As we continue to unpack the comments from Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson after the NHL Trade Deadline passed on Friday, the biggest topic that needs to be tackled is the rebuild as a whole.
Is it moving fast enough? Are the kids going to be good enough? Is he still patient? When do the Blackhawks start really pushing their chips in to take a bigger step forward?
There were a couple comments from Davidson on Friday night that raise my eyebrow.
There’s no question that Davidson remains committed to his plan. He has to — it’s how he got the job he’s in now. But his confidence in the young players they’re bringing along is increasing the Blackhawks’ willingness to be bold.
And, yes, there will come a time that draft capital is leveraged to do something big.
“We’re committed to a vision here, and we’ve picked a path, we’re committed to that, and we’re going to execute within that vision,” Davidson said Friday evening. “We’re continuing to do that. I believe in these young players. I believe in this group of young prospects that we have coming both here and not in the NHL. And as they continue to mature, as they continue to get comfortable and develop into the players that we see them becoming, and we expect them to become in this league, that’s going to drive our team success.
“That doesn’t mean that, again, it’s only going to come from these players. There’s opportunities along the way, I would hope and expect in the future to add and inject some more talent again. But, as I said before, we can only deal with what we know and we know all these players coming in, we know these players coming up and we believe in them wholeheartedly — not just with rose colored glasses — that they can get us to where we want to go. And so that’s the vision, that’s what we’re committed to. We believe in that.
“And, again, we’ve got a ton of young players on the way. We’ve got a ton of draft capital that is there for us to use moving forward. So we’re positioned very well. It’s something that doesn’t happen overnight. We’re such a young team here. We’re such a, for the most part, quite an inexperienced team in the landscape of the NHL. And so that takes time. It’s not easy to come in and just be great right away, especially when you have it at every position in our team, especially on the back end. It’s a tough position for young players, but we’re seeing steps, we’re seeing improvement, we’re seeing what we need to see to believe that we’re on the right path.”
I want to grab one part of that answer that stood out, especially when you layer in some additional depth.
“That doesn’t mean that, again, it’s only going to come from these players. There’s opportunities along the way, I would hope and expect in the future to add and inject some more talent again.“
Davidson was then asked about his collection of future assets and his willingness to move from draft-only to leveraging pipeline depth and draft capital to make a move for the right veteran player(s) to surround/support the young core they’re identifying. I’m going to specifically highlight a couple places here, too.
“That’s not something we’re necessarily married to only happening down the road,” Davidson said. “Those are things that we explore, we have explored, we have attempted. And the reality of it is that really good players, especially really good young players, are so hard to shake loose. It just is what it is.
It’s natural, it’s understandable. But it’s something we’re always trying to do and so we’ve got the ammo to continue to explore those avenues and try and acquire talent. With the future in mind, with the growth and understanding where our gaps may be and where we may need to add in the future, both in the short and long term based on when we have drafts, we’ve got [assets] in the next number of drafts, we’re well positioned for that. And so, you know, it’s something that you have to plan for and be prepared to execute on if the opportunity arises.“
There were reports that the Blackhawks tried to sign Jake Guentzel a couple summers ago, but he (understandably) opted to sign with a team that was closer to contending. The Blackhawks playing in the “buyer” waters hasn’t been talked about much, but Davidson seemed to imply that the Hawks have tried to make a splash trade and are willing to do it if the right opportunity presents itself.
I think that’s the biggest thing we all need to remember: IF the right opportunity presents itself. As Davidson said, “the reality of it is that really good players, especially really good young players, are so hard to shake loose.”
We’ve talked a lot here about free agency not being a “planned” path to bringing in a star player because of the speed with which the cap is increasing right now. Drafting and developing star players is the hardest road to survive, but it’s also the most likely to create a talent pool strong and deep enough to open a big contention window.
Right now, Davidson and his staff feel pretty good about the overall trajectory of the Chicago Blackhawks. But the fans whose patience is wearing thin should know they aren’t exclusively hoping their picks are going to be the answer to making the Blackhawks a championship contender again.
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