Blackhawks' GM is playing the long game, and it's paying off by giving him job security

It is a good thing for general manager Kyle Davidson that the Chicago Blackhawks are in the middle of a rebuild. Otherwise some of the NHL rosters he has constructed would have gotten him fired years ago.

Although it did get his first-hand-picked coach canned.

However, Luke Richardson got fired for Connor Bedard's early-season regression. The head coach played a big role by constantly tinkering with the lines and asked a teenager to focus on things that should have come in like his fourth year in the league.

That still does not mean Davidson has proven his worth when it comes to constructing a good NHL roster. He wanted to raise the standards last offseason and all the moves he made led to the Blackhawks finishing with the second-worst record in the league.

It does not look like major moves will be made in the offseason despite a massive amount of cap space. However, Davidson loves himself some cap flexibility, so that is likely going to be why the Blackhawks sit out going after (or trading for) a potential big-name free agent like Mitch Marner.

The one area where Davidson is showing promise as a general manager is in the draft. That does by him time.

By playing the long game, he gives himself job security.

That is because he had to draft a lot of young talent after the cupboard was left bare by his predecessor.

Davidson had to usher in a massive rebuild after his former boss, Stan Bowman desperately tried to keep the team's competitive window open by trading away young players for washed up veterans and reclamation projects. He refused to accept that the glory days were over the moment Marian Hossa retired and Brent Seabrook's body started to betray him.

If the fallout from the Jenner report had not forced Bowman to resign, ownership was likely going to eventually fire him after trading away draft assets and massive cap space to add Seth Jones and Marc-Andre Fleury, which still led to a lot of losing.

Davidson was left to tear down the roster and begin a lengthy rebuild. However, watching tanking teams is not fun, although tanking for Connor Bedard was fine.

The hope was that Davidson could put enough pieces around Bedard immediately to stop being at the top of the Tankathon standings. Davidson has fallen grossly short there.

At the same time, he keeps drafting a lot of promising prospects that could form a potent team around Bedard and Frank Nazar, another cornerstone player he drafted. Davidson has drafted high-ceiling defenders in Artyom Levshunov, Kevin Korchinski, and Sam Rinzel.

He also flipped Jones and his albatross contract for a young No. 1 netminder in Spencer Knight.

This draft he added Anton Frondell, another high-ceiling forward who has the potential to form a superstar trio with Bedard and Nazar.

Plus, he has drafted promising forwards in Oliver Moore, Ryan Greene, and Nick Lardis, just to name a few. Then he goes adds a ton of size in this year's draft to give the Hawks the potential to be like the Florida Panthers someday.

Keyword being someday.

A lot of the players he drafted over the weekend will need time in the juniors or the NCAA level. Just like a lot of the players he has chosen since 2022 still need time at those levels, or the AHL.

While the Hawks became a young team toward the end of the season, only seven players Davidson has drafted as the man in charge have skated in an NHL game. Bedard is the only one to skate in over 100 games.

Therefore, he can still hide behind most of the players he drafted, who he has envisioned leading the Hawks back to glory, are not ready for the NHL level.

Unless owner Danny Wirtz suddenly grows impatient, Davidson's job security should be rock solid because he can still pull out the long game card. If these prospects develop into players who put the team on a winning trajectory, then being patient will have paid off.

However, if it fails, then a lot of time will have been lost, and Davidson will likely be out of a job.