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[January 28, 2025]  By JAY COHEN

CHICAGO (AP) — In the middle of another losing season, Chicago Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson is preaching patience.

Chicago is 3-10-3 in its last 16 games after losing 4-2 to Minnesota on Sunday night. At 15-29-5, it is once again among the NHL's worst teams — in the running for a top-three draft pick for the third consecutive year.

“This takes time. We knew it would take time,” Davidson said Monday. “There’s nothing that’s gone on in our prospect group or the development of our young players that’s causing me concern. ... We are in the process of a rebuild here, and it’s going to be on the backs of our young players and prospects.”

But Davidson had expected the Blackhawks to be more competitive this year after they went 23-53-6 last season. The team was active in free agency, signing Tyler Bertuzzi, Teuvo Teravainen, T.J. Brodie and Alec Martinez as part of a flurry of moves.

Even with the additions, it has been mostly more of the same. Chicago had a 14-33-2 record after 49 games last season. Luke Richardson was fired on Dec. 5, and Anders Sorensen took over as the interim coach.

“For his group at the NHL level, I did expect a little more and we made a coaching change because of that,” Davidson said. “That’s a pretty big indicator that I didn’t feel the group was where they needed to be. So, that in itself is disappointing but a macro level and much higher level view, I’m really excited and really happy with where things are headed.”

One of the reasons for Davidson's optimism is the play of Connor Bedard, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 draft. Shaking off a slow start, the 19-year-old center is up to 13 goals and a team-high 30 assists — more in line with his first season, when he had 22 goals and 39 assists and won the Calder Memorial Trophy as NHL rookie of the year.

While Bedard has expressed frustration at times with his own play and the losing by the team, Davidson didn't sound too concerned with the development of the franchise's most important player.

Chicago Blackhawks head coach Anders Sorensen, center top, watches his team during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Minnesota Wild in Chicago, Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

“You know his words get taken much further than everyone else and everything’s read into a little bit more,” Davidson said. “I think you’re starting to see that offensive creativity just I think blossom over the last little while here and he’s got some confidence. He’s got some swagger back, and it’s really exciting to see. I think he’s playing really, really well.”

Chicago also has nine more selections in the 2025 draft after it reacquired its third-rounder in a three-team trade on Friday. The bounty includes two first-round picks after it drafted a total of eight players in the first round alone over the previous three years.

The Blackhawks sent Taylor Hall to Carolina as part of last week's deal. It also retained 50% of Mikko Rantanen’s salary cap hit in exchange for the third-round pick the team had dealt to the Hurricanes.

The NHL trade deadline isn't until March 7, but Davidson felt the timing made sense. Hall had been skating on the team's fourth line.

“From my estimation, the market was probably around that if we stayed out of this altogether and just took the player to market later on and got a pick for him later on,” he said. “In waiting you run the risk of things like injury, the role was diminishing almost by the game. It just wasn’t heading towards a way that was going to maximize or enhance value.”

As for the runup to the deadline, Davidson said the team is listening.

“We’ve got a lot of assets,” he said. “We’re not necessarily in that asset-build stage like we were a little while ago. And so we’ve got the luxury of being patient and just seeing what comes our way.”

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