Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson makes his feelings crystal clear on team's "disappointing" season

By Jackson Weber

Modified Jan 27, 2025 20:16 GMT

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The 2024-25 campaign has been miserable for the Chicago Blackhawks. The Hawks sit 31st in the NHL with a 15-29-5 record, good for just 35 points, one ahead of the last-place San Jose Sharks.

In his fourth season as general manager, Kyle Davidson saw his team finish bottom five in the league standings each season. He came in with the plan to rebuild the team, trading away several players, including Patrick Kane, Alex DeBrincat and Brandon Hagel. In Year 4 of the rebuild, it doesn't appear to be progressing at the NHL level.

Davidson spoke to the media on Monday about how the season has progressed in Chicago and his view on the team's future.

"Having said that for this group at the NHL level, I did expect a little more," Davidson said. "And, you know, we made a coaching change, as you know, because of that, you know that that's a pretty big indicator that I just didn't feel like the group was where they needed to be.

And so, you know, that in itself, is disappointing, but from a macro level and a much higher level view, we're, I'm really excited and really happy with, with where things are headed. But like you said the NHL team, I wish we did have a little more success here in the first half than we have, but it doesn't diminish the progress that I think we are making, big picture."

Steven Ellis of Daily Faceoff ranked the Blackhawks' prospect pool seventh best in the league heading into 2024, so Davidson is right to feel optimistic about the future.

The Chicago Blackhawks are poised for another high draft pick in 2025

With the poor results on the ice, comes another opportunity for the Chicago Blackhawks to win the draft lottery.

The Hawks won the golden ticket in 2023, selecting Connor Bedard as the first-overall pick. In 2024, they were awarded the second-overall pick with which they selected defenseman Artyom Levshunov.

As things stand, the Blackhawks have a 13.5% chance of selecting first overall in 2025 and a 30.7% chance of at least a top-3 selection. Perhaps adding another game-breaking talent at the top of the draft will help speed up the rebuild in the Windy City.

Chicago will next face the Lightning on Tuesday in Tampa Bay. The puck drops at 7 p.m. EST at Amalie Arena.