Blackhawks GM Davidson displaying belief in team's outlook, despite poor start

The Chicago Blackhawks record of 4-13-1 is a tough pill to swallow because this season was expected to go differently.

As general manager Kyle Davidson said during his press conference on Nov. 11, "Simply put, we've not been good enough."

But one message played a consistent part in Davidson's press conference: belief.

The Blackhawks believe in what they have...

Davidson spoke for almost 45 minutes, and he covered a lot of different topics, including the handling of Kevin Korchinski, putting goaltender Arvid Söderblom on waivers, and the direction of the team.

The big thing was that massive changes are not the game plan for now. However, trades are not off the table. Davidson said that's something he's continuing to explore, while noting he is not going to make a trade for the sake of doing it.

Therefore, they are going to stick with what they said from the beginning of the rebuild: the belief in what they have long-term.

While listening to Davidson talk, he vocalized working points, such as acknowledging that they haven't defended well enough. But they have confidence in a solution.

For example, when it comes to when he was asked about urgency with the team, "I certainly understand the preference for something like that, big action. But that's not necessarily the best way, in my opinion, to productive progress. I believe in this coaching staff. I believe in Blash (Jeff Blashill). We're going to support some of the coaching staff with bringing Mark Eaton in."

"What I meant by forward-centric is a lot of the people are former forwards, and they focus on the forward position, and so in bringing someone in that's going to help to augment and support the staff that are dealing with the defensemen that we need to see improvement from over the next little while, I think, is certainly urgency. We're pulling an assistant general manager (Eaton) out of the field, as requested by our coaching staff that we granted and think is a good idea. So there's urgency there.

"He's out in the field working with our prospects that are in amateur and pro in Rockford a lot too, and he's going to embed here, and so that' some pretty meaningful action and some reorganization going on there internally.

"But at the same time, I believe that the players believe in Blash and the staff. I believe in Blash and the staff, and so we're going to get out of this together, and we're going to work together to make sure that we keep taking steps and dig our way out of the hole that's been created. And so, I think that's something we believe in because of the people we have in this organization we feel can get us out of out of where we started."

Davidson talked about everyone owning a piece of their record. But it doesn't take away from what he sees in the potential.

When asked what he would say to those who question if he is the right person to flip things around:

"I would go back four years ago, and that first training camp. The players that we had in that training camp; there's very few left in the NHL from that training camp. Certainly, left in the organization. And so, what we've done over the last four years is a significant flip of the whole, not only roster but reserve list. And so, in that time, I think I can confidently say that we've, as a group, this is not just myself, but as a group- we've acquired through the draft and other means, some very, very meaningful foundational pieces that are going to be great to elite players in this league, which will carry this team upwards as these younger players reach their prime, and you know what, that path is certainly not linear.

"It's not easy, but with the maturation of young players and the players we drafted and are bringing in the league, we have to get through these rough times that they're experiencing in their development in order to get to the other side.

"And they'll have that under their belt. They'll have that experience to draw from because we've got a lot of players that are going to be great players in this league. Help this team win and help this team be very good for a long time. And so we still fully believe that, while also recognizing the moment we're in. And through that, though, yes, these players have to keep developing and enter their prime. That's not the only way that we continue to get better. We're going to remain relentless in our pursuit of players and people that can help us, and these young players take the next step and continue to build towards the team we want to be, and so that's been the plan since the outset.

"That's the plan moving forward, and we're going to work every day to either put our players here in the best situation to succeed, give them what they need to develop, and also do our part externally to continue to improve the roster both now and in the future."

...But they desperately need two points

Overall, the belief amongst the organization remains strong.

But belief will only last for so long if the results don't eventually come in the form of wins. Time will tell if Davidson's decision not to take the "big action" route was the right one.

However, the belief the players continue to display is important because it is a motivator.

As Sam Rinzel told me, "We know we can be good, and we've been good at certain times. So the belief is there. That's not the issue. So, just putting it together. Obviously, we dug ourselves a hole. So just kind of digging ourselves out of it, really."

I, too, think the players are capable of more than what has been shown this season.

But again, they need the two points.

They had three straight days of hard-working practices heading into their game against the Buffalo Sabres tonight (Nov. 12).

If they can snap their six-game losing streak, that would be an important step.

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