Reaction to Blackhawks' Kyle Davidson’s press conference; the focus is the future

As we know, the Chicago Blackhawks have had a horrific start to their 2026-27 season, with a 4-13-1 record through their first 18 games. After a 9-2 drubbing at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes on Nov. 7, many pundits thought this would be a turning point for the organization. That big changes were on the horizon.

However, neither general manager Kyle Davidson nor head coach Jeff Blashill have been relieved of their duties, and no trades have been made. Really the only move the team has made is putting goaltender Arvid Soderblom through waivers and calling up Drew Commesso in his stead. The Blackhawks have spent the last three days of practice working on minor tweaks and points of emphasis to their system, focusing on not giving up so much defensively. On Wednesday (Nov. 11), Davidson finally spoke to the media for the first time since before the season started. Here’s what the Blackhawks’ general manager had to say.

Backing Blashill

Davidson started his press conference acknowledging the Blackhawks’ bad start, and that this was NOT the expectation, or the messaging they gave to fans to start the season. The first thing he addressed was head coach Jeff Blashill.

“I know many of you today will want to know about Blashill. Blash is our head coach. I have full confidence in him. The players believe in him. He's made them better. They've stated that to you. I believe that. I've seen this perception out there that he's just stubborn; he doesn't want to change. I contradict that, based on my experience with Blash and in our conversations. He's someone that seeks out feedback, wants alternative opinions, and he's behind everything I've laid out and said so far, and everything else I will say today. We're on very much on the same page with how we assess the team and how we think we can be better moving forward.”

In other words, Blashill isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, no matter how much the fanbase is clamoring for it.

Defensive shortcomings; Mark Eaton being brought in as position coach

Davidson continued by saying that management and the coaching staff have “undergone intense examination and had honest and productive conversations” about where they’re falling short.

“To simply put it, we're not defending well enough,” said Davidson. “We give up odd-man rushes, specifically 2-on-1’s and breakaways at a rate that's one of the highest in the league, as well as the high danger chances that we're giving up at two high of a rate in our defensive zone. Which obviously then leads to goals against, which we have to do a much better job of cutting down.”

The general manager said that the coaching staff agreed they’re a bit more forward-centric. So the decision was made to bring in Assistant general manager of player development Mark Eaton for more support on the defensive side of things. Eaton will be working full-time alongside the coaching staff starting this Monday (Nov. 16), and for the foreseeable future. Davidson continued,

“Some of you in this room know Mark Eaton, but he played just over 600 games in the NHL, and a lot of what he built his career on are things that our players need to get better at. And so he's uniquely qualified from that perspective, as well as the fact that he's worked with almost every one of our defensemen since they've been drafted. He knows how they learn, he knows their gaps, he knows how they communicate, and he's also just got that personal relationship with them.”

Eaton will serve as a positional coach and offer a fresh set of eyes from the outside. He’s “someone that's hyper focused on improving individual defending skills in this case, and not necessarily impacting overall scheme.”

Always looking to improve via trade

These two things said, Davidson expressed he’s still very actively looking to improve the team via trade. But that’s not always easy.

“At the same time, I'm also exploring how I can improve this roster. Recently at GM meetings, it's an opportunity for a lot of good discussions, and I've made it clear around the league that we are intent in our attempts to improve the playing roster. While we do have a lot of significant assets that are appealing around the league, we're also not going to do something to make a bad deal. This is a little bit of a precarious time where you don't want to do something for the sake of doing something and make a mistake that you're going to regret later.”

This isn’t exactly the right time to be making a huge splash. For one thing, you have to have a willing partner to negotiate a trade. It’s too early in the season for a lot of teams to really know what they have or what they want to give up. Or what they want to add, for that matter. I’m in agreement with Davidson that it’s really stupid to make a move just to make a move.

Sure, the Blackhawks need a big, physical winger and could use another veteran defenseman. But so does everyone else. Players like these that are going to make an immediate impact are hard to find, especially this time of year.

Byram backlash

While we’re on the subject of veteran players and defensemen, Davidson admitted they might have made a bit of a miscalculation when it came to the balance of young and veteran defensemen, especially in the wake of the Bowen Byram injury.

"I certainly think there's an element of that specifically, we probably maybe I don't want to say took for granted, but perhaps miscalculated a little bit on where we would look if we had one of our relied upon defensemen go down. And that's again injuries happen. That's not an excuse, but it is the reality of when you have young players that could have benefited from one more veteran? It's very possible … And you never really want to build your roster planning for someone to miss a significant amount of time. But the reality is that it's happened, and we've probably found a little bit of difficulty because of that.”

Many of you are probably thinking about Byram’s subpar start to the season and wondering if having him healthy would’ve really made that much difference. But the reality is he’s only played in six games, and half of that was playing on his off side. It’s very likely Byram could’ve found his stride and we’d be looking at a very different picture right now. Unfortunately, we’ll never know. We also don’t know when he’ll return to the lineup, which leaves the team in a state of flux.

No answers for Korchinski

While I might not be as adamant about firing everyone and starting from scratch as much of the fanbase, the one thing I do have an issue with is the handling of defenseman Kevin Korchinski. When asked Korchinski seemingly not being able to crack the lineup, Davidson repeated what we’ve heard over and over again from Coach Blashill. “He's got to continue to fight every day to get back in the lineup, and part of that is made more difficult by not winning. And when you go in, it's hard to stick with a lineup over and over and over again that's just not winning.”

Mark Lazarus of The Athletic pushed back on this, saying the lineup is staying the same, despite the defense playing so poorly. And Korchinski isn’t being given a fair shot. To which Davidson gave the same platitudes.

“It's just up to those players that are not in the lineup to grind every day, and then when they do get the opportunity to make the most of it … And when the opportunity arises, whether that's through that's through roster changes, injuries, then you got to knock that door down. And you know what? Quite frankly, he's not in the lineup because maybe he just hasn't knocked that door down.”

Korchinski has only suited up for five games. Despite relatively decent outings, he’s still on the outside looking in. Blashill doesn’t want to play him, and Davidson doesn’t want to give up his investment in a seventh overall draft pick by losing him to waivers. In the long run, the real loser is Korchinski, who isn’t playing and isn’t developing. Unfortunately, he’s on the wrong end of the business side of hockey.

Knight in shining Soderblom

Davidson was asked about how Spencer Knight was very upfront about his goalie partner Arvid Soderblom being the only player to face the consequences of the team’s poor start. Soderblom was put on waivers and subsequently sent down to the Rockford IceHogs. It was certainly commendable by Knight, and Davidson agreed.

“I understand, and I actually respect the point of view. We've got a really, a really, really tight knit group, and so I wouldn't expect any player to be happy about someone going out the door… but I understand when, especially a goaltending partner that you're working with so often, but any teammate walks out the door either temporarily or permanently. It's not something easy for people to handle.”

Soderblom did seem to get the short end of the stick. But he also was not playing well, even if it was a small sample size (an .842 save percentage and a 4.67 goals against average in five games). But Davidson also said they wanted to give Drew Commesso an opportunity, and this seemed like a good time to do that.

Time will tell how Commesso fares, and whether Soderblom will be reinstated with the team in the future.  

Davidson defending himself

When it came time for Davidson to answer for whether he was the right guy for the job, he pointed to his entire tenure as a general manager.

“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. 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 in this league. Which will carry this team upwards as these younger players reach their prime. And that path is certainly not linear. It's not, but with young players and the players we've got to bring in the league. We have to get through these rough times that that they're experiencing in their development in order to get to the other side.”

In other words, Davidson is asking us all to give him more time before we make a final judgement. Pretty much like he’s asking for the team and the coaching.

He has drafted some great players. Arguably all of them too close together. Which leads us to the current predicament of a very young and inexperienced team. Some players are going to hit, and others miss. But Davidson’s argument is that we won’t know the answer to that for at least a few more years. Take that as you will.  

Backing the team

Davidson repeated over and over throughout his press conference his belief in the team and the players. At the beginning, as part of his prepared statement, he commended the players while also defending their current shortcomings.

“I still believe very wholeheartedly in this roster, that we have some incredibly young, talented players. However, sometimes we may be asking a little too much of them. Many of these players reach the NHL early, given their offensive abilities, and that is a good thing, and that does serve them well. But the details of defending are learned through repetition and experience. Things like body position, stick position, angles, and then also just the natural experience that comes from knowing when to be patient and when to act with urgency.”

Many pundits believe all this losing is really affecting the confidence of this young group. It’s a very valid concern. But Davidson feels the overall character of the room will carry them through.

“I'm not worried, and that's primarily because of the character in that room. I don't view them as a fragile group. I don't view them as a group of individuals. They're very much a collective. They believe in each other. They believe in their capabilities. They're just as disappointed as everyone else, but they're ultimately committed to each other, to the teammate next to them, to get out of this. I again, when looking at the character that's in that room, I don't fear that mentality will overcome them. I believe that they have what it takes, and they've shown us that even when we've dropped back in games, that they fight. They don't stop fighting.”

As someone who has regular access to the locker room, I’ll stand behind his belief. The players, despite the losses and despite the disappointment, have an uncanny ability to bounce back. That’s part of what youth can do for you. They seem to be digging deep and using the adversity to their advantage, as part being a stronger, more resilient version of themselves.

I’m working on a separate piece on how the players are responding to this adversity, because it’s a fascinating look at the mental side of being a professional athlete. Coming soon!

Message to the fans

Finally, Davidson expressed a message he wants to give to the fans.

“The last thing I'll add, and this is sort of a message to our fans, is that we know that they've stuck with us through this rebuild. They deserve more than what we provided this year, but they can be rest assured that every single day we're coming here with the intent of making our way out of this, improving, and getting to where we want to go. Because from ownership, management, coaches, and players, we're all committed. We're all really, really, really motivated to get this right, and so that's what we're going to do every single day.”

Whether you believe in this or not is completely up to you. If you want to rant and rave and stop watching the team, you most certainly can. That’s your prerogative. But the message is obvious that the Blackhawks intend to stay the course. They believe in what they’re building.

Yes, it’s taking more time than anyone expected. It’s frustrating for everyone; fans, coaches, management, the media, the players.  

Can they get this right in the long run?! Only time will tell. As a member of the media, I’ll be here to discuss it with all the fine people who decide to stick it out.

Onward we go. And hopefully upward sooner rather than later.

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