Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson is still preaching patience, but he's 'open' to splashier move this summer

The Blackhawks' rebuild has reached an interesting juncture.

On one hand, the Hawks absolutely need to climb out of the NHL basement next season, especially since they intended to this season but failed. Their prospect pool is already loaded, and they have all the necessary ingredients — abundant tradeable assets and ample salary-cap space — to acquire a high-end player or two this coming summer to finally bolster their roster.

On the other hand, they need to stay patient to ensure all the pain they've endured the past three years — in order to accumulate so many prospects — eventually pays off. They can't build their future roster entirely from prospects, but they can and will build its core (and its depth) from prospects, and it takes time for those prospects to develop into professionals.

Hawks general manager Kyle Davidson, speaking publicly Monday for the first time since firing Luke Richardson in early December, attempted to walk that fine line and ended up saying relatively little of substance as a result.

Many of his comments preached patience to an increasingly impatient fan base.

"There's nothing that's gone on in our prospect group or [with] the development of our young players that's causing me concern," Davidson said.

"Did I expect us to be better than second [to] last? I did. I did. But that doesn’t at all mean that I’m concerned about the bigger picture here. ... That hasn’t changed at all. I’m probably more optimistic, having seen the years our young players are having throughout the organization ... than I was in the summer in that respect."

Davidson also admitted he's "extremely open to considering whatever is out there" in terms of splashier moves this summer, but he spent a lot of time beating around the bush and avoiding specific commitments. This following quote was his most decisive on that topic, and it required several minutes of prodding to reach.

"You can't manufacture something out of thin air just because you want to or [because] you want to do something a little bit differently than you have," he said. "It's got to be available to you. It's got to be there for you to act upon. And if something comes along that makes sense, then [I'm] certainly going to act."

Davidson has good reason to feel positive about the pipeline of young players en route. The Hawks have prospects at every level taking huge steps forward — from Frank Nazar in the pros, to Sam Rinzel in college, to Nick Lardis in juniors, to Roman Kantserov overseas, just to name a few.

There's more to managing an NHL team than amateur scouting and prospect development, though, and many fans have their own concerns about Davidson's pro-scouting and negotiating skills based on the ineffectiveness of his moves last summer.

Davidson pointed out this team is better in several key areas — especially special teams — than last year's team, and he gave a positive appraisal of interim coach Anders Sorensen's performance so far (although he also praised Richardson about five weeks before firing him). However, he's fully aware this franchise can't forge on as bottom-feeders "until the end of time."

Objectively, that's why the Hawks so crucially need to bring in a high-end player, not only to jump-start upward movement but also to complement Connor Bedard — in a different way than Nazar and Tyler Bertuzzi currently do — and to demonstrate the slightest sense of urgency.

Now-Hurricanes star Mikko Rantanen, whose trade they helped facilitate Friday largely by coincidence, and Maple Leafs star Mitch Marner are the best pending free agents. Either of them would be dream signings. Then there's the Nikolaj Ehlers and John Tavares tier below them.

Davidson obviously can't guarantee who will reach open market or who will be interested in Chicago. But it would've been nice to see him signal Monday a bit more aggressiveness and determination to eventually get something big done.

More from Davidson

Davidson did give some more clarity on Friday's trade, confirming that a third-round pick was what they expected to get for Taylor Hall.

Once that was offered by the Hurricanes, the Hawks didn't consider it worthwhile to wait closer to the deadline to see if they could get more, because Hall's "role was diminishing almost by the game" — he had slipped to the fourth line — and things were not "heading towards a way that was going to maximize or enhance value."

They were only willing to use one of their two available salary-retention slots in the trade, wanting to leave one open for flexibility toward the deadline. The fact they used that slot on Rantanen rather than Hall complicated the optics to outsiders, but it didn't make a difference to them, Davidson said.

• The Hawks don't have any other active trade negotiations going on at the moment, Davidson said, but March 7 remains a while away. They'll certainly be sellers, but since they've already accumulated so many prospects and picks, they won't be as trigger-happy selling off NHL players for picks as they have been in the past.
  
• Davidson remains "hopeful" that goalie Laurent Brossoit, who has yet to play for the Hawks due to two consecutive knee surgeries, will return before season's end.
  
• Davidson insisted he's not worried about being able to convince free agents to come to Chicago, citing the franchise's Original Six history, the attractiveness of the city and the team's rabid fan base. "We've got a lot of selling points," he said.