{"id":333660,"date":"2025-12-06T15:34:20","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T15:34:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/333660\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T15:34:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T15:34:20","slug":"blackhawks-gm-kyle-davidson-isnt-ready-to-say-i-told-you-so-not-yet-at-least","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/333660\/","title":{"rendered":"Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson isn\u2019t ready to say \u2018I told you so\u2019 \u2014\u00a0not yet, at least"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES \u2014 When news broke in early July 2022 that Chicago Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson had traded Alex DeBrincat \u2014 all of 24 years old and already an elite goal scorer in the NHL \u2014 to the Ottawa Senators for draft picks, I was walking from my hotel to the Bell Centre in Montreal for that evening\u2019s draft. I was so stunned by the trade, and so disgusted with what it signified \u2014 that Davidson was going into full tank mode \u2014 that I sat down on the steps of the church I was walking by, pulled out my laptop and immediately banged out 1,222 words of righteous indignation. I couldn\u2019t even wait five more minutes to get into the arena.<\/p>\n

Over the next week, as Davidson dealt away Kirby Dach to pick some undersized center named Frank Nazar, let Dylan Strome walk for nothing, took on Petr Mr\u00e1zek\u2019s bad contract to reach for some high school project named Sam Rinzel, and made move after move that made the Blackhawks demonstrably worse, all in a blatant long-shot attempt to win the right to draft Connor Bedard in the lottery, I repeatedly tore into Davidson.<\/p>\n

I called it \u201cgross.\u201d I called it \u201ccontemptible.\u201d I called it \u201ca crappy way of doing business,\u201d given the fact that ticket prices weren\u2019t likely to drop along with the Blackhawks\u2019 standing. It was the most aggressive teardown in modern NHL history, a naked attempt to put together the worst team possible. The Blackhawks pushed Patrick Kane out the door and never offered Jonathan Toews another contract. It was the tank to end all tanks. No one was more critical of this rebuild than I was.<\/p>\n

And you know what? It was gross. It was contemptible. It was crappy.<\/p>\n

It was also clearly prudent. Smart. The correct path to take.<\/p>\n

The Blackhawks did get Bedard. Nazar turned out to be a burgeoning star. Rinzel is an NHL regular with a high ceiling. Davidson has made 11 first-round picks in the last four years, something that\u2019s never been done before. And he and his scouting staff have hit on nearly all of them so far, with two more first-rounders to come this summer. The Blackhawks are in a playoff spot years ahead of schedule, Bedard is everything he was made out to be and then some, and there are so many high-end prospects still on the way.<\/p>\n

Davidson did it. And he did it faster than anyone had the right to expect.<\/p>\n

So as we sat in his box high above the ice at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday night, before the Blackhawks\u2019 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings<\/a>, I opened our conversation by flat-out offering Davidson the chance to say, \u201cI told you so.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot yet,\u201d Davidson said with a laugh.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not about that at all,\u201d he continued. \u201cWe\u2019re having a nice start, but I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve accomplished anything close to what we want to, right? There\u2019s a lot of work left to do, a lot of development that needs to occur still (before we can) say that we\u2019ve accomplished something. But I really like where we\u2019re at. And I really like where we\u2019ve come from. There was a lot of pain that went into that, but the progress has been very tangible.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the biggest arguments against tanking is that no team in the cap era has truly built a championship team strictly through high draft picks, by completely gutting a franchise. The Buffalo Sabres haven\u2019t made the playoffs in 14 years. The Detroit Red Wings seem to have hit their ceiling just outside the Eastern Conference playoff picture. The Arizona Coyotes never made much headway. And the Blackhawks \u2014 like the Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks \u2014 still have a long way to go to break that trend.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s also clear now that it\u2019s the only way you can build a contender anymore. The soaring salary cap has all but killed free agency, as major stars aren\u2019t making it to unrestricted status anymore. Connor McDavid re-signed with the Edmonton Oilers, Kirill Kaprizov re-signed with the Minnesota Wild, Jack Eichel re-signed with the Vegas Golden Knights and Adrian Kempe re-signed with the Kings. There might not be a viable top-line player available this summer, certainly not one in his prime. Even the kinds of savvy trades that landed Davidson the likes of Jason Dickinson and Ilya Mikheyev \u2014 both cap dumps for the Vancouver Canucks \u2014 are less likely to happen these days. You can\u2019t weaponize cap space when everyone has cap space.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe flat cap (post-COVID) was definitely something that was advantageous to where we were at that period,\u201d Davidson said. \u201cWe did take advantage of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve all spent the past few years wondering who this generation\u2019s Mari\u00e1n Hossa would be, who this generation\u2019s Brian Campbell would be \u2014 the free agents who serve as statements of intent that the Blackhawks are now ready to compete, the high-end veterans who would catalyze and expedite the rebuild.<\/p>\n

The answer is: There won\u2019t be one. The new NHL doesn\u2019t really allow for that.<\/p>\n

In hindsight, Davidson\u2019s rebuild looks all the more prescient because of the soaring cap. Was that on purpose? Did he anticipate the end of free agency as we know it? Not exactly. But he never counted on it, either.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy thought was always build from within,\u201d he said. \u201cThat was always the belief. Everyone calls back to the Hossa signing, or (Campbell). Which I get. But there were rules and a system in place at the time. Mari\u00e1n Hossa wouldn\u2019t be coming as a $5 million player under today\u2019s structure; he\u2019d be coming in much higher. Under the current system, that team doesn\u2019t get to keep Duncan Keith on a 13-year deal. It\u2019s a different build, a different model. So (free agency) wasn\u2019t anything I was banking on.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say he\u2019s ruled it out. But if any big names are coming in \u2014 and that\u2019s a big if \u2014 it\u2019s more likely to happen via trade than free agency. When you have as many top prospects as the Blackhawks do, eventually some of them become assets to trade away.<\/p>\n

That won\u2019t happen this season, though. Davidson is clear that the Blackhawks\u2019 surprising competitiveness won\u2019t knock him off the path he\u2019s been walking for more than three years. He did, however, say he\u2019d be perfectly happy to keep pending UFAs such as Dickinson, Mikheyev and Connor Murphy at the trade deadline if the Blackhawks are still in it. After all, how many fourth-rounders in 2029 does one GM need?<\/p>\n

After years of accumulating draft picks, Davidson isn\u2019t shifting into win-now mode, but he is entering win-soon mode. Winning now is a bonus.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrading some of these young players for a rental doesn\u2019t feel like it would be in the cards,\u201d Davidson said. \u201cBut if someone\u2019s there with term and that fits, then why not? You\u2019re always exploring that, no matter the time of year. If you can plug a hole in your roster for a long time, we\u2019ll always look at that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n Connor Bedard is everything he was made out to be and then some for the Blackhawks. (Michael Reaves \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s remarkable how fast everything has changed. The Blackhawks were atrocious last season, Bedard was perceived as merely very good, not necessarily great, and that promised future felt so far away. A third of the way into this season, though, the Blackhawks players openly talk about the playoff race. This team gave the mighty Colorado Avalanche one of their toughest games of the season in a 1-0 loss. The Blackhawks have hung with Vegas, beaten the Tampa Bay Lightning, beaten the Toronto Maple Leafs, whipped Ottawa, and have been in every game but one or two.<\/p>\n

And they\u2019re just getting started. Oliver Moore, Artyom Levshunov and Rinzel are just getting their feet wet in the NHL. Nick Lardis is lighting up AHL goalies the way he lit up OHL goalies. Roman Kantserov is crushing it in Russia, Marek Vanacker has 24 goals in 24 games for the Brantford Bulldogs, and Anton Frondell has been a productive player in Sweden\u2019s top league as an 18-year-old.<\/p>\n

We entered the season wondering if the Blackhawks had enough players to fill out a viable top six. Now we\u2019re wondering if the Blackhawks have enough top-six spots for all these players. Bedard was a first-rounder. Nazar was a first-rounder. Moore was a first-rounder. Vanacker was a first-rounder. Frondell was a first-rounder. Levshunov and Rinzel were first-rounders. On and on it goes.<\/p>\n

Like it or not \u2014 and again, I did not like it one bit \u2014 the Blackhawks have all these players because they sacrificed what promised to be mediocre-at-best years for the promise of championship ones ahead. In other words, because of the tank.<\/p>\n

Davidson said nobody ever criticized him to his face, but you have to wonder if the other GMs were laughing behind the back of this 34-year-old noob who was giving away talented NHLers for pennies on the dollar. Regardless, nobody\u2019s laughing now.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey probably were just happy they were getting players for picks that weren\u2019t going to help them in the playoff run,\u201d Davidson said. \u201cI was pretty steadfast and clear about what I was doing and where we were going. We were going to build through the draft and develop, and I\u2019m sure there was some skepticism around that. It\u2019s far from a guarantee that it works, and I understand that. But where we were and where we wanted to get to, at the time, I felt like I was left with no other choice. So we went there. We committed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe Davidson will spike the football if and when the Blackhawks return to the mountaintop. Maybe then, he\u2019ll feel comfortable telling the hockey world, \u201cI told you so.\u201d For now, there\u2019s a clear sense of gratification, if not outright vindication, that the bold \u2014 and yes, a little gross, a little cynical, a little contemptible \u2014 path he led Danny Wirtz\u2019s Blackhawks down seems to have been the right one all along.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen players you draft develop into the players that you thought they could be, there\u2019s vindication \u2014 not vindication, but satisfaction \u2014 in that,\u201d Davidson said. \u201cIt\u2019s the same when you see Connor take a step and what he\u2019s turned into, what he\u2019s become. Arty growing into the player you know he can be. There are always little pieces of satisfaction and excitement along the way. But again, we get into this, and we do all this to make the playoffs and make runs. We\u2019re taking steps toward that, but until those become more regular, I don\u2019t think the true satisfaction will set in.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2014 When news broke in early July 2022 that Chicago Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson had…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333661,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[4824,385,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-333660","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-chicago-blackhawks","9":"tag-nhl","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/333661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}