CHICAGO — Kyle Davidson’s plan when he was named the Blackhawks’ permanent general manager four years ago was to build from within. He didn’t put a timetable on how long it would take to accomplish that, but the assumption was that it would take many years, probably longer than fans had patience for.
Since then, Davidson hasn’t deviated from his plan. He traded away beloved and established players, acquired draft picks, and then more draft picks. He used those picks to select 11 first-rounders over the last four years and build a prospect pipeline nearly unmatched in the league. Headlined by Connor Bedard, those draft picks have arrived more and more in the NHL in recent years. Anton Frondell, the No. 3 pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, recently joined the team from Sweden.
As Davidson did that, though, the on-ice results haven’t changed a whole lot. While the Blackhawks have looked more competitive each season and accumulated more points, their place in the standings has been about the same. They’ve finished 30th or 31st in each of the last four seasons, including the current one. Many questioned how long his leash would remain.
Although some fans have expressed frustration, others have been more understanding and willing to be patient. But at the end of the day, the one person who has always controlled whether Davidson would be able to see out his plan has been Blackhawks chairman and CEO Danny Wirtz. What he says goes. And Wednesday, before the Blackhawks’ regular-season finale, Wirtz expressed his utmost confidence in Davidson, whose contract was nearing an end, and announced that the Blackhawks had extended their general manager on a multiyear deal.
“Kyle’s done everything we’ve expected of him,” Wirtz said on CHSN. “When he got the job, his first task was to rebuild our prospect pool. If you remember, our cupboard was pretty bare. We didn’t have a lot coming in. He very systematically, very confidently built that to where I believe right now we have the best prospect pool in the NHL. Many of those prospects are now actually NHL players, contributing and highly impactful on our team.
“But at the same time, we didn’t hire Kyle to be the prospect GM. He’s building a championship-caliber team. It goes to the point we’ve extended Kyle’s contract. We are committing to Kyle to continue the plan he’s put in place. We feel confident in that. We believe he has the right insight, the right team around him and the belief he can continue to build a championship team.”
Connor Bedard, the No. 1 pick in the 2023 draft, is the most prominent of 11 first-round picks the Blackhawks have made in the past four drafts. (Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
Davidson expressed gratitude at being able to continue building the Blackhawks into a team that could once again compete for the Stanley Cup.
“I am extremely grateful for the support that Danny Wirtz has shown me these last four years,” Davidson said in the news release. “His commitment to our shared vision for the future of the Blackhawks has been vital to the success we’ve seen as we’ve worked to build our roster into a team that can compete for years to come. We still have lots of work to do as we strive to bring the Stanley Cup back to Chicago and I’m excited to continue building a team that our fans can be proud of.”
Wirtz specifically mentioned seeing more competitiveness from the Blackhawks this season.
“You mention the nine points (better than last season), but I think beneath that, a couple things that I look at that give me some real optimism for where we’re going,” Wirtz said. “I think it’s the competitiveness we showed this season. I think there were 35 games (with a) one-goal differential, a quarter of our games going to overtime. This tells me we’re more competitive more nights. Now obviously, we’ve got to close those games out, we’ve got to finish those games off. But I think that’s what you hear when you listen to Blash (head coach Jeff Blashill), how he’s talking about teaching players about how to win those games. That’s part of the process. That gives me a lot of hope we’re showing up to compete every night.”
This competitiveness is at the core of what he thinks the next step is for the team.
“A couple of things,” Wirtz said. “One, these players in their own development has to take another step. Even Connor (Bedard) needs to take another step and he will. He’s that competitive. But across the board, those are the things; the collective improvement each of those players makes translates into team competitiveness and ultimately wins. That’s what we’re going for.
“Our intention is to be competing and winning Stanley Cups but we can’t race to that conclusion until we do all those right things. I feel really good with our pipeline, I feel really good with our prospects, but prospects turning into real players as we’ve seen this year is going to be continuing the trend.”
When asked about whether his optimism would change if the Blackhawks are in the same spot next season, Wirtz said the focus is on improving as they did this year.
“We want to continue to get better every year,” Wirtz said. “If we stayed flat this year, I think we would be disappointed. But again, I look to those really important ingredients that lead to winning hockey as being the biggest things that end up translating to wins.”
Wirtz also noted the team culture being built by the Blackhawks’ young players.
“That locker room right now is tight,” Wirtz said. “They believe in themselves. They expect more from each other. They’re holding each other accountable. And when we’ve seen great teams in this organization in the past, it’s always started in the locker room. I think our fans should be excited; there’s really something special happening with our young players. Especially after the trade deadline, those veterans were dealt; this became their team. I really think you’re really starting to see how they think of themselves as leaders and how they’re building the culture of the next winning team of the Chicago Blackhawks.”