We have a GM problem

[Kevin Musto]

by the way, other GMs are pushing Kyle around

 

[Pez68]

Agree in principle. Would also add that there is always an option of paying a 3rd team a 5th or so to retain the small $s on Donatos contract if it were absolutely necessary.

It's literally a $500k cap hit at the TDL. Do people not understand how this works?

 

[GIADF]

by the way, other GMs are pushing Kyle around

Obviously, I wouldn't know how a conversation goes between GMs in a huge trade like that, but that just seems so odd he wouldn't know. Best case scenario for him is the other GMs didn't want him to leak the news I guess. Still weird.

 

[Hawkaholic]

"pushing Kyle around" lol, I mean, if Kyle didn't like that he could just back out of the trade and not get anything for Hall. I'm not sure why it would even matter, one way or the other, who he retained on.

 

[bwanajamba]

by the way, other GMs are pushing Kyle around

This is written like Davidson approved the trade without knowing it was Rantanen, which is almost certainly not the case

 

[Crow]

Yeah he had no idea who he was retaining on but knew the pick was come from Carolina.

Some of the dumbest shit I’ve ever read in my life. Won’t believe it without some evidence.

 

[MHO]

Yeah he had no idea who he was retaining on but knew the pick was come from Carolina.

Some of the dumbest shit I’ve ever read in my life. Won’t believe it without some evidence.

It's also possible Davidson just didn't care who he was retaining as I know he was told it was a pending UFA. It's not like they're gonna be up against the cap this year.

 

[x Tame Impala]

I don't understand some of your misunderstanding this point, why are you so eager to give a player in his 30's a bloated UFA contract that will SURELY come back to bite us when we're hopefully contending for Cups 3+ years from now? Jones is already a big enough problem and he's here for 5 more years.

I'm looking at the top 50 players in points list right now...

https://www.hockey-reference.com/leagues/NHL_2025_skaters.html#stats::points

Kuvherov is 31(3rd), Scheifle is 31 (17th), Crosby is 37 (20th), Panarin is 33 (24th), Forsberg is 30 (30th), Guentzel is 30 (31st), Duchene is 34 (33rd), Granlund is 32 (41st), Stone is 32 (44th). Is this an encouraging list to you? Are you really expecting a $13m AAV Rantanen to keep producing at his 104pt pace well into his 30's? Marner I can somewhat understand because he'll be 28 next year. Kaprizov would be 29 when his UFA deal would kick in.

Giving this guys a huge UFA deal is an inefficient use of our cap dollars that we only have available to us now because our players are mostly on ELC's and we're filling the rest out with 30+ year old veteran junk.

TLDR: Are we going to get a prime return on production from a UFA when they're in their mid 30's and we're a Cup contender? Yes or no? If the answer is ''no" then it's a bad idea to give out those contracts and eat up our cap.

 

[statswatcher]

That's a little misleading IMO. Soderblom was rocking like an .870 last year and pretty much a guaranteed loss. Mrazek was .915ish and was outright stealing games on occasion. This year Soderbloom has been solid and Mrazek well below league average, but there have been significantly fewer goaltenders stealing points.

Said another way, on average about the same but the highs were higher and the lows were lower. The "low" games don't really matter because with the roster the Hawks can't overcome bad or even average goaltending.

for fun i went to go compare mrazek and soda's respective goals saved above expected between this year and last year. last season among the top 50 goalies in games played, mrazek was 28th and soda was dead last 50th place for an average of 39th. this season soda is 25th and mrazek is 46th for an average of 35.5th. make of that what you will.

 

[WarriorofTime]

He certainly knew (a) they were getting their own 3rd round pick, (b) Taylor Hall was heading out the door and (c) Hawks were retaining $4.625 million cap.

Probably unfolded with Hawks negotiating with Carolina on Hall. As part of negotiation, Carolina asking if instead of Hawks retaining the 50 % on Hall if they'd be willing to retain on somebody else that they had a potential deal for and was more expensive. Davidson saying that's probably fine, and then when Carolina and Colorado sorted out their trade, Hawks gave the greenlight on retaining on Rantanen's number.

Trash comment

 

[Crow]

Kyle learned about the trade when the NHL approved it because he got bullied. He just said yes to everything because he didn’t want to lose his lunch money.

 

[hockeydoug]

I don't understand some of your misunderstanding this point, why are you so eager to give a player in his 30's a bloated UFA contract that will SURELY come back to bite us when we're hopefully contending for Cups 3+ years from now? Jones is already a big enough problem and he's here for 5 more years.

I'm looking at the top 50 players in points list right now...

https://www.hockey-reference.com/leagues/NHL_2025_skaters.html#stats::points

Kuvherov is 31(3rd), Scheifle is 31 (17th), Crosby is 37 (20th), Panarin is 33 (24th), Forsberg is 30 (30th), Guentzel is 30 (31st), Duchene is 34 (33rd), Granlund is 32 (41st), Stone is 32 (44th). Is this an encouraging list to you? Are you really expecting a $13m AAV Rantanen to keep producing at his 104pt pace well into his 30's? Marner I can somewhat understand because he'll be 28 next year. Kaprizov would be 29 when his UFA deal would kick in.

Giving this guys a huge UFA deal is an inefficient use of our cap dollars that we only have available to us now because our players are mostly on ELC's and we're filling the rest out with 30+ year old veteran junk.

TLDR: Are we going to get a prime return on production from a UFA when they're in their mid 30's and we're a Cup contender? Yes or no? If the answer is ''no" then it's a bad idea to give out those contracts and eat up our cap.

It's kind of inefficient spending for the last 3 1/2 years, no?
There is going to be bad money on the books if they do become a sustainable contender. It's almost impossible to avoid.

 

[hockeydoug]

This is written like Davidson approved the trade without knowing it was Rantanen, which is almost certainly not the case

Reads like somebody leaked this on Davidson to embarrass him.

Davidson fumbled a bit the first couple years putting too much out there and probably stepped on some toes besides Dubas.

Wouldn't be shocked if this was a good-ol-boy hit-tweet to settle a grudge. Davidson knew the players and pieces moving and based on his other trades, wasn't worried about a little extra AAV moving around.

 

[Fortyfives]

This is the epitome of fake internet rage.

 

[kmwtrucks]

passing on DEMI is going to be the one that haunts him unless LEV ends up a very good D. I think its clear at this point that Lev is a notch below Demi at best. If it only ends up 1 notch I'm OK with it. Demi with a hat trick today 19G 21 A in 48 games. over his last 15-20 or so games he is scoring at about 1.5 clip now that he is getting 1st line min

 

[Hawkaholic]

It's kind of inefficient spending for the last 3 1/2 years, no?
There is going to be bad money on the books if they do become a sustainable contender. It's almost impossible to avoid.

Only 1 bad contract is possibly on the books by the time they are a contender of any kind.

 

[Crow]

passing on DEMI is going to be the one that haunts him unless LEV ends up a very good D. I think its clear at this point that Lev is a notch below Demi at best. If it only ends up 1 notch I'm OK with it. Demi with a hat trick today 19G 21 A in 48 games. over his last 15-20 or so games he is scoring at about 1.5 clip now that he is getting 1st line min

It’s clear to me Demidov is ahead at the moment but that’s it for now.

 

[nmgrbhfn]

It’s clear to me Demidov is ahead at the moment but that’s it for now.

I'd like the Hawks to promote Lev now just to see if he turns on the burner bc he doesn't want to be embarrassed by being sent down again. Heck, slot him on the first pairing and give him first pairing minutes until he stumbles. When he's suiting up before the game remind him how well Vlasic and Crevier are doing!

 

[giza]

I'm still trusting his efforts and the overall plan. Bertuzzi has been productive, Tevo has had his moments, Nazer looks ready, the young D has been alright and we haven't even seen the marquis young D yet. I think he's given away some draft picks unnecessarily and I would like to see a little more Euro balance in the drafts, but actually pretty happy with what he has selected.

 

[BHawk21]

Depends how cap strapped they are.

Vegas, Minnesota, Carolina, Tampa, Jersey, Dallas, Florida... they could all fit a guy in at $1M, but $2M might be considerably more difficult.

then you pay a 7th for someone else to retain.

 

[Kevin Musto]

then you pay a 7th for someone else to retain.

I mean, sure, but at this point who else is Chicago going to use the final retention slot on?

Seems like Donato is the only player that will get moved at the deadline.

 

[BHawk21]

I mean, sure, but at this point who else is Chicago going to use the final retention slot on?

Seems like Donato is the only player that will get moved at the deadline.

fine use the retention spot if they arnt moving Murphy or Jones this year. its inconsequential either way.

 

[Toews2Bickell]

passing on DEMI is going to be the one that haunts him unless LEV ends up a very good D. I think its clear at this point that Lev is a notch below Demi at best. If it only ends up 1 notch I'm OK with it. Demi with a hat trick today 19G 21 A in 48 games. over his last 15-20 or so games he is scoring at about 1.5 clip now that he is getting 1st line min

going to be a star for montreal

 

[ploppsdman]

How can you have zero complaints about the GM?

He literally gave away a handful of successful players by non-tendering them. Strome is on track to be the caps leading scorer for the second year in an row. Even Pius Suter is doing well in Vancouver.

I mean ... WTH?

It is ridiculous to simply reply "but der rebuild." OR "he's not a Davidson type of player." Ridiculous.

I wonder what you would get for Strome today?

I am NOT advocating firing the guy - I'm saying he's making mistakes (and NO, getting a third for a Hall isn't a mistake).

 

[MTU34]

How can you have zero complaints about the GM?

He literally gave away a handful of successful players by non-tendering them. Strome is on track to be the caps leading scorer for the second year in an row. Even Pius Suter is doing well in Vancouver.

I mean ... WTH?

It is ridiculous to simply reply "but der rebuild."

I am NOT advocating firing the guy - I'm saying he's making mistakes (and NO, getting a third for a Hall isn't a mistake).

Suter was non tendered when Bowman was still the GM.

He tried trading Strome to literally everyone for literally anything and found no takers. Is he worth something now? Sure, but he wasn’t at the time and doesn’t fit the long term team identity. I’m really not sure how Davidson is to blame for an entire league full of GMs wanting nothing to do with giving up value for Strome