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Blackhawks call up Boqvist as youth movement continues

Just a couple of days after making it clear that forward Kirby Dach, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2019 draft, would be sticking with the Chicago Blackhawks the team announced it is turning to another of its top young players.

The Blackhawks announced on Thursday that they have recalled defenseman Adam Boqvist from Rockford of the American Hockey League. Boqvist, 19, was the No. 8 overall pick by the team in 2018 and is playing in his first season of professional hockey and just scored his first AHL goal on Wednesday night. He spent his draft year playing for the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League and put together a monster season offensively with 20 goals and 40 assists in 54 games.

This is an interesting move because it means the Blackhawks now have eight defensemen on their active roster (and that does not count Connor Murphy, who is currently on the long-term injured list). It does not seem logical to think they would call-up one of their top prospects and not play him (it does him no good to sit and not play) so Blackhawks fans should be getting a pretty good glimpse of their future with Boqvist and Dach in the lineup.

Defense is once again a problem spot in Chicago this season while the team is already dealing with the tricky situation that is Brent Seabrook’s current role, having made him a healthy scratch in each of the past two games.

The Blackhawks have won just three of their first 11 games this season and are giving up close to three-and-a-half goals per game. Unless something drastic happens here shortly it seems that they could be on a path for a third consecutive non-playoff season.

Related: It looks like Dach is staying with Blackhawks

Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.