Chicago Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson met with the media for what he termed a “mid-season” availability. The conversation touched on a number of things, from his assessment of the NHL season to date to prospect development and whether or not he’ll spend big this summer. Here are some notes.
How does he feel about Connor Bedard’s progress?
“I think Connor’s taken some really nice steps this year,” Davidson said. “I get the attention he gets. He’s a high profile player coming into the league [and] people pick every word apart way too much. He’s a competitive player that doesn’t like to lose. None of these guys — if you’re in this league, you’re in this league because you don’t like to lose and you’re pushing forward, you have that drive to get better. They all have it. His words get taken much further than everyone else and everything’s read into a little bit more. I think you’re starting to see that offensive creativity blossom over the last little while here and he’s got some confidence and he’s got some swagger back and it’s really exciting to see. I think he’s playing really, really well. He’s skating really well.”
How does he feel about the Blackhawks’ prospect pipeline?
Davidson said he’s more confident in the rebuild now than he would have been when he spoke with us before the season. He noted Nick Lardis is averaging nearly a goal per game in the OHL (he has a league-leading 41 entering Monday). In the college ranks, Davidson also mentioned the strong seasons of Sacha Boisvert‘s freshman season at North Dakota, Oliver Moore and Sam Rinzel at Minnesota and Ryan Greene at Boston University. Boisvert, Rinzel and Greene are among the Blackhawks’ five Hobey Baker nominees. He also pointed to Roman Kantserov have a strong season as a 20-year-old in the KHL.
“There’s a lot of exciting things going on in our prospect pool that I think deserve attention,” he said. “That’s where we’re building this thing, right? It’s through our young players and they’re showing up and they’re performing and they’re doing everything that we want and need them to do to give us confidence that we’re on the right track. And so their play and their development is showing us that we are on the right track, that we are trending the right way. Now they have to keep doing that. They have to keep repeating that and keep stacking those development wins continually moving forward, but they’re doing everything that we want them to do and more, and so it’s really exciting.”
Are any of the Blackhawks’ young players currently in the NHL ahead of schedule?
With forwards Frank Nazar, Colton Dach and Landon Slaggert each getting called up already this season — especially in light of the number of veterans Davidson added via free agency this summer, I asked if these prospects might be ahead of where they thought they would be (did they plan on them being more likely to be ready closer to the trade deadline than Christmas?). He stayed consistent in his comments about prospects — each takes his own amount of time to be ready.
Davidson did say Nazar’s production to start his first pro season in Rockford was better than they anticipated. But they’re happy with each of the young players — forwards and defensemen — who have earned a shot at the NHL ice this season.
“I’d say that with Frank, his production [in] the AHL is probably a little ahead of where we expected just because there always seems to be some transition there that occurs and getting acclimation to that new level and playing with a new team against men in a new league,” Davidson said. “It’s just different and sometimes that transition’s a little harder on the back end than up front, so we’re glad to see that he jumped right in and had success right away. And then I think you saw a little bit of that acclimation coming up at the NHL level; another little period of trying to feel his way into a new group and a new league. But then the last little while seeing those steps, seeing that progress and the confidence come and the offensive creation is starting to show up.”
With that being said, Davidson did not rule out the chance that these young players could go back to Rockford at some point. He wouldn’t say any of them is locked into the NHL roster for good, and noted that some players might need to hit a reset if they go thru a slump or need to work on something.
How are the Blackhawks approaching the trade market after the Taylor Hall deal?
“We’ll just be listening, listening to see what happens,” he said. “Obviously when you’re in a position that we’re in, you’re traditionally more of a seller. But we will just kind of see what comes our way … there’s nothing that we’re going to certainly force. We’ve got a lot of assets. We are not necessarily in that asset build stage we were a little while ago and so we’ve got the luxury of being patient and just seeing what comes our way and hoping that the group continues to take some steps in the right direction as we have the last week or so. And so we will just kind of see what comes our way, but I don’t have a great feel for it right now outside of obviously the move we just made, that’s really the only active thing we’ve got going, but we’re still early. You still got a month and a bit to go before the deadline. And sure, things will pick up a lot more in the lead up to the international break and then in the lead up to deadline after that.”
Will the Blackhawks spend big this summer?
Once again, a reminder to never play poker with Davidson. He wouldn’t even give us a wink, but he made a very good point that lots of fans (and media members) need to remember. He/the Blackhawks can’t make trades or sign players who aren’t available. And the Blackhawks are still going to evaluate players on both the trade and free agent market based on how they fit with the long-term plan.
Will Laurent Brossoit make an NHL appearance this season?
He only used the word “if” and said they would manage three goalies on the roster if that situation arose.
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