Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson lays out the next steps of his rebuilding plan

Nearly four years ago, general manager Kyle Davidson chose to rebuild the Blackhawks through the draft rather than reconstruct them via trades and free agency.

Now it seems the approach he took might be the only one still viable.

The NHL’s skyrocketing salary cap temporarily has squashed the trade and free-agency markets (with a few exceptions). It’s no longer possible, for example, to do what the Panthers did: create a Stanley Cup contender by bringing in loads of established talent from the outside.

During a conversation with the Sun-Times last week, Davidson examined this new league dynamic and explained the next steps of his plan for the franchise to move forward within it.

‘‘It just feels like more and more you have to do it yourself,’’ Davidson said. ‘‘That’s always been our philosophy. That was going to be the bedrock of how we build this thing. We’ll stick to that, and then if something comes up along the way, we’ll explore that.

‘‘But it just doesn’t feel like there’s going to be the ability to trade or sign your way into contention. It just doesn’t feel like that’s the environment we’re in. I don’t want to say [that’s] advantageous to us, but I’m glad we did what we did. . . . The depth and strength of our prospect pool is going to serve us very well in this environment.’’

That’s because the Hawks have a river of talent that will flow into the NHL during the next several years. Teams with weaker prospect pools who plan to roll the dice on the tenuous trade and free-agent markets have no such guarantee.

The bounty of prospects — and potentially picks, if the Hawks maneuver this spring to acquire more — also will allow them to make substantial offers when trade opportunities do arise. Davidson doesn’t think it’s quite time to do that, however. That’s why, for instance, he wasn’t involved in the Quinn Hughes sweepstakes.

Indeed, Davidson remains an extremely patient man. And the Hawks’ NHL roster remains flawed, as the injury to Connor Bedard has revealed in recent weeks. They’re better than they were last season, but so is every bottom-feeder. Thus, they’ve slipped back into last place in the standings.

So what should less-patient fans expect during the next couple of years?

‘‘We’re going to continue to prioritize youth and hand things over to the young players and let them run with it and show us where they’re at,’’ Davidson said. ‘‘We’ll determine where the team is at then and determine what we need to do to assist or augment.

‘‘We’ve invested a lot of time and energy in these young players, and we believe in them. So we have to give them the opportunity and the runway to make good on that belief.’’

This season is interesting because the first fruits of the rebuild can be seen at the United Center, with more fruits en route. But it takes time for kids to learn how to succeed against experienced NHL competition.

‘‘These guys coming up, I guess there was an ‘if’ they’re going to arrive in the NHL, but more so a ‘when,’ ’’ Davidson said. ‘‘You’re learning the when, which is now and next year. Now it’s, ‘How good can they get to be?’ And, ‘When can they arrive at their potential?’ That’s what remains to be seen.

‘‘What we learn over the next year or two will determine where this group goes and what we need to add.’’

Not every prospect will pan out, but there are many more prospects than available roster spots anyway.

‘‘Some guys are going to overshoot where they’re on track for right now, and then there’s naturally going to be players that just don’t reach that,’’ Davidson said. ‘‘That’s the nature of development in pro sports. We’ll constantly evaluate who’s trending in the right way.’’

Davidson has two young daughters at home, and he knows there eventually will come a time when he must let them ‘‘grow up and figure things out on their own.’’ He feels similarly about the Hawks as he hands off prospects to head coach Jeff Blashill and his staff.

He derives fatherly pride in watching friendships and chemistry form among players who never would have crossed paths if not for his draft decisions.

But after years of sculpting the Hawks’ future through those decisions, it’s mostly out of his hands now whether his plan ultimately will succeed. That’s simultaneously scary and exciting.

‘‘When you get to make a merger between . . . players with high upside, players you believe in and players that really enjoy playing together and being around each other, it’s exciting,’’ Davidson said. ‘‘I believe we have [done that], but we’ve got a long way to go.’’

The Hawks fell 3-1 on Tuesday to the Flyers at the United Center.

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Bedard hasn’t played since Dec. 12 because of an upper-body injury, and Nazar will miss about four weeks after taking a shot to the right cheek Saturday.

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Amid a rough stretch for the team and its youth, Grzelcyk — a 31-year-old defenseman signed three days before the season opener — has proved to be surprisingly important and helpful.

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