<p>The <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/blackhawks?_gl=1*1eo4w59*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTY0ODUyMTA1Mi4xNzgyNzcwNjE3*_ga_K0F0MB46T8*czE3ODI3NzA2MTYkbzEkZzAkdDE3ODI3NzA2MjAkajU2JGwwJGgw" target="_blank" >Blackhawks</a> were the first team to talk with prospect Samu Alalauri this past season in Finland. Then they were the first to talk with him at the NHL Scouting Combine in early June.</p><p>Alalauri wasn’t sure if he should read into the pattern. He learned Saturday, while watching the NHL Draft from his lake house in Finland, that, yes, he should have, as the Hawks <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/blackhawks/2026/06/27/blackhawks-draft-picks-2026-analysis-xavier-villeneuve-ryan-roobroeck?_gl=1*l93kat*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTY0ODUyMTA1Mi4xNzgyNzcwNjE3*_ga_K0F0MB46T8*czE3ODI3NzA2MTYkbzEkZzAkdDE3ODI3NzA2MTYkajYwJGwwJGgw" target="_blank" >selected</a> him with their third-round pick.</p><p>“I got the call, ‘You’re drafted to Chicago,’ ” Alalauri recalled Monday.