Blackhawks owner Danny Wirtz announced a multiyear contract extension Wednesday for general manager Kyle Davidson, who’s wrapping up his fourth season in the position.
GM contracts are generally extended consistently until they’re fired — it’s rare to see one leave an NHL team simply because his contract expired — but it’s still notable.
Wirtz also gave Davidson a firm and extensive vote of confidence on the Chicago Sports Network pregame show.
“Kyle has done everything we’ve expected of him,” Wirtz said. “When he got the job, his first task was to rebuild our prospect pool. … 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 has the right insight, right team around him and the belief he can continue to build a championship team.”
In a news conference later, Wirtz mentioned the Hawks being more competitive on the ice this season, improving their point total despite losing a plethora of close games, as a sign of improvement.
Of course, that competitiveness hasn’t held true over the last month, during which time the roster has most closely resembled the long-term roster. But Wirtz said he wasn’t alarmed by that.
“[It’s] probably a reminder and a recognition of just how hard this league is, especially for players going from leagues where they play considerably less games, less travel,” he said.
“I don’t think that, in any way, shakes my confidence for the team that’s being built. … I expect them to continue to grow next season.”
He conceded he would be disappointed next season if the Hawks “stayed flat to this year” and finished in the league’s bottom-five again.
And he clarified Davidson has a green light to make significant trades this summer if the opportunity arises: “There’s nothing holding Kyle back, that’s for sure. It’s not coming from me.”
But he continues to focus most of his attention well into the future.
“These players, in their own development, have to take another step,” Wirtz said. “Even Connor [Bedard] needs to take another step, and he will. He’s that competitive.
“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 for and winning Stanley Cups, but we can’t race to that conclusion until we do all those right things.”
