Brown: Blackhawks, Kyle Davidson Kick Off a Critical Offseason

Seth Jones doubled down on what Nick Foligno said minutes after the Blackhawks season ended Thursday night. Several other players, including an honest Tyler Johnson, essentially said the losing had become too much. It was everything that every fan on social media or in passing rightfully grumbled about at some point this season. So as lockers were cleaned out and souls were bared by some, Blackhawks General Manager Kyle Davidson embarks on what is likely the beginning of a three-year plan to get the Blackhawks out of a rebuild and into contention.

I’m putting the three year tag on it, not Davidson. With a generational talent like Connor Bedard, the Blackhawks have to get moving by putting the team in a place to compete. Everyone can agree that 53 regulation losses–a season after losing 49–can’t happen again and beyond that, there needs to be a reasonable jump in the standings to confirm that everyone is in their rightful place.

So year one should see a measurable step forward while year two sees a hard challenge for the playoffs–if not sneaking in. Year three? The contention window is wide open. While Davidson won’t commit to timelines–nor should he–he’s also very aware that things need to start moving.

“As we stand here today, it’s probably really hard to put a pinpoint on, but there needs to be a progression,” Davidson said.  “I don’t know how many points or standing slots that is, but we can’t finish second-last in the league. I think the standard has to be raised. The expectation has to be raised. Through that, accountability will be raised. That’s the nature of the path we’re on. Eventually we have to start making positive steps. And I think we’ve reached that point.”

The More Challenging Part of Davidson’s Work Starts Now

Davidson didn’t put the playoffs on the map–yet. But that’s unrealistic heading into an offseason where a chunk of this season’s roster will be rotated out. The foundation build began with Bedard, Alex Vlasic, Kevin Korchinski, and Philipp Kurashev there. Both Landon Slaggert and Frank Nazar are likely in that group too, likely up on the opening night roster after a brief, but solid showing with the Blackhawks. It’s fair to assume that Ethan Del Mastro will be there, too.

So at first count, that’s seven of the 18 needed to ice a far more competitive team. The harder part now is finding the other right pieces to bring in.

Seth Jones spoke a bit to the team having “identity pieces” that fall in line with what Foligno spoke of in that postgame interview Thursday.

“We need guys that want to play 10-12 minutes on a fourth or third line, go out there, do his job, be happy that the team won without scoring a goal or getting a point,” Jones said.  “He does a good job, gets off, doesn’t complain about his ice time — he doesn’t care about that, he just wants to see the team win. We call them ‘identity pieces,’ guys like that that will bring different guys into the fight in those situations.”

Those identity pieces might come from within–after all they’ve put a lot of hard work into building a culture that has it. But a guy like Nick Lardis is still a season away according to Davidson. Gavin Hayes will have to earn his spot in camp after having another terrific year in the OHL. So that’s not a slam dunk either.

The IceHogs have options with Colton Dach playing well and will soon get valuable experience in the AHL playoffs. Nolan Allan is just about ready while Cole Guttman was on fire until an injury shelved him for three-four weeks. So yes, the pipeline has plenty.

But they need more now–and in a timely fashion.

Kyle Davidson Knows Things Have To Speed Up

Davidson admitted things have to change and it’s now on him to find those identity pieces whether they’re in or outside of the organization. Free agency may not yield what they hope for. But the trade market, something that Davidson has done very well on when acquiring players, prospects, and picks, could be a place where a creative bundle nets an identity piece.

He did so already with Jason Dickinson. How about a couple more? There are certainly a treasure trove of assets Davidson can move to acquire that identity piece via trade. But of course, there’s the need for prudence and timing.

There will also be the case of Patrick Kane, who didn’t sound as enthused about staying in Detroit as he did when the playoffs seemed a stronger bet for the Red Wings. Would Davidson consider things again, seeing peak Kane up close when he buried the overtime game winner at the United Center?

For all that has been said, there’s still a draft lottery to be had and placement to be settled be it first or as low as fourth.

Once that mystery has been solved, the shaping of what they’ll do next will begin to take hold. Davidson thanked the fans for sticking with him. Now he has a chance to begin repaying that loyalty with the gradual, but sensible build of what needs to be a major jump forward.

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