Takeaways From Kyle Davidson's Mid-Season Press Conference

Chicago Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson spoke to the media on Monday morning. This is his mid-season press conference and it conveniently went down the week after he traded Taylor Hall away in a blockbuster deal.

He touched on various topics, most of which are interesting to Blackhawks fans as this team navigates their rebuild.

With Hall being sent away, that was one of the hard-hitting topics that Davidson had to deal with.

"It was pretty minimal on our side, obviously a pretty big deal. I think there’s a little bit of confusion on what our role was in it. For us, we were happy to get the asset that we got back." Davidson said on moving on from Hall. "In moving Taylor, I think it was something that was probably going to happen at some point."

"We were not going to use our two retained salary transactions on being involved in this one and then maybe another one with Taylor later on." Davidson said about retaining on Mikko Rantanen's contract but not Taylor Hall's. "And so, it was one or the other."

That's a very interesting tidbit from Kyle when talking about retaining. NHL teams can only retain on three players and they didn't want to use that third spot yet. It makes you wonder if another deal is coming. With rumors surrounding a potential Seth Jones trade, you never know if that is what he's hinting at.

The rebuild and how it's going was a main point of conversation during this presser. Davidson feels the pressure of advancing it but also maintaining the path that he believes is necessary.

"In terms of a rebuild and building up through our young players, a lot of the players are still in amateur hockey, so we’re not out of that." Davidson said of the rebuild. "We can’t lose sight of that. Did I expect us to be better than second last? I did. But that doesn’t at all mean that I’m concerned about the bigger picture here, about the bigger process at play here in terms of where we’re headed and how good this group and this young group coming up can be. That hasn’t changed at all. I’m probably more optimistic having seen the years our young players are having throughout the organization. I’m probably more optimistic now than I was in the summer in that respect."

There is no reason not to believe Kyle Davidson here. The team is not good at the NHL level yet but the young guys are starting to take over. At the beginning of the season, only Connor Bedard and Alex Vlasic were young players who may be around long-term.

Throughout the year, the team has used guys like Frank Nazar, Colton Dach, Wyatt Kaiser, Kevin Korchinski, Ethan Del Mastro, Louis Crevier, and Nolan Allan. Despite some of the losses, seeing these guys contribute is important.

With the trade deadline looming, will Davidson and the Hawks be sellers again? Will they look to add players for the long term?

"We’ll be listening to see what happens. Obviously when you’re in the position that we’re in, you’re traditionally more of a seller, but we’ll just kind of see what comes our way." Davidson said when asked about the deadline. "Nothing that we’re going to certainly force. We’ve got a lot of assets. 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."

That is typical GM talk ahead of what promises to be a big deadline. There is no reason for the Hawks to hang onto expiring assets while looking for things that can help the franchise next year and beyond.

Davidson did note that he would be "extremely open" to adding an NHL star. Whether that is ahead of the deadline, a trade during the summer, or at the free agency season, he is into doing it. It might be time to consider something like that based on where the team (especially Connor Bedard) is in the rebuild.

Petr Mrazek was always expected to be the number one guy this season but they wanted to add a good backup. Arvid Soderblom has stepped in nicely and looks like a guy who could be the goalie of the future.

With that said, they signed Laurent Brossoit over the summer to try and help them stabilize the position. So far, he hasn't played yet this year due to injury. Kyle Davidson addressed that.

"If he does come back this year, we’re very confident (we) will be able to manage that dynamic, which is not traditional but it’s the situation we’d be in if he’d return. I think we’ll be fine working through that if we end up with three goaltenders on the NHL roster."

Davidson didn't sound very confident that the Hawks were going to be able to have Brossoit in the lineup this season (knee). He said he was hopeful but it doesn't feel likely. Managing three goalies on the roster is possible but difficult.

If anyone can handle that task, it is Anders Sorensen who does seem to have a decent grasp on his players despite being the interim. Speaking of Sorensen, Davidson addressed him and his status as the coach.

"He’s done a nice job so far. We’ve seen a little bit of highs and lows throughout his time with us so far at the NHL level." Davidson said on Sorensen. "I think some of the habits and some of the mentality we have as a team has improved in my opinion."

Sorensen has done a good job with the hand he was dealt but it's obvious that the team is going to search for someone new. That doesn't guarantee that Sorensen is out after the year but they are going to do their due diligence.

"There’s some things we still need to clean up, especially when we’re playing with leads is trying to stay on that front foot and trying to keep pushing, but the fact we’ve been pushing and been able to generate offense earlier in the game and putting the team in a position to have to hold leads is a good thing, and holding leads later into games and getting results has been nice lately. I’ve really liked that. But there’s still a mentality that continues to need to change and play right through the 60 minutes on the front foot rather than sitting back and trying to play a little more conservatively. But as a high-level assessment, I think he’s been really effective so far."

There are some underground criticisms there from Davidson on Sorensen but he also had some nice things to say as well.

Overall, there wasn't anything completely earth-shattering from this presser. There were a lot of predictable topics that had typical answers. Davidson was complimentary of the young players in the organization both at the pro level and below but acknowledges that there is a long way to go.

The next time you can expect to hear from Kyle Davidson is after the trade deadline which takes place on March 7th. That is unless they make a big-time trade between now and then.

As for the team on the ice, they are about to embark on a harsh three-game road trip against three elite Eastern Conference teams starting with the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night.

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