G, 60 A). Cale Makar was drafted in 2017 and debuted in the 2019 playoffs ahead of the 2019-20 regular season (12 G, 38 A in 57 games). Zach Werenski was drafted in 2015 and debuted in 2016 (11 G, 36 A in 78 games). Now, those are three of the league’s best defensemen. So it might not be fair to compare Levshunov to them. But, if we’re going to compare Levshunov (and other Blackhawks) to a Hall-of-Fame defenseman, why not bring those players into the conversation as well?
Levshunov is still only 20 years old. And he could have used more time in the AHL. It’s still likely that Levshunov becomes an incredible defenseman. However, when a No. 2 overall pick is used on Levshunov, scrutiny comes with the territory. And while we can’t definitely say what Levshunov will be, some of the signs aren’t great.
Let’s dive into his 2025-26 season.
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