The Chicago Blackhawks announced Wednesday night that they were extending the contract of General Manager Kyle Davidson. The announcement did not provide term or compensation information in the initial release.
“Kyle’s exceptional body of work to date has set us down the path of bringing sustainable, championship-caliber hockey back to Chicago,” said Blackhawks chairman Danny Wirtz. “In a short amount of time, he’s rebuilt the team through strong drafting and player development, delivering a league-leading prospect pool and the beginnings of our future core. He alongside Head Coach Jeff Blashill have redefined our locker room’s culture and mentality, and we are seeing improvements in all of the underlying areas that make winning possible. We believe in Kyle’s vision for this team and remain fully committed to his plan to return the Blackhawks to the top of our sport.”
The club confirmed that the extension was a “multi-year contract” but did not disclose anything further in terms of details. Davidson is wrapping up his 16th year with Chicago, and his 4th season as general manager of the team.
“I am extremely grateful for the support that Danny Wirtz has shown me these last four years,” said Davidson. “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.”
The 37 year old took over as interim general manager of the team following Stan Bowman’s firing in October of 2021. The club subsequently removed the interim title in March of 2022.
Chicago once again finished at near the bottom of the standings across the NHL with a 29-39-14 record (72 points) as they missed the playoffs for the 6th season in a row. However, their 29 wins represented a small step forward in their rebuild as it was their most victories in a season since their last trip to the playoffs back in 2019-20.
Armed with their own 1st round pick, another conditional first (acquired from Florida in the Seth Jones trade), and 3 second round picks in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft, Chicago is well positioned to once again add some impact players to their prospect pool this summer.
As players such as Connor Bedard, Frank Nazar, Kevin Korchinski, and Artyom Levshunov continue to carve out everyday NHL roles for themselves, the club should be knocking on the door of the postseason in relatively short order.
Photo: Nicole Yeary. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.