The Chicago Blackhawks made an unexpected call-up on Monday morning. They decided to have 2024 second-overall pick Artyom Levshunov come up and practice with the team.
According to GM Kyle Davidson, he is only there to practice during the AHL’s All-Star Break. Cole Guttman and Kevin Korchinski will represent the Rockford IceHogs at that event.
Artyom Levshunov is not ready to make his NHL debut, but he has a tremendous skill that needs to be developed. Practicing with the NHL team is a good way for him to learn some things at a big-league pace.
Levshunov was not healthy during NHL training camp, so he missed the opportunity to play with the big club in the early stages of the year. Now is a great time for him to get that chance he didn’t have in September.
In his first practice with the team, he skated on a pair (the extra pair) with Nolan Allan. It was an intense practice that saw him keep up well. It seems like he is more ready than he was when he was first drafted.
Rockford will get Levshunov back when they resume play and he may come back better than ever after learning some things from NHL practice. It’s going to take a lot more than that to round out his game but it is a start.
Kyle Davidson has a plan for this rebuild. It isn’t yielding results at the NHL level yet but the clear focus is on the development of the young drafted talent.
Levshunov is at the forefront of that right now outside of Connor Bedard so they are being diligent with him. It may not be this season but it won’t be long before he’s a full-time NHL player.
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