Blackhawks' Prospect Is The Team's Best Goal Scoring forward since

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Joshua Deeds
November 22, 2024 (7:25 PM)

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The Chicago Blackhawks have an excellent draft record lately, as evidenced by Frank Nazar and Kevin Korchinski being future NHL stars.

But there's one Blackhawks prospect who is silently lighting up the OHL, and that is Nick Lardis .

Blackhawks have invested heavily in the foundation of their rebuild coming from the draft; they've made 30 picks in the three drafts since Kyle Davidson took over as general manager. And 24 of those 30 picks have been used on forwards.

Lardis scored 50 points(29 G, 21 A) in 32 games last season with the Brantford Bulldogs. He hasn't missed a bit as he's been over a point-per-game player in the OHL, with 32 points(22 G, 10 A) in 20 games this season.

Lardis is one of Kyle Davidson's picks in the 3rd round, 67th overall in 2023.

He scored 25 goals in 33 games after getting traded from Peterborough to Hamilton in his pre-draft season.

He's been on fire since his draft year, as even with a wrist injury cutting his season short he scored 29 goals in 37 games for the Bulldogs.

This season he hasn't slowed down scoring 22 goals in 20 games, and could be one of the highest-scoring Blackhawks prospects "in a generation" per Bleacher Nation's Tab Bamford.

Who are his comparables?

In his post-draft season in the OHL, Brandon Saad scored 34 goals in 44 games for Saginaw. He was in the NHL the next season.

In his post-draft season in the OHL, Ryan Hartman scored 25 goals in 52 games for Plymouth. He was in Rockford and Chicago the following season.

More recently, Gavin Hayes scored 41 goals in 66 games for Flint in the OHL in his post-draft season. He then scored 37 goals in 55 games (with a mid-season trade included) in his draft plus-one season. He's now in Rockford.

These are really great names to be put next to especially, as a forward who has a bright future in the Windy City. But one of the names we neglected to mention until now is: Alex DeBrincat.

On paper, maybe the best comp in Blackhawks' draft history at this point in Alex DeBrincat. He scored 65 goals in 63 games for Erie in the OHL in his post-draft season. He scored 25 goals in the NHL the following season as a rookie with the Blackhawks.

Fortunately for the Hawks, he's already signed his ELC, and will bolster the Blackhawks pro-ranks next season.

Lardis signed his ELC on April 4th, 2024 with an AAV of 896K over 3 seasons.

Per DailyFaceOff it's expected Lardis could join the team very soon:

That's especially important for the Blackhawks, who'll likely have him simmer in the AHL at the end of the season before embarking on his first full pro campaign in 2025-26. Lardis is legit - and if he can become an even more effective backchecker, he'll be an impact player before too long.