Blackhawks May Draft Drew Shore

From: Chicago Now Blog

The biggest lack of depth on the Blackhawks prospects chart appears to be at center. With that as my only compass entering the tangled forest that's called the 2009 National Hockey League mock draft, I choose center Drew Shore as Chicago's first-round draft pick.

The Hawks get the frightening chance to agree with me on Friday when the two-day draft begins in Montreal.

Shore is an all-American boy from Denver with an altar-boy face that will look perfect next to Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. Shore, 18, has been playing on the U. S. National Team's Development Program and is headed for Denver University. He had 14 goals, 23 assists in 54 games in 2008-09.

Since budding pro athletes are now critiqued for how adeptly they crawl out of the cradle, Shore has already received his share of criticism. Too soft. Not fast enough as a skater. Is deceiving us all by looking like a player when he really isn't. Really should have been named for Dinah Shore. All that in a few short years.

At 6-foot-2, 190 lbs., Shore has the size if not the physical presence to be considered a guy who could mature into a more impact player than you see now. Shore says he believes that he can emulate San Jose's Joe Thornton, who has 265 goals, 577 assists over 836 games and 12 goals, 41 assists in 76 playoff games.

I say, buddy, I'd sure like to see that. Come on over to Chicago and prove it. I'll even tell you who Dinah Shore was.

"I like to create offense and be a playmaker," Shore explained on his YouTube profile.

Some scouts question whether Shore skates well enough to remain a center in the NHL and predict that he might have to move to a wing. But for now, we'll consider him a center until he proves otherwise. At 18, I'd say he has room to grow.

You also have to admire the backstory on Shore, whose parents knew next to nothing about hockey until their sons developed a love for the game. They'd fit right into Chicago, where the city mostly knows next to nothing about hockey until president John McDonough's continued brainwashing indoctrination takes hold over the next few years.

Shore is considered somebody that could go late first round or early second round. The NHL mock draft doesn't have him going to the Blackhawks, but to Washington in the 24th slot.

There may be enough hesitation about his skating and his potential to let him drop into the Hawks' hands.

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