ESSAY INCOMING
I'll fully admit that I want to like Kyle Davidson because I agree with his overall vision for the team. I think we'll agree that he inherited a core of players that were expensive, didn't fit that well together, and would never win a cup. Now tearing everything down is the easy part of his job and building it back up is the hard part.
BREAKING THE ROSTER DOWN TO THE STUDS
I like the value he got for all of the players he decided to sell. I guess it doesn't really matter if he doesn't get the draft picks right but unfortunately it's still too early for that. Would Hagel or Debrincat make this team better right now? Yes but it's not like they'd be playoff contenders and they wouldn't have Korchinski, Moore, Boisvert, and Ludwinski in the system. There's probably no Bedard or Levshunov either. I don't think Kane would have resigned here whether KD wanted him or not and yeah, they could have gotten more for him but I think it's better optics to let Kane decide where he wants to go and future free agents will look upon that positively.
THE COACH
Getting a guy to come here to coach an overmatched team for a few years is probably not as easy as you'd think. But I'd say I like more of what Richardson has done more than not. His record sucks but yeah, he's been shorthanded most of his tenure and they should probably be better this year. Is it his fault that the team can't score? I don't know but they're competitive and playing hard every game. He's probably the Savard to the next Quenneville but I wouldn't call him a disaster by any means.
FREE AGENTS
I wish he didn't let Dylan Strome walk for nothing but given what he knew at the time, the cost, and the term it would take to keep him, I get it. We also don't know if he would be as good on this team as he is on Washington. I'm also not counting all the players he had to overpay to get to the cap floor. That's just part of doing business in the league.
Bertuzzi and Teravainen haven't looked great but I have a feeling they will benefit when the team has more talent next year. Maroon and Smith have been fine as gritty vets to go with the other players on the roster. Brodie has been an absolute disaster but it's not like his cap hit is huge with term. I'll bet he's bought out next year. The only reason I can think of as to why he got a second year on his contract is that KD wanted another vet around to play with all the kids next season as you don't want too many young defenseman at once. Except he's been awful.
TRADES
The only trades of consequence that I can remember that he's made, besides the sell off, are those that he's used cap space as a weapon. It's netted Mrazek, Dickinson, Hall, Foligno, Mikheyev, Beauvillier, Zaitsev, and some draft picks. Some trades have worked out better than others but I don't think he's gotten hosed yet. Admittedly it's hard to get hosed when you're selling veterans and cap space.
INTERNAL MOVES AND EXTENSIONS
The Vlasic signing is looking pretty damn good and the Reichel one isn't looking too bad either. I think that's about it as far as extensions of young guys go. Mrazek, Foligno, and Dickinson extensions are a little more expensive than what I'd like but I'm ok with them for now.
DRAFT & DEVELOPMENT
It's still too early. 2022 was his most recent draft and yeah, some picks are looking better than others but we all know that it's probably 5 years before you can close the book on evaluating a draft. He didn't pick Vlasic, Kaiser, Dach, Reichel, Slaggert, Allan, or Del Mastro but he's been involved with their development and they're all looking like NHL players. I'm not saying that turning a past first round pick like Reichel and seeing him have success on the 4th line is an accomplishment but I'd like to give him some credit for how late round defensemen picks have developed.
I watched the Hogs Wolves game last night and don't look now but Korchinski is starting to figure it out. The Hogs, minus Nazar, sucked as they lost 4-0. They looked much like the Hawks as they barely ever had the puck and couldn't score. But Korchinski looked mighty good. He made some great breakout passes and found guys in space, was a very dynamic skater leading the rush, and didn't look to get beat defensively much. I'm excited to see him back up when they promote him again and he's definitely the closest thing we have to Quinn Hughes. Will he become that? Probably not but I'm excited about him again after last year's debacle.
I think we're all excited about Nazar and Rinzel. Ludwinski and Hayes ae looking like misses at the moment but I'm intrigued by Savoie. He's got some Andrew Shaw in him but he's much faster. I'm also intrigued by how Thompson and James are producing in college but yeah I have no idea if that will translate. Kind of like what I saw last night from Marcel too. Not sure what that is but there might be a 4th liner on a good team in there.
LEVSHUNOV DEMIDOV DEBATE
I watched Levshunov last night and he wasn't good. Demidov is producing in the KHL and looks dynamic but I still don't hate the pick. You can clearly see that Levshunov has the tools and he's 18 playing defense in the AHL which is not easy. His motor or perceived lack of effort is concerning as it doesn't look like he's that interested in trying hard. Maybe he's still adjusting? I don't know but I'm still excited to see what he does with all of those tools as he gets more comfortable playing while the season goes on.
I'm not sure what Lev will become but going into the draft, he was the only guy who had the potential to become a #1 defensemen on a cup contender and being right handed didn't hurt. There isn't a guy like that in this upcoming draft and it doesn't look like there is in 26 either. But there are a shit ton of dynamic forwards coming out and the Hawks roster won't be looking so bad if they can get one or two of them. So even knowing what we know now, I'm still ok with drafting Levshunov.
OVERALL OPINION
I think KD has done a good job transforming an aging and flawed core into what the team is now. Rebuilds in hockey take time and yeah, the results aren't guaranteed. Right now, the team plays hard and pretty good defensively with some building block for the future but they just can't score. So top line or top 6 forwards are the gaping hole of the roster and having Demidov in the system would feel better for many of us.
But if Nazar turns into something, another draft pick like Kantserov, Moore, Lardis, Boisvert, Vanacker, Mustard, or Spellacy turn into something, they land Martone, Hagens, or Misa, they sign Rantanen, Ehlers, or Marner, they just might be cooking.
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