We have a GM problem

[BHFAN92]

I liked Lazerus article about need to be bold and pick Demidov vs doing the safe thing. Tonight, we will see what Davidson is made of ----safe and cautious or gutsy and bold. He has torn down the team, accrued and secured a plethora of high picks for the foreseeable future and has the balance sheet to get a star player or two when they come available. But anything short of challenging for a playoff spot this year will levitate the doubt that fuels this post.

In no way do I expect a play off push this season even with KD being bold this offseason. I guess I just want to see something other than small peripheral pieces being added. Trade up from #18 , trade for McGroarty..something along those lines. The tear it down to the studs is the easy part..getting a generational talent like Bedard was not expected so soon but at least for me that shows now a little more urgency to build around him than what we are currently seeing.. again I know lets wait until the draft/FA

 

[hawksfan50]

What if the KDMsster Plan for roubdc1 is a simple objective.. Get the BEST 2nd pairing Dinthe NHL.

Solberg and Levshunoc coukd becygat combo.

Structuralky it makes the Hawks a lot better..
Vlasic+Jones willbe tte vombo at lradtv5 to all 6bmorexsradonscintge top pairing..butvstarting 2025/26 you couldchavexa great combo of Solbergvabd Levshun9v in thec3ndvoairing..

Maybe this is the goal.

Can getvpartnrtsvupnfromtvnext draft.. deeoervin forwards in top halfvifv1stcround.

 

[statswatcher]

What if the KDMsster Plan for roubdc1 is a simple objective.. Get the BEST 2nd pairing Dinthe NHL.

Solberg and Levshunoc coukd becygat combo.

Structuralky it makes the Hawks a lot better..
Vlasic+Jones willbe tte vombo at lradtv5 to all 6bmorexsradonscintge top pairing..butvstarting 2025/26 you couldchavexa great combo of Solbergvabd Levshun9v in thec3ndvoairing..

Maybe this is the goal.

Can getvpartnrtsvupnfromtvnext draft.. deeoervin forwards in top halfvifv1stcround.

is this the first time fiddy called him “jones” and not “9.5”?

 

[ColbyChaos]

I don't have any idea of what San Jose is doing that the Hawks aren't right now.

Seems like a pretty similar playbook up to this point.

If anything the Sharks started taking notes on what we were doing, liked that plan and are doing it themselves now. (While we copied the notes from AZ but took it further by using our budget more)

 

[MHO]

I understand the frustration and will fully acknowledge that the tear down is far easier than the build up. But I'm ok with what KD has said and done at this point. The gap between the Hawks and the elite teams is enormous and no matter what he does this offseason, they're not going to be cup contenders next year.

So spending on free agents and compromising their cap position to go from a bottom 5 team to a borderline playoff team to me makes little sense at the moment. I like the idea of keeping ample cap space as long as possible so you can use it as a weapon later if spending it won't get you to contender status.

But this won't last forever. I think next year, he's going to need to spend and I hope he knows it. Just why not wait another season, when you won't contend anyway, to see what you have and what you need before going for it? If he sits back next year and talks about being deliberate and calculated, then I'm going to be mad.

 

[DisgruntledHawkFan]

I liked Lazerus article about need to be bold and pick Demidov vs doing the safe thing. Tonight, we will see what Davidson is made of ----safe and cautious or gutsy and bold. He has torn down the team, accrued and secured a plethora of high picks for the foreseeable future and has the balance sheet to get a star player or two when they come available. But anything short of challenging for a playoff spot this year will levitate the doubt that fuels this post.

Again, it's not even the safe pick. That's Buium.

 

[Hawkaholic]

Adding overpriced UFAs to long term deals is not how you build a contender. You build a contender through the draft, and shrewd trades. Kyle hasn't done anything to jeopardize that, so he has done a fine job IMO.

 

[TLEH]

He's done a fine job. I just think its easy to avoid long term deals and suck and feel good about your cap space and your process.

 

[OhCaptainMyCaptain]

If anything, I enjoy that he has a vision and doesn't really do much to stray from it. He is very open about doing nothing to jeopardize how they are trying to build the team. It is refreshing to see a GM with discipline.

Way too early for this thread.



I'll save you the season and let you know that you're going to be disappointed.

More likely to challenge the #1 pick again than a playoff spot.

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

Adding overpriced UFAs to long term deals is not how you build a contender. You build a contender through the draft, and shrewd trades. Kyle hasn't done anything to jeopardize that, so he has done a fine job IMO.

Something that has been lacking from Davidson

There have been no Sharp, Versteeg or Ladd swings from KD

Hawks should be gung-ho bringing in reclamation project kids rather than signing and playing absolutely atrocious players like Tinordi, Megna, etc

Our GM's love for the worst goalie in NHL is another concern. It sends terrible message to team that you're ok with embarrassing yourself every night that Soderblom steps on ice

Kids like Reichel, Phillips are targeted for "Accountability" and need to play better but trash like Tinordi, Soderblom, etc are nightly not held accountable

 

[DisgruntledHawkFan]

He's done a fine job. I just think its easy to avoid long term deals and suck and feel good about your cap space and your process.

Yea he's done nothing wrong he just hasn't done much right outside of the Vlasic contract.

 

[ClydeLee]

More likely to challenge the #1 pick again than a playoff spot.

That's the plan

 

[DisgruntledHawkFan]

Something that has been lacking from Davidson

There have been no Sharp, Versteeg or Ladd swings from KD

Hawks should be gung-ho bringing in reclamation project kids rather than signing and playing absolutely atrocious players like Tinordi, Megna, etc

Our GM's love for the worst goalie in NHL is another concern. It sends terrible message to team that you're ok with embarrassing yourself every night that Soderblom steps on ice

Kids like Reichel, Phillips are targeted for "Accountability" and need to play better but trash like Tinordi, Soderblom, etc are nightly not held accountable

It was one year and Soda is considerably better than every other in house option.

 

[deytookerjaabs]

Remember....

KD went full draft-rebuild by getting rid of the Hawks youth talent. This ensured that he had more 1st/2nds to hit on AND that the team will suck so bad our own picks will be top 5.

He won the gamble so far in a 1st overall and 2nd overall.

But, because he has nothing to fall back on due to his rebuild strategy nailing the 2nd overall pick is completely crucial because he's the one who put all his chips in on this.

 

[TLEH]

In general I just think skate fast and work hard is just overplayed. I want players that think the game in ways others don't. That is, so far, my only real hang up on the rebuild.

 

[DisgruntledHawkFan]

In general I just think skate fast and work hard is just overplayed. I want players that think the game in ways others don't. That is, so far, my only real hang up on the rebuild.

Yes. That's why I'm so high on Catton and Buium.

 

[Hawkaholic]

Something that has been lacking from Davidson

There have been no Sharp, Versteeg or Ladd swings from KD

They aren't even close to being a playoff team, and the rebuild just started.

 

[Toews2Bickell]

we have a gm problem if he tries to 'speed up the rebuild' this summer...thats the biggest mistake they could possibly make, they need at least one more year of top 3 bad and maybe one more after that...then you're looking at a fully stocked pool of prospects with depth everywhere and a ton of cap space and future draft capital to make trades to add immediate help

 

[Styles]

What's more important is identifying your core and surrounding them with the right trades and free agency signings. We haven't even drafted our entire core yet let alone know what we have in said core. I'd expect a big move this season or next offseason to get a forward. I have a feeling more and more RFAs will be available in the coming years. It just seems like that's the way the league is moving towards with more guys speaking up in destinations they are unhappy with or want out of.

 

[Toews2Bickell]

bedard was the first major piece added whereas toews and kane were the last...in a perfect world bedard would be on this roster in year 5 of a complete teardown but the prior regime refused to do it, that's not davidson's fault

 

[BHawk21]

This is crazy. He landed Bedard single handedly. Hes the only reason they have a future right now.

Its not easy to ship out Debrincat Hagel and Kane etc... He chose a direction. Now we are at the bottom with THE PRIZE player already on the roster with the 2nd overall pick coming today.

We are just getting to his real tests.

 

[10YearsAfter]

After yesterday's trade and press conference, when can we start discussing the possibility we have a GM who is not cut out for this role? It is seemingly more and more likely KD lucked into Bedard, but hasn't really done anything to warrant praise outside of that.

If he picks Levshunov over Demidov (or a few others) he's clueless

 

[ClydeLee]

I still maintain like all last season, this fanbase would be so much better mentally if we got Michkov last year... heck, even if we had Fantelli or Leo Carlsson. We maybr wouldn't have this OPs push that some other people have too, that we need to be better quicker. Nah, we need to build more high end talents around them.

 

[Illinihockey]

For me it just the lack of any kind of aggression into kick starting this team. A lot still hasn't happened draft/FA but seeing other teams like SJ who is in same exact position going all out to build around young talent while KD nibble around 3rd and 4th line players or former stars (Perry/Hall/Foligno) at tail ends of their careers. He seems very content in helping other teams out of their cap hell by taking on 2nd rd picks yet never seems able to make a bigger trade or acquire any player of substance. In essence I feel like KD is leaving us with blue balls..taking us almost their but then leaving the job unfinished

Exactly this

I understand the frustration and will fully acknowledge that the tear down is far easier than the build up. But I'm ok with what KD has said and done at this point. The gap between the Hawks and the elite teams is enormous and no matter what he does this offseason, they're not going to be cup contenders next year.

So spending on free agents and compromising their cap position to go from a bottom 5 team to a borderline playoff team to me makes little sense at the moment. I like the idea of keeping ample cap space as long as possible so you can use it as a weapon later if spending it won't get you to contender status.

But this won't last forever. I think next year, he's going to need to spend and I hope he knows it. Just why not wait another season, when you won't contend anyway, to see what you have and what you need before going for it? If he sits back next year and talks about being deliberate and calculated, then I'm going to be mad.

Compromising our cap position, what the hell are you talking about? Guess what they’re going to get 60 points next year and you know what you’ll say, why spend in the summer of 2025 when we aren’t close to contending. And then do this every year and it’s 2030 and the hawks still are a fringe team

 

[Drumman44]

Hard to judge for a pick that hasn’t happened yet. Even when it does it will take 3 years to know if it was right or wrong.