Who can the Chicago Blackhawks target in the NHL draft? What positions are deepest? A Q&A with scouting director Mike Doneghey.

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You’d think someone running his first NHL draft might tread lightly, but the Chicago Blackhawks’ new director of amateur scouting sees it as an opportunity for a big I-told-ya-so.

Come one, come all, Hawks trolls. Mike Doneghey welcomes you.

“I hope we see the fruits of (Thursday’s draft) in three or four years (and) I’m able to pull up how many people bashed me the day after the draft, saying, ‘Who’s this guy they’re picking? Who’s that guy they picked? He stinks, he can’t do this,’” Doneghey told the Tribune. “Then in four or five years, I want apologies.”

In fact, he has a venue for his dream scenario.

“I want to do like a public address announcement at the United Center. Give me the microphone,” Doneghey said with a laugh. “I just think it would be funny. … I love (that) the fans are dialed into it, the chatter and who we might pick. I love that, I think it’s great. The fan base is awesome.”

Doneghey is no stranger to rabid fan bases.

He grew up in Boston’s West Roxbury neighborhood playing goalie and rooting for the Bruins’ Ray Bourque, Cam Neely and Andy Moog.

He boasts — in his thick Boston accent — that his current residence in North Attleboro, Mass., is “eight miles from the mecca of Foxborough and Gillette Stadium.”

But Doneghey is just as surprised as anyone that he’s in charge of drafting the next generation of Hawks, though it’s a bittersweet turn of events for him. He credits predecessor Mark Kelley for giving him a chance, though Doneghey got this opportunity because general manager Kyle Davidson fired Kelley in early March.

Said Doneghey of being named amateur scouting director: “It was like season tickets to the Red Sox. Like, you can’t get season tickets to the Red Sox until somebody passes away. People just don’t give them up.”

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Doneghey said he was excited and struck by how Davidson presented the opportunity to him.

“He was like, ‘Hey, when you’re going into a rebuild, one of the most important positions is the guy who’s drafting the players,’” Doneghey said.

“Now, it’s not just on me — I’ve got a great staff, guys in management, they watch games — so I wasn’t like, ‘Oh, my god.’ Then a couple days go by and you’re like, ‘OK, we’ve got to build this thing up, how do we do it?’

“Then you start thinking if you do have success, then your name’s there for being a part of building a championship team.”

Doneghey spoke to the Tribune about the Hawks’ draft strategy and some little-known aspects of the job. The following has been edited slightly for brevity and clarity.

Who do you think the Hawks can target in the second round?

Owen Beck, Paul Ludwinski, Ryan Greene, Cam Lund, Noah Warren (are) players we would be looking at in the second round who might be available. … All of them are very good skaters and busy players and have a good motor.

Cam Lund is a 6-2 winger that’s going to Northeastern (University) who can really skate. He can score, he’s got a little bit of the whole package — size, skating, competitiveness.

Owen Beck and Paul Ludwinski are just about 6 feet, two-way centers … very competitive, very smart players.

Ryan Greene is a little bit taller, 6-1½; he’s going to Boston University. He’s fast — he’s not like a super burner — but he’s a very good skater, very powerful skater. He’s competitive and has a very good brain.

Noah Warren on defense, he’s a 6-5 right shot. Got to have a little bit of upper value as a right-shot defenseman, especially with his size. He’s super athletic, can really skate, ultra-competitive. Erik Černák-type of player comes to mind.

David Goyette, I wouldn’t be surprised if he leads the OHL in scoring next year. He’s got a high IQ, super skill set as far as hands, one-on-one passer. And it’s really not an issue (but) he’s not a burner and there’s a little question if he is going to be a center or a wing going forward. But it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s gone in the first 25 picks.

Where is the draft deep and where is it deficient?

I think it’s deficient in the amount of franchise or generational players. There are some good players. I don’t know that there may be defining franchise players right now, i.e. the (Cale) Makars, (Nathan) MacKinnons, Patrick Kanes.

Where it’s deep is in the international pool. There could be 15 to 17 players — and by international I mean Europe and Russia, not Canada — that could go in the first round. … The international pool of players this year is very deep.

There are quite a bit of centers that are really good on faceoffs. … You might be a bottom-six guy, but if you’re that good on faceoffs, when the team goes to two centers in the last minute of the game to defend the lead, you might be one of the guys on the ice.

There are a lot of young defensemen in your pipeline. Does that affect your draft strategy or do you stick to the best available?

You have to go best available because the defensemen we’ve drafted the last few years projected to be middle pairing to bottom pairing who can really skate and defend and they’re all big. So if there’s a couple of defensemen that are puck-moving defensemen that can be on a power play, maybe be in a top pairing, then just because we’ve been taking defensemen the last few years doesn’t mean we’re going to eliminate that type of defenseman.

Why do you prioritize speed over skill, size, etc.?

You look at the final series of the year, Tampa and Colorado, it was as fast a hockey series as I’ve (ever) seen. If you can play fast and you can play fast down the middle, it forces your wingers, they’ve got to play fast. … If you’re fast down the middle, you’re fast up front, you get in on the forecheck quicker, you’re able to backcheck quicker, just your overall team speed is brought up to another level. …

If you’re a defenseman and you can play fast — and I think (coach) Luke (Richardson) alluded to it — when you defend, it’s not just sitting in the zone for two minutes and blocking shots. He made a very good point when he said that you want to be able to defend fast. If your defensemen can skate fast, they can get pucks fast and they can transition it faster up to the forwards. You could take away — if you’re a fast-skating defenseman — time and space in the neutral zone and stop the rush before it even enters the zone.

There might be some players in this draft and in next year’s draft that might be really fast, their skill package is just a little bit behind as far as development. Maybe you have to work a little bit on the shot or a little bit on the hands or a little bit on the passing, but if the speed is there you can work on the other stuff.

Is it better to have a high pick next year to get into the Connor Bedard sweepstakes?

There is some franchise (potential) at the top of the draft next year where you can build around them. (Along with Bedard, there’s center) Adam Fantilli, who’s from (the University of) Michigan. (Matvei) Michkov, the winger out of Russia — they’re the three that come to mind.

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Someone else will (emerge). We don’t know who it is but historically you have your eye on these players a year in advance. And some of these good players, with a summer of strength and maturity, they become really good players. It wouldn’t surprise me that two or three other names are pushing in that conversation as well.

With you and Kyle Davidson running the draft instead of Mark Kelley and Stan Bowman, how will things be different?

I guess the difference is we haven’t experienced it yet. I haven’t had the GM look at me and say, “Hey, we just traded this pick for two later picks and now we’re not picking.” You never know how you’re going to react until you’re in that particular situation.

Kyle hasn’t sat in that chair. (Associate GM) Norm (Maciver) is the one who has sat in that chair as an assistant GM when he was here with Stan. I’d like to think I’m prepared for a lot of the scenarios that we’d come across, whether we get more picks, trade up or trade down, we lose some picks.

It’s my first time in the decision-making role. I’ve been in drafts since 2010, different seats at the table as you get different positions, but it’s the first time the eyes will be on Kyle and me.

After the draft, what is your life like as someone who works in the scouting world?

(Doneghey checks an app on his phone) … 731,000 air miles. That’s just on United. I also fly Delta, Lufthansa, JetBlue. Not quite sure what those would be. My Marriott app: 1,373 nights. Divided by 365, that’s 3.76 years in the last 12 years that I’ve been in a hotel room.

You obviously spend a lot of alone time. And again it goes back to your support staff at home because you’re on the road a lot. (Doneghey’s “support staff” is wife Lori and children Hayley, 23, Christian, 21, and Casey, 19.) Sometimes, it’s six, seven, eight days at a time. Especially when you have younger children, to be taken out of your home, at times it’s easier for some of us to be on the road to get away from diaper changing and the rides to sports and the parent-teacher meetings. So you’ve got to have a strong home life.

Do you feel pressure because the Hawks are in a rebuild?

I don’t know if pressure is the right word. There are a lot of pressures in life greater than picking hockey players. I look forward to the challenge of being an integral part of helping build the Blackhawks into a Stanley Cup contender again. I’m really happy that Kyle and Norm and Jeff (Greenberg) trust me in this position, and our amateur staff, to lead the charge.

I get it, how good we want to be. … I was part of the Blackhawks’ three Stanley Cup teams. I know what it is to win, I know what that feeling is, so I want that feeling back again. If it’s pressure, then so be it.