{"id":637619,"date":"2026-03-07T01:43:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T01:43:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/637619\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T01:43:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T01:43:18","slug":"kyle-davidson-stands-firm-in-vision-for-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/637619\/","title":{"rendered":"Kyle Davidson stands firm in vision for team"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NHL trade deadline has passed, the smoke has cleared and the Chicago Blackhawks find themselves as one of NHL\u2019s youngest teams.<\/p>\n

General manager Kyle Davidson traded away four players this week, three of them veteran captains in Nick Foligno and alternates Jason Dickinson and Connor Murphy. They were difficult but necessary moves to make, Davidson said Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are some people that have certainly left a very strong, positive and impactful mark on our organization, our city, and a lot of our players that\u2019ll be here for a long time to come, and so I just can\u2019t thank them enough for their professionalism, their play, their dedication and everything that they brought to the organization,\u201d Davidson said in his opening remarks at a post-trade-deadline news conference at the United Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe accomplished some pretty strong acquisitions in terms of future assets and players that can serve a purpose here with us over the next little while. It\u2019s tough to see really amazing people move on, but I\u2019m really excited for all of them and their new opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murphy<\/a> and Dickinson<\/a> joined the Edmonton Oilers in separate trades this week, while Foligno went to the Minnesota Wild<\/a> on Friday. Both teams are in playoff position. The Hawks\u2019 plan for the future is to be buyers, not sellers.<\/p>\n

The Hawks find themselves in a peculiar position in the last stretch of the season. Their playoffs odds are very low \u2014 at 23-28-10 (56 points), they\u2019re 11 points out of a wild-card spot \u2014 but with 21 games remaining they\u2019re not completely out of the conversation.<\/p>\n

Davidson, though, didn\u2019t emphasize a late-season playoff push, instead highlighting youth, opportunity and development.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019d be nice if we hit a high point towards the end, (but) I\u2019m just excited to see some of these young players take on a little more opportunity (and) a little more ownership of the of the season,\u201d Davidson said. \u201cThere\u2019s some really good opportunities for guys to jump in grab hold of.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot to watch, a lot to pay attention to and a lot to be excited about from a youth and opportunity standpoint. Hopefully that translates into some nice results down the stretch and some good success for some young players to build on exiting the season and going to next season.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hawks need to learn from scratch to win consistently, as the roster now has little to no experience in that area. The longest-tenured player is defenseman Alex Vlasic, 24, who is in his fifth season.<\/p>\n

\"BlackhawksBlackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson, left, speaks during the introductory news conference for coach Jeff Blashill on May 27, 2025, at the United Center. (Eileen T. Meslar\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Davidson has preached about giving his young players experience come the deadline, and the trades signaled as much. This week seems to be the next step in the franchise\u2019s lengthy rebuild.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlex Vlasic has been around this league a while, and then we\u2019ve got some guys that know what they need to do to win and know what the team needs to do to keep progressing,\u201d Davidson said. \u201c(It\u2019s) an opportunity for a lot of young players to step into the void and continue progressing their own leadership capabilities and developing their voice in the room. I don\u2019t necessarily fear for the lack of leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of those leaders will be star Connor Bedard, who is expected to take over as Hawks captain in the near future \u2014 pending a contract extension. Davidson said he\u2019ll revisit the issue in the offseason but has shared repeatedly his desire and expectation to keep the young center.<\/p>\n

Bedard said he\u2019s doesn\u2019t feel the need to change the way he presents himself, noting he is leader now. He also agreed it\u2019s time for others to step up with the three veteran voices gone.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be weird if I just started giving speeches and stuff, that\u2019s not who I am, especially at this stage of my life,\u201d Bedard, 20, said Friday. \u201cIt\u2019s not an exciting opportunity because you\u2019re losing a lot of great people, but it\u2019s an opportunity for everyone to grow and in every sense on (and) off the ice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BlackhawksBlackhawks center Connor Bedard talks with left wing Nick Foligno against the Flyers on Feb. 21, 2024, at the United Center. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Bedard didn\u2019t hide his frustration about the Hawks losing players who \u201chelp us win games.\u201d The Hawks were preparing to play the Vancouver Canucks on Friday night in their first home game since Feb. 2, but the thoughts of losing friends and teammates clouded the United Center locker room.<\/p>\n

Davidson knows that being sellers is frustrating for Hawks players and fans alike. He also would rather the players feel that way than be numb to it all.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d probably worry more if it wasn\u2019t bothering guys, to be honest, because I think that would reflect some sort of disengagement from the group,\u201d Davidson said. \u201cI don\u2019t think anyone\u2019s pleased about being sellers. I don\u2019t want them to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s something that they\u2019ve got to feel and they\u2019ve got to take not only into the game but in the offseason and do everything they can to individually combine that into a collective effort to make sure that we\u2019re not in these spots moving forward. You don\u2019t know what the future is going to bring but think it\u2019s a healthy thing to be that invested in your teammates.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hawks acquired two draft picks \u2014 the Oilers\u2019 2027 first-rounder and 2028 second-rounder \u2014 and left winger Andrew Mangiapane in return for the three veterans and Colton Dach.<\/p>\n

While compiling draft capital is nice, it hasn\u2019t netted the Hawks the main thing they\u2019ve been lacking in recent years: wins. On one hand, having the picks will give them buyer leverage in the future. On the other, it\u2019s another cycle in seeing whether the draftees will blossom \u2014 or underachieve.<\/p>\n

Davidson, 37, has exceled at getting higher-than-expected returns for his players since he took over as GM in October 2021 after Stan Bowman\u2019s resignation. Now, it will be about hitting the jackpot with the draft picks and trades for the organization to truly turn the corner.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether people want to hear it or not, we\u2019re committed to a vision here, we\u2019ve picked a path, we\u2019re committed to that, and we\u2019re going to execute within that vision,\u201d Davidson said. \u201cI believe in these young players. I believe in this group of young prospects that we have coming, and as they continue to mature (and) as they continue to get comfortable and develop into the players that we see them becoming, that\u2019s going to drive our team success.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe in them wholeheartedly, not just with rose-colored glasses, that they can get us to where we want to go. That\u2019s the vision, that\u2019s what we\u2019re committed to.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NHL trade deadline has passed, the smoke has cleared and the Chicago Blackhawks find themselves as one…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":637620,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,291,182932,123097,224977,5386,1818,155511,123612,20262,129362],"class_list":["post-637619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-blackhawks","tag-colton-dach","tag-connor-bedard","tag-connor-murphy","tag-il","tag-illinois","tag-jason-dickinson","tag-kyle-davidson","tag-nhl-trade-deadline","tag-nick-foligno"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116185360283354043","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/637620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}