This is year five of Kyle Davidson’s rebuild, and the Hawks are once again on pace to finish at the bottom of the league. While other teams that started rebuilding around that time like San Joe and Anaheim are making steady improvements, the Blackhawks keep running into the same challenges. This was the year the Blackhawks were supposed to make the jump. Last night, eight of Davidson’s draft picks are in the lineup, including three in the top six. 13 of the players on the ice were drafted by the Blackhawks, either by Davidson or his predecessors.
In 2025, Kyle Davidson traded back up into the first round to take the 6’6”, 207 lbs center out of the USHL, Mason West, at 29th overall. A massive swing for the Blackhawks, but if West hits, he could be a huge piece of the rebuild. West is a dual-sport athlete (football) who recently fully committed to hockey. Putting up 25 points in 38 games with Fargo Force last season, West demonstrated his impressive skating for his size, as well as his intelligence and creativity with the puck. Next season, Mason West will be going to Michigan State University, one of the best NCAA programs. He will have the opportunity to play with players like Ryker Lee, Ethan Belchetz, and Chase Reid. West is certainly a project, but could pan out to be a solid middle-six center.
In my previous article for Draft Pros I went over Kyle Davidson’s first two seasons and draft classes as general manager of the Chicago Blackhawks. In this article I plan to cover the rest of his tenure up to the current day. Including his 2024 free agency class, 2024 draft class, and we will also cover the 2024-2025 season.
The 2024 offseason was definitely a controversial one in hindsight. To give some context after Conor Bedard’s phenomenal rookie season it seemed like the team wanted to provide him immediate help for the next campaign. The problem was none of the major prospects the Blackhawks had in their system were ready for the NHL. While Korchinski was also an NHLer during the 2023-2024 season it was clear that he would be starting the next season in Rockford after a poor rookie campaign where he struggled mightily defensively and only put up 15P in 76GP that season. I feel like it’s worth pointing out that one of the main reasons Korchinski made the Hawks to begin with is that the team felt he was too good to go back to the WHL, and also Korchinski’s father passed away in December during that season. Losing a parent as a young man is always hard, but I imagine it’s even harder for someone trying to find their feet in the NHL, especially when the team around him is struggling so much.
Frank Nazar also signed his ELC towards the end of the 2023-2024 season where he played 3 games and even scored his first career goal. While he showed promise the team was in no hurry to repeat the mistake they made with Korchinski and decided to start him in the AHL for the 2024-2025 season. With no immediate help coming up through the pipeline the Blackhawks turned to free agency signing most notably Teuvo Teravainen and Tyler Bertuzzi, as well as veterans Patrick Maroon, Craig Smith, Alec Martinez, Tj Brodie, and a goaltender Laurent Brossoit. This free agency class has been a mixed bag to say the least. Tj Brodie was a disaster on ice and was bought out the following offseason, Laurent Brossoit still hasn’t played a game for the Blackhawks and at this point and it doesn’t seem like he ever will. Smith, Martinez, and Maroon did provide good leadership off the ice but their actual impact on games was limited, which you should expect from three players with a combined age of 108. Martinez and Maroon both retired as Blackhawks at the end of the season and Smith was dealt to the Red WIngs on March 7th, 2025 he is currently a free agent. While none of those 5 players worked out or were at best mediocre signings they won’t really affect the Blackhawks future in any meaningful way. Three of them are out of the NHL, Brodie’s buyout will be over after the 2026-2027 season, and Brossoit’s contract is over after this season. The more important players to talk about are Bertuzzi and Teravainen. Bertuzzi signed a 4 year $22 million contract and Teuvo signed a 3 year $16.2 million contract.
Both players had rocky patches during the 2024-2025 season but overall, I think the Blackhawks were satisfied with both players’ performances. Bertuzzi had 23G and 46P in 82GP last season and Teuvo had 15G and 58P also in 82GP. With both of these players having hot starts to the 2025-2026 season and with the salary cap rising rapidly I think it’s fair to say that both of these contracts should be considered hits!
Now that we’ve talked about free agency, let’s move onto the 2024 entry draft. The Blackhawks selected three players during the first round, 2nd overall Artyom Levshunov, 18th overall Sacha Boisvert, and 27th overall Marek Vanacker. Other players from this class that are worth mentioning are AJ Spellacy a former two sport athlete who I believe can turn into a good bottom six energy player in the future, John Mustard a speedy winger with size and a good shot who’s currently PPG during his sophomore season at Providence, and Jack Pridham who has looked solid during his limited time with the Kitchner Rangers of the OHL. I think it’s fair to say that the Levshunov pick is probably the most controversial pick Davidson has made up to this point, mostly because of the fact that it meant passing on Ivan Demidov. He has had a weird start to his pro career, he missed his rookie season training camp due to injury, he performed ok as an 18 year old rookie in Rockford 52GP 5G 22P but he was far from spectacular most nights, but then he played 18 games for the Blackhawks to end the season and looked ok in those games as well. All in all his rookie season was a mixed bag but he did show promise, he needs to work on his understanding of the game and what is going on around him. If he can improve in that area I have little doubt that he can be a top pair defenseman in the NHL.
Analyzing Blackhawks General Manager Kyle Davidson as Blackhawks General Manager
In order to better understand hockey and the processes that NHL teams use to build their rosters into championship contenders I feel it’s important to analyze the men making these decisions. In this article we’re going to look at and analyze the first two draft classes as well as some free agent signings and trades of Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson.
Before we jump into his moves and deals I feel that it’s important to give some context about the situation that Davidson inherited from his predecessor Stan Bowman who is now the GM of the Edmonton Oilers. Kyle Davison became interim Blackhawks GM on October 26th, 2021 before becoming the full time GM on March 1st, 2022. The Blackhawks to be frank were a disaster, the Kyle Beach scandal had rocked the organization, Jeremy Colition was still the head coach of the team until Davidson relieved him of his duties on November 26th, 2021 following a 1-9-2 start to the season, and the roster itself was an odd mix of veterans and young players along with Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews.
One thing that became very clear from the jump with Davidson is that he wanted to completely rebuild the organization from the ground up. Since 2016 the team had found itself stuck in this weird limbo state between rebuilding and still trying to compete with Kane and Toews. The team’s roster had some good young players most notably Brandon Hagel, Dylan Strome, Kirby Dach, and Alex Debrincat but they hadn’t reached their full potential yet with the Blackhawks. Brandon Hagel would be traded to Tampa Bay during the regular season, Alex Debrincat and Kirby Dach would be moved at the draft, and Dylan Strome left via free agency. Patrick Kane would be traded to the NY Rangers the following season and Toews would play his final game for the Blackhawks on April 13th, 2023 before taking his sabbatical from the NHL as a whole. The dynasty years of the 2010s were truly behind the team now and the rebuild was in full swing.
Now is a good time to talk about Davidson’s first two draft classes as they go hand in hand with one another and with the moves he made during his first two seasons in charge. The Blackhawks did not have their first round pick going into the 2022 NHL Draft as they had traded it in a deal for Seth Jones previously. Obviously this is a huge roadblock for any NHL team going into a rebuild but despite this Davidson would end up selecting three players in the first round that year. Alex Debrincat was traded to the Ottawa Senators for the 7th and 39th overall picks as well as Ottawa’s third round selection in 2024, with that 7th overall pick the Blackhawks selected Kevin Korchinski of the WHL, while Korchinski hasn’t exactly bursted onto the scene yet, he is still a very highly thought of player in the Blackhawks system and is expected to play a big role for the team in the years to come.
His next move was trading Kirby Dach to the Montreal Canadians for the 13th overall and 66th overall picks. This move may be the best move Kyle Davidson has pulled off during his tenure as Blackhawks GM, Kirby Dach has struggled with injuries his whole career and that has continued in Montreal, meanwhile Frank Nazar who was taken with the 13th overall pick has excelled in his short pro career so far. Frank Nazar recently signed a 7 year $46 million deal to be a Blackhawk long term and it’s fair to say the Blackhawks won this trade in a landslide. His final major draft pick of the 2022 class was selecting Sam Rinzel 25th overall after a trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs. This pick did confuse people at the time but in hindsight it is looking like the Blackhawks may have gotten the steal of the draft. Despite only being 21 years old and 16 games into his NHL career Rinzel is already playing top pair minutes and is excelling in the role. He looks poised to be a key contributor on a championship level team in the future.
The 2023 Blackhawks draft class landed the team something that every rebuilding team yearns for and craves, a franchise level talent. The Blackhawks with a bit of help from the lottery gods were able to select Connor Bedard from the Regina Pats of the WHL. To say that Bedard was the most hyped up 1st overall pick since Connor McDavid would almost be understating it, he put up insane numbers in the WHL and lit up the World Junior Championships in his draft year. After a phenomenal rookie season which saw him win the Calder trophy on a bad Blackhawks team, he faced a lot of criticism and adversity during his second season in the NHL but so far into his third season he has responded very well and has played great to start the season. Growing as a leader on and off the ice, I would not be surprised if he is given the captaincy next season.
Oliver Moore was also taken 19th overall during this draft and after a strong showing in the NCAA for two seasons, where he was roommates with Sam Rinzel, he signed his pro contract towards the end of the 2024-2025 season. Moore had a strong showing at the end of last season for the Blackhawks as well as a strong training camp for the Blackhawks but he was still sent down to Rockford to begin the 2025-2026 season, however with how well he has started the season for Rockford it’s very likely that a callup will happen sooner rather than later, more importantly for Moore it’s about capitalizing when he gets his callup and making sure that he sticks around afterwards.
While these 5 players are the major picks from Davidson’s first two draft classes there are other players that I feel deserve a mention. From the 2022 class Ryan Greene and Samuel Savoie, and from the 2023 class Roman Kantserov and Nick Lardis. Ryan Greene signed his ELC at the end of the 2024-2025 season and has made the most of his opportunities earning a roster spot out of training camp to start 2025-2026 season and has played well to start the season so far in a bottom 6 role, Samuel Savoie has become a favorite among Rockford fans and is a guy that I can see becoming an Andrew Shaw type of player. Roman Kantserov and Nick Lardis have both become prized prospects in the eyes of both Blackhawks fans and the organization. Lardis lit up the OHL last season scoring 71 goals and having 117 points, he has started this season with 2 goals and 8 points through 5 games in the AHL so far this season. While his overall game definitely needs some work he has shown clear scorers instincts and seems like a viable top 6 option in the future.
Roman Kantserov also seems like a viable top 6 option, he’s been point per game so far this season for Magnitogorsk in the KHL and it seems very likely that he’ll be signing with the Blackhawks as soon as Magnitogorsk wraps up their season.
In summary I think Davidson’s first two years on the job are the textbook way that a major rebuild should be done. He took a franchise that was in disarray and built a strong foundation for the future.
Meanwhile, fans of other teams said “who?” some half-jokingly but others reallynot knowing who Frank was, while pundits across the league questioned KyleDavidson’s decision to give out nearly $50 million for a player that didn’t make the teamlast year, had to go to the AHL and as of contract signing this Summer only played 56games in the NHL, wile registering 13 goals and 14 assists for 27 total points.However, as often is the case, the stats don’t tell the whole picture and thosewho watched Frank play last Spring saw a confident player that grew well into his NHLresponsibilities and helped Connor Bedard shoulder the team’s offensive load down thestretch posting eight points in the final seven games of the season, then went on to leadteam USA to a gold medal at the 2025 IIHF World Championship with a team-leadingsix goals and six assists in 10 games.
Frank’s contract perfectly encapsulates the confusion, questions andcelebrations that are now commonplace during the new wild west era of re-signingplayers when the NHL’s salary cap is moving up quickly after years of stagnation and aCovid-induced freeze.
These feelings are exacerbated when teams sign unproven elite prospects out oftheir entry level contracts in the hope they will one day become the next superstars ofthe league. Logan Stankoven, Luke Hughes and Lane Hutson, just to name a few, wereamong contracts that were signed and followed by mixed emotions throughout theleague about how underpaid or overpaid the players will now become. As GMs fear a
rapid salary appreciation, they are signing players to large deals in the hope thateventually they will look like bargains.Which finally leads us to re-signing Connar Bedard. Over the Summer, acommon consensus was that Connor will sign for somewhere around $10.5 AAV whenfactoring in percent-of-cap calculations and compared to similar forwards that signed inthe past such as Jack Hughes.
Then several things happened.
Connor Bedard decided to bet on himself this year and earn a big contract after are-worked Summer training routine that returned him to a player resembling his rookieself, when he was fast and explosive. Not an uncommon plan for elite prospects, if notfor the fact that Frank Nazar decided to take the opposite route and sign for $6.59million AAV this Summer while at the same time starting to look like a more completeplayer than Connor Bedard himself, which would have been unthinkable just 12 monthsago when he didn’t make the opening night roster.
Nazar had an extremely impressive pre-season, netting four goals and adding anassist for a total of five points, while Connor Bedard ended the exhibition calendar withone goal and an assist for two points. As of this writing, through four regular seasongames, Frank Nazar is the team’s leading scorer with five points, while Bedard sits withthree. Frank’s defensive game is also slightly more advanced than Bedard’s and heoften plays on the penalty kill.
Therefore, while Connor Bedard will still most likely end up being the team’shighest paid player when he eventually signs with the team, him being the first overallpick, the face of the franchise and still arguably with one of the highest ceilings in theleague among young players, Frank Nazar’s performances and what starts to look like ateam-friendly contract opens up a number of interesting questions.
If Connor Bedard bet on himself to earn a contract well north of $10 million AAV,what happens if Frank Nazar outperforms him this year? Will it matter? Should itmatter? Will Kyle Davidson use Frank Nazar’s contract and performances to negotiatewith Connor Bedard’s representatives? Can he justify giving Connor a contract worthalmost double against the player that just outperformed him over 82 games?Connor Bedard surely put himself in an interesting position.
Graphic by Tristan Anderson (@tristan_vncvr) and Draft Sim by Geoff Davidson (@makeitsostudios)
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