{"id":611638,"date":"2026-07-01T05:21:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T05:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/611638\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T05:21:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T05:21:16","slug":"chicago-blackhawks-updates-on-the-2025-draft-picks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/611638\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Blackhawks: Updates on the 2025 draft picks"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the Chicago Blackhawks\u2019 development camp continues, prospects took to the ice to complete drills under development coaches, including Kendall Coyne Schofield. Skaters gained reps and eased themselves into the Hawks\u2019 system.<\/p>\n

The 2026 draft class is living through their inaugural Chicago experiences, with No. 35 pick Ryan Roobroeck labeling it \u201ca sick city.\u201d<\/a> The 2025 draftees have been here before and are hoping to make the city their permanent home in the near future.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an update on the next steps of the Hawks\u2019 2025 class. Anton Frondell and Ilya Kanarsky are not listed on the camp roster.<\/p>\n

V\u00e1clav Nestra\u0161il
\n\"BlackhawksBlackhawks player V\u00e1clav Nestra\u0161il practices Tuesday, June 30, 2026, during development camp at the Blackhawks Ice Center. (Brian Cassella\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

The 19-year-old right winger had an eventful winter, as he brought a silver medal to his home country of Czechia in the 2026 IIHF Ice Hockey World Junior Championships. He\u2019s had time to cool down any hard feelings toward Sweden, which (led by Frondell) won gold.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt sucked because (Frondell) beat us,\u201d Nestra\u0161il joked. \u201cHe\u2019s insane (on the ice and) a really nice guy as well. Watching his game, his season (and) making the jump to Chicago was great.\u201d<\/p>\n

The forward scored 31 points (13 goals, 18 assists) in his first collegiate season with UMass. The jump to the NCAA was one to get used to, but Nestra\u0161il welcomed the opportunity of increased competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing to a league and to a team where everybody\u2019s 200 pounds and over \u2026 it\u2019s kind of hard to adjust to it,\u201d said Nestra\u0161il, the 2025 No. 25 pick. \u201cThroughout the season, I figured out what I needed to do, and obviously I gained a lot of weight so that helped me a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photos: Inside look at Chicago Blackhawks development camp<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-6, 205-pound right wing will indulge in another year with the Minutemen \u2014 this time with 2026 No. 66 pick Samu Alalauri. The soon-to-be teammates spoke after Alalauri was drafted.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe seems like such a nice kid, so I was kind of hoping for him to go as high as possible,\u201d Nestra\u0161il said. \u201cI went to get food, (then) I came back and I saw him getting drafted here.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, \u2018oh my God!\u2019, (texted) him immediately, he seemed really happy. It\u2019s great to have him here and it\u2019s great to have him at UMass.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mason West
\n\"BlackhawksBlackhawks player Mason West practices Tuesday, June 30, 2026, during development camp at the Blackhawks Ice Center. (Brian Cassella\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

After bringing a football state championship to Edina High<\/a> in Minnesota, the \u201cdual-athlete\u201d label for the 2025 No. 29 pick can rest. He won\u2019t forget the memory of the win, though.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still a kid, I\u2019m just trying to have fun, so it was special to hang out with those guys and be able to chase something special,\u201d West, 18, said. \u201cI\u2019m grateful for it all and happy how it turned out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The forward placed the cleats in the closet to skate for the USHL\u2019s Fargo Force \u2014 scoring 25 points (10 goals, 15 assists) in 38 regular-season games. He noted that his quarterback play gives him advantages on the ice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can see myself getting better every single day \u2014 it was hard with football because there\u2019s different movements and my body wasn\u2019t as comfortable being a taller guy,\u201d West said. \u201cNow that I just have hockey, I get to be more comfortable in those uncomfortable positions.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s plenty of hockey coming his way. Team USA invited West<\/a> to the 2026 World Junior Summer Showcase from July 26 to Aug. 1, while he\u2019s also verbally committed to Michigan State for the 2026-27 season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m super excited to meet new people and even just to practice (with) those level of players,\u201d West said about the Spartans. \u201cI think we have a really good team this year (and) I\u2019m super excited to see what we can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his next steps, he will focus on easing into his 6-foot-6, 218-pound stature while touching up other parts of his game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can always like being a bigger guy, you have to be physical and really use your body,\u201d West said. \u201cI do a good job with skill work managing the puck, but I think I can always work on my skating, my physicality and (using) my size to my advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nathan Behm
\n\"BlackhawksBlackhawks player Nathan Behm practices Tuesday, June 30, 2026, during development camp at the Blackhawks Ice Center. (Brian Cassella\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Two No. 66 selections skated on Tuesday: 2026\u2019s Alalauri and 2025\u2019s Behm. The winger spent the past three seasons with the WHL\u2019s Kamloops Blazers, improving in each campaign.<\/p>\n

Behm, 19, delivered 86 points (38 goals, 48 assists) in 67 regular-season games in 2025-26. The forward, who\u2019s committed to Arizona State for 2026-27, is gaining confidence going into his first college season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought I did well personally, accomplished my goal (in Kamloops),\u201d Behm said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a different schedule, (so I\u2019ll) have more time in the gym, lots of practice and every game is going to become more meaningful.\u201d<\/p>\n

He noted that he wants to work on his speed and explosiveness in the NCAA.<\/p>\n

Julius Sumpf
\n\"BlackhawksBlackhawks player Julius Sumpf practices Tuesday, June 30, 2026, during development camp at the Blackhawks Ice Center. (Brian Cassella\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

The Hawks selected the 21-year-old center at No. 98 in the 2025 draft. He completed his first NCAA season at Providence College, scoring 21 points (four goals, 17 assists) in 36 games.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big step going to college, (it\u2019s) been really good (going) against older, bigger people,\u201d Sumpf said. \u201cWe had a tough run in the playoffs, but we have a great team this year and hopefully (we\u2019ll) do better.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll play another season with the Friars alongside 2024 third-rounder John Mustard. Sumpf admitted that it helps to have a Providence teammate in camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cGreat guy, great player,\u201d Sumpf said of 19-year-old Mustard. \u201cIt\u2019s fun to have someone in Chicago who you really know, he\u2019s gonna be really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parker Holmes
\n\"BlackhawksBlackhawks player Parker Holmes practices Tuesday, June 30, 2026, during development camp at the Blackhawks Ice Center. (Brian Cassella\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Holmes, 19, was selected at No. 107 in the 2025 draft. The left winger scored 17 points (six goals, 11 assists) across 49 regular-season games in 2025-26 with the OHL\u2019s Brantford Bulldogs.<\/p>\n

On June 2, Brantford traded Holmes<\/a> to the Sarnia Sting.<\/p>\n

Ashton Cumby
\n\"BlackhawksBlackhawks player Ashton Cumby practices Tuesday, June 30, 2026, during development camp at the Blackhawks Ice Center. (Brian Cassella\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

The defenseman, selected at No. 162 in 2025, will play professional hockey in 2025-26. The 20-year-old signed a two-year AHL contract<\/a> with the Rockford IceHogs on May 28.<\/p>\n

\u201cHead into Rockford, try to make an impression there and try to have a good first start,\u201d Cumby said about his upcoming AHL tenure. \u201cI feel like that\u2019s key, just going in there confident and make sure that I do what I do well.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s gradually improved with the WHL\u2019s Seattle Thunderbirds, scoring 17 points (four goals, 13 assists) with a +13 plus\/minus rating in 59 regular-season games in 2025-26.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the Chicago Blackhawks\u2019 development camp continues, prospects took to the ice to complete drills under development coaches,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611639,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5115],"tags":[20368,521,67612,37,96,5263,17219,5,755,10835,6453,4,292,19273,8985],"class_list":["post-611638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-blackhawks","tag-ashton-cumby","tag-blackhawks","tag-blackhawks-2025-draft-class","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-blackhawks","tag-chicagoblackhawks","tag-development-camp","tag-hockey","tag-julius-sumpf","tag-mason-west","tag-nathan-behm","tag-nhl","tag-nhl-hockey","tag-parker-holmes","tag-vaclav-nestrasil"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116843045728367779","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611638","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=611638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}