{"id":441059,"date":"2026-02-02T06:04:34","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T06:04:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/441059\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T06:04:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T06:04:34","slug":"chicago-blackhawks-may-have-gotten-the-quietest-steal-of-the-2020-nhl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/441059\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Blackhawks may have gotten the quietest steal of the 2020 NHL draft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<p>PUBLICATION<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.chicagohockeyinsider.com\/collaborators\/sam-walker\" class=\"lediv\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sam Walker<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJanuary 30, 2026\u00a0\u00a0(10:01 PM)<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t  &#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/638530.webp.webp\" style=\"width:100%;\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Dec 12, 2025; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Wyatt Kaiser (44) reacts after scoring against the St. Louis Blues during the first period at Enterprise Center.\" title=\"Dec 12, 2025; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Wyatt Kaiser (44) reacts after scoring against the St. Louis Blues during the first period at Enterprise Center.\"\/>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Photo credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>Wyatt Kaiser is turning the 2020 draft into a Chicago Blackhawks steal, calming the blue line when it gets loud.<\/p>\n<p>Kaiser is not a headline guy, but his shifts keep showing up on the scoreboard the Hawks actually care about.<\/p>\n<p>That draft slot usually buys you hope, not a nightly second-pairing defenseman.<\/p>\n<p>Yet Kaiser has held that second-pair job all season, and he doesn\u2019t look like he\u2019s giving it back.<\/p>\n<p>The contract makes it louder, even if nobody\u2019s yelling about it.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s in year one of a two-year deal at a $1.7 million cap hit, and he\u2019s already playing above the price tag.<\/p>\n<p>The sneaky stat is how often he wins chaos in his own end.<\/p>\n<p>Wyatt Kaiser is stabilizing the Chicago Blackhawks<\/p>\n<p>Blackhawks fans are tired of moral victories, so a defender who simply ends shifts cleanly feels like oxygen.<\/p>\n<p>Kaiser leads the entire NHL with 101 defensive-zone puck battles, and he\u2019s the only player over 100 so far.<\/p>\n<p>That matters because he\u2019s not some 6-foot-5 wall; he\u2019s 6\u20190 and still coming out with pucks.<\/p>\n<p>Chicago also starts him in the defensive zone a ton, fourth-most on the team\u2019s blue line by defensive-zone draw percentage.<\/p>\n<p>He keeps paying it off by drawing calls, with 12 penalties drawn, second-most among Blackhawks defensemen.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s not ducking shots either, with 46 blocks that fit the role he\u2019s leaned into.<\/p>\n<p>The takeaway count pops too, 25 takeaways, and no other Chicago defenseman has even hit 20.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s also a regular penalty killer, and he\u2019s logging over 19 minutes a night between those hard assignments.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s enough offense to keep teams honest, too, with 5-7-12 on the season.<\/p>\n<p>As of Friday, the Blackhawks sit at 21-24-9, and their margin for error is thin, so \u201cboring\u201d defense is gold.<\/p>\n<p>If Kaiser stays this steady, that 81st pick starts looking like one of the smartest moves of the rebuild.<\/p>\n<p>Previously on Chicago Hockey Insider<\/p>\n<p>POLL<\/p>\n<p>JANVIER 30|149 ANSWERS<\/p>\n<p>Chicago Blackhawks may have gotten the quietest steal of the 2020 NHL draft<\/p>\n<p>Is Wyatt Kaiser the Chicago Blackhawks\u2019 quiet 2020 Draft steal?<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PUBLICATION Sam Walker January 30, 2026\u00a0\u00a0(10:01 PM) &#13; &#13; &#13; Photo credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images Wyatt Kaiser is&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":441060,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5115],"tags":[53899,521,18928,37,96,5263,5,181,4,1570],"class_list":{"0":"post-441059","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-blackhawks","8":"tag-2020-draft","9":"tag-blackhawks","10":"tag-blackhawks-news-and-rumors","11":"tag-chicago","12":"tag-chicago-blackhawks","13":"tag-chicagoblackhawks","14":"tag-hockey","15":"tag-hockey-news","16":"tag-nhl","17":"tag-wyatt-kaiser"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115999531191428253","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}