I wanted to finish off a few things Elliotte Friedman wrote about the Blackhawks in his late-night “32 Thoughts” column on Tuesday night (that I didn’t include in my morning bullets today) because they were equally fascinating and merit some additional discussion.
He brought up some interesting things Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson shared about Connor Bedard, and was asked again about trying to trade back up in the first round of last year’s draft to presumably grab Ivan Demidov.
Bedard and the Blackhawks’ Long Game
Let’s start with what Friedman wrote about Bedard:
In our podcast interview with Davidson, he said something interesting about Connor Bedard; that the young forward is more curious about the organization’s up-and-comers rather than anyone currently in the league who might be available. “He’ll ask how some of the prospects are doing and how they’re looking,” the GM said. “Because he’s formed relationships with these players either at training camps or development camps or the draft. How are they doing and how are they looking?… And we always have a pretty active dialogue, especially around world junior time.” …
3. Davidson, asked if Bedard’s comfortable with the overall vision for the Blackhawks: “Yes, yes. That’s the most important thing. I don’t want to be in 32nd place,” the GM said. “He doesn’t want to be in 32nd place, no one does. Understanding what else is happening in the organization, what we’re thinking moving forward. All of that is very important for him to understand to some extent… I’ll tell you what’s happening and what I know, not what could be. That’s where you get your head out over your skis and that’s false until you see a deliverable on that…
“There’s a good dialogue there, understanding what’s coming and also understanding that you can’t always just wait for the wave to come, right? You have to be proactive at some point and be interested and hungry to push. We’re always open and seeing what’s available and what could be done in terms of trying to push things forward in a different way. But that’s less tangible than saying, ‘This player is really taking a step. He’s getting close.’ That I can say with 100 per cent certainty when I talk to a player. Making sure there’s an understanding of the full picture organizationally is important.”
So this is fascinating that Bedard is seemingly keeping his perspective on the long game just as Davidson is. I’m not going to naively ignore the source of the quote, but I’ve gotten the sense that Bedard sees the guys who are coming and is smart enough to realize that the mercenaries on the 2024-25 roster will be gone soon and the young reinforcements are coming.
It’s also not a surprise that GMKD brought up the fact that Bedard has relationships with some of the other top prospects in the Blackhawks’ system. To a man, every young player and prospect I’ve talked to over the past couple years have said they absolutely love the fact that the Blackhawks have taken the July development camp off the ice and essentially made it a team bonding experiment. The guys cook, go to baseball games, boat rides, get boxing lessons, learn how to breathe and all sorts of other stuff. And they do it all together.
There’s an “us” mentality in the Blackhawks’ prospect pipeline that’s unique. Lots of guys swapping texts across CHL lines, college campuses and from the NHL and AHL dressing rooms to both. Obviously all of these players have to develop and get to the league at some point, but the fact that the Blackhawks appear to be legitimately building chemistry for their next generation before many of them are even in the same room is both impressive and encouraging.
Blackhawks Tried to Move Up
We’ve heard the reports previously, but Friedman asked Davidson about trying to move back up into the top five of the draft again last summer. And what’s presented is interesting because it provides some more perspective of how the Blackhawks’ general manager views the plan and how he evaluates potential trades.
4. Finally, Davidson wouldn’t admit to all the details, but it’s been well-reported he tried to trade his first-rounder in the upcoming 2025 draft to Columbus for the 2024 fourth-overall selection. The Blue Jackets said no, taking Cayden Lindstrom. Is Davidson happy that didn’t occur, since it could be the No. 1 pick?
“No, no, no,” he declared without hesitation, saying you can’t manage scared. “Something could happen where that asset or that player you trade away does really, really well and that you have to be okay with that… You have to bake that in and understand that is a risk to the optics around a trade… You have to understand what you’re doing has purpose and what you’re getting has value for you. You believe that piece you’re receiving is going to make you better. That’s what I focus on. I don’t focus on the what-could-happen because that has to be baked in. Otherwise it’s reckless. You have to understand what you are giving away could be something really, really valuable. There’s risk in everything you do.”
Let’s grab a few sentences to focus on from that:
“You have to understand what you’re doing has purpose and what you’re getting has value for you. You believe that piece you’re receiving is going to make you better. That’s what I focus on.”
I know Davidson remaining painfully on program has made many fans say things like “he’s not good at his job,” but I think we collectively would have given anything for the previous regime to get it right once in the last 5-7 years they had the job(s). Davidson has remained steadfast in his commitment to the long game, and it’s caused plenty of growing pains at the NHL level over the past couple regular seasons.
I grabbed those few sentences because I think there’s a good perspective for us to file away for when the Blackhawks’ maybe don’t do something folks think they should (like claiming Arthur Kaliyev off waivers) and when they inevitable move picks or young players/prospects in upcoming trades to improve the club.
Written 32: t.co/D2rIXjgBh9
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) January 8, 2025 Read More Details
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