In the draft touted as the “year of the Swedish defensemen,” the Chicago Blackhawks got one of their own. The Blackhawks selected defenseman Adam Boqvist with the number eight overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft.

“I try to play with the puck and do things out there and make a good play [using] my skating and my shot,” Boqvist said according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Boqvist projects as an elite offensive defenseman and is compared to current NHL defenseman Erik Karlsson, who has won two Norris Trophies for best defenseman in the NHL.

“Offensively, Boqvist is electric; he has the toolbox of a top-line forward,” says Curtis Joe of Eliteprospects.com. “Slick puck-handling ability paired with excellent vision and positional awareness makes him a dangerous threat every time he is on the ice.”

The Boqvist pick is not without risk despite an incredibly high ceiling. Boqvist needs a lot of development according to most NHL scouts. Therefore he is expected not to make his NHL debut for two to three years, according to Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times.

“I need to improve my defensive play and need to be bigger and stronger,” Boqvist said according to the Chicago Sun-Times. “My offense can be better, too.”

Chicago was not finished drafting offensive defensemen. The Blackhawks drafted defenseman Nicolas Beaudin twenty-seventh overall with the pick they received in the Ryan Hartman trade with the Nashville Predators.

“I’m a two-way defenseman, but I can provide offense too,” Beaudin said. “I’ve got a great IQ. I think in my zone, I’m just getting better and better.”

The Blackhawks’ next pick was not until the third round because they traded away this year’s second round pick. Chicago selected center Jake Wise sixty-ninth overall. Scouts project him to be a two-way center with some offensive upside.

“I’m just a really reliable guy,” Wise said. “I think with the Blackhawks, I can play in every situation. It’s going to be really fun.”

The Blackhawks selected right winger Niklas Nordgren with another third round pick acquired via trade, seventy-fourth overall. Nordgren is short at 5’ 9” and is described as having a “sniper’s touch.”

In the fourth round, the Hawks selected forward Philipp Kurashev. Kurashev is a high-risk, high-reward pick. He has the skills to be a dynamic forward, but does not seem to utilize them often enough according to lastwordonhockey.com. He also lacks a heavy shot and his defensive game needs work if he wants to continue playing center at the next level.

Chicago selected forward Mikael Hakkarainen in the fifth round. He is a two-way forward that turns heads, even when he does not score.

The Blackhawks selected Alexis Gravel, their first goalie of the draft, in the sixth round. The 6’ 4” German played minor hockey in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League last season.

Forward Josiah Slavin was taken in the seventh and final round. Slavin will play another season in the United States Hockey League before going to play college hockey at Colorado College, so Blackhawks’ fans likely will not see him anytime soon.