NEWSLETTER
Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson spoke with the media on Thursday afternoon in Las Vegas before the NHL Awards (cough, Bedard Calder, cough) and a little more than 24 hours before the 2024 NHL Draft begins.
It’s going to be a busy few days for Davidson and his front office group, who will lead a draft in Vegas on Friday and Saturday and then hurry home to get after it in free agency beginning on Monday…
Or are they?
I’ll start with comments Davidson made about free agency because they’re blowing up with kneejerk reactions on the artist formerly known as Twitter right now.
To be clear: I am perfectly fine with this.
This is still just beginning Year Three of the rebuild program. Yes, they want to surround Connor Bedard with better players. But to go out in front of the media and say “we plan on spending a boatload of money” is begging for a backfire and fans to be even more mad than they are now.
The Blackhawks are still multiple pieces — and, likely, years — away from being a bona fide playoff contender. Selling that to a free agent in his late-20s or early-30s is going to be a heavy lift for any general manager. This was the biggest issue in the discussion when the Blackhawks were mentioned as a potential destination for Jake Guentzel; his age doesn’t align with the Blackhawks’ projected window.
If the Blackhawks don’t get a deal done with the right free agent, it’s okay to be disappointed. I’m sure GMKD is going to work his phones and try to find some better support for Bedard. He already added a guy who scored 21 goals a couple years ago, and improved health from other roster players — and improvement from players like Lukas Reichel and a potential inclusion of players like Landon Slaggert and Frank Nazar on the roster — could see the offense function at a higher rate by default. Hell, it wouldn’t be hard to score more than the Hawks did while Bedard was out for seven weeks last year.
Of course, how the comments from the GM are presented can influence our reaction to them as well.
At the end of the day, Davidson is right: any deal the Blackhawks offer/sign has to make sense for the organization. We don’t have to rewind too far in the Blackhawks’ history to remember the team signing players to deals that maybe didn’t make sense at the time because they were desperately trying to get better at any cost.
Davidson did say he’s going to work on getting something done with Sam Lafferty, who he re-acquired in the trade with Vancouver. But he didn’t guarantee that, either.
“I hope so,” he said. “You never know until it’s done. We’ll talk the rest of the way to July 1st and hopefully we can find something that works for both sides.”
I also love how he’s strategically stacking picks. There’s a reason he got a pick in 2027 from the Canucks.
Regarding the No. 2 overall pick in the draft, Davidson told the media the Blackhawks have made their decision. He didn’t name names; I would never play poker with him. He said he was impressed with Ivan Demidov, but also said there were more players — a group that included Artyom Levshunov — who impressed at the Gold Star event in Florida. Here are his comments (from CHGO):
#Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson shares his impressions after meeting Ivan Demidov last week in Florida. pic.twitter.com/3eoS8kXTtp
— CHGO Blackhawks (@CHGO_Blackhawks) June 27, 2024
Davidson said the debate inside the Blackhawks’ group about their top pick was “significant,” but the fact that they got Bedard last year wouldn’t make them lean to a defenseman this year.
The Blackhawks have picks No. 2 and 18 overall in the first round of the 2024 NHL Draft, which begins at 6 PM CT on Friday night (on ESPN).
