Lazerus: Blackhawks owe it to themselves and to Connor Bedard to draft Ivan Demidov at No. 2

LAS VEGAS — There’s so much to like about defenseman Artyom Levshunov, who likely will become a member of the Chicago Blackhawks two picks into Friday night’s NHL Draft. He’s big. He’s rangy. He skates well. He’s a gifted playmaker. He’s got good hands and good sense. He’s got a big personality that’ll play well in the room and in Chicago. He’s a known commodity who played against known competition, having spent this past season at Michigan State, frequently under the watchful eye of the Blackhawks brass.

Levshunov is a safe pick. A smart pick. A good pick.

There’s so much to wonder about winger Ivan Demidov, who likely will not become a member of the Blackhawks on Friday night. He’s wildly talented, but maybe a little too small. His puck skills are tantalizing on tape, but most scouts and executives have never seen him in person. A knee injury kept him out of the draft combine. There’s no clear consensus on how to translate a player’s performance in the MHL — Russia’s second-tier league — into NHL potential. And there’s always the Russian Factor, the possibility that he might not come to North America as soon as other prospects.

Demidov is a nervy pick. A daring pick. A high-risk, high-reward pick.

Yeah, well, safe is death in the NHL. And Demidov is the right pick.

Connor Bedard needs help. Oh, Lord Stanley, does he need help. He needs help now, he needs help a year from now, he needs help for the next 15 years. He needs a running buddy, a Kane to his Toews, a Panarin to his Kane, a Draisaitl to his McDavid, a Tkachuk to his Barkov, a Rantanen to his MacKinnon. He needs a true top-line winger with true top-line talent, someone to keep up with him and push him, someone with the vision and skill to find him and set up that big shot, someone with the hands to handle and bury those impossible saucer passes.

The Blackhawks have a lot of nice forwards in the NHL and in the system — Lukas Reichel, Frank Nazar, Oliver Moore and a slew of promising next-tier prospects such as Ryan Greene, Colton Dach, Nick Landis and Roman Kantserov. All of them could become useful NHL players, some of them very productive ones. None of them project to be great ones. Demidov does. Or, at least, he might. And that’s the player the Blackhawks need. That’s the player Bedard needs — someone to bring out the best in him.

Maybe you find that player via trade, but the Blackhawks are unlikely to land Mitch Marner anytime soon. Maybe you find that player via free agency, and one of the most popular bits of speculation snaking its way through Las Vegas this week is that the Blackhawks have their eye on Minnesota’s spectacular winger Kirill Kaprizov, whose contract expires in two years. But Kaprizov will be 29 in two years — that possible pipe dream is the Marian Hossa piece, the final piece, not the Kane piece, the career-long wondertwin.

More likely, you find that player in the draft. And if general manager Kyle Davidson lives up to his proclamation that the Blackhawks will no longer be bottom-feeders, that they’ll be looking to be significantly more competitive in the coming seasons, this might be their last, best chance to pick in the top two or three, to pick a truly elite winger to pair with Bedard.

And it’s one they shouldn’t pass up.

Allow me to pre-empt the inevitable (and understandable) criticism of this turn into Meatballdom by freely admitting I’ve seen very little of both players — a few Michigan State games during the postseason, a few video clips of Demidov. I am not a prospect expert, nor do I claim to be one. But being a Chicago-based hockey writer in Las Vegas this week is like having a flashing red sign above your head saying “Ask Me About the No. 2 Pick!” You can’t roll a pair of dice without hitting a prospect writer, an amateur scout, an assistant general manager. And since everyone knows that the San Jose Sharks are drafting Macklin Celebrini with the first pick, all the intrigue starts with the Blackhawks at No. 2.

Distilled to its essence, my job is to talk to people who are smarter than I am, and then use their insight to draw my own conclusions. Everyone likes Levshunov. He will play in the NHL. He will be a good player in the NHL. He may even become a true No. 1 defenseman in the NHL, an invaluable piece of a championship puzzle. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with taking Levshunov. Davidson said on Thursday that the team has settled on its pick, and just about everybody in the hockey world assumes it’ll be Levshunov. It’ll be a good pick. A fine pick.

The scouting reports on Demidov are a little more varied. Some, like The Athletic’s Corey Pronman, like him quite a bit but have mild concerns. Some, like The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler, think he’s the second-best prospect in the draft. But here’s the thing you notice when talking to the draft heads in the hockey world: Those who like Demidov, love Demidov. They see brilliance. They see skills and instincts you just can’t teach. They see 40-plus goals a year. They see Nikita Kucherov. There’s an enthusiasm, a passion, that Levshunov simply doesn’t seem to elicit.

That’s worth whatever risk you might associate with Demidov. That’s worth the No. 2 pick. Because that’s what the Blackhawks need.

While I freely acknowledge that you can never have enough good defensemen, the Blackhawks have a bevy of NHL-ready promise on the blue line already. Chicago traded Alex DeBrincat for the No. 7 pick two years ago and took Kevin Korchinski, who held his own in the NHL as a 19-year-old and who can still become the No. 1 the Blackhawks envisioned. Alex Vlasic’s sudden rise has been a gift from the hockey gods, giving the Blackhawks another sure-fire top-four defenseman. Seth Jones, regardless of whether you believe he’s overpaid, is still a very good player, a worthy top-four defenseman for years to come. Wyatt Kaiser, Ethan Del Mastro and Nolan Allan are all knocking on the door. Another 2022 first-round pick, puck-moving Sam Rinzel, is on his way. Would Levshunov jump to the top of that list? Quite possibly. But the need is so much greater up front. And top-two picks (hopefully) don’t come around very often.

Demidov expects to come to North America ahead of the 2025-26 season. And any concerns about the so-called Russian Factor should have been alleviated this month, anyway, with the revelation that Matvei Michkov is headed to Philadelphia in the fall, two years ahead of schedule. The best players want to play in the best league, and in the end, nothing is going to stop them.

Demidov will be in the NHL in 2025-26. He should do so in a Blackhawks uniform. He should do so skating next to Bedard. And he should do so for the next decade-plus. The Blackhawks need goals. The Blackhawks need stars. The Blackhawks need bold choices. The Blackhawks need to do right by Bedard. The Blackhawks need Demidov.

Take the swing. Take the chance. Take the winger.

(Top photo of Ivan Demidov: Ian Maule / NHLI via Getty Images)