I wanted to chat briefly about a piece Brett wrote yesterday titled “Failing to Compete is Not the Same Thing as Alway🍌s Intending to Sell” because a lot of what he said about the Cubs this season resonated with me as a Blackhawks fan for a number of reasons.
Over the years between 2015 and when Kyle Davidson was named the general manager on an interim basis, the Blackhawks were not as self-aware as the Cubs have been over the past few years. The Cubs knew they were at the end of the road with their World Series-winning core, and made public their desire to rebuild. And the trades they made to accelerate their rebuild are starting to make some national noise in the minors… while the major league product continues to leave a lot to be desired.
The Blackhawks, on the other hand, continued to try to put veteran bandaids on the glaring issues they had around their dynasty core. I’m not advocating that the Hawks should have moved on from their future Hall of Famers and franchise icons as quickly as the Cubs did, but they failed to put a roster around them to compete for far too long. It wasn’t until Davidson arrived that the “rent to sell” approach was more pronounced and public; and it wasn’t until Davidson put his plan to rebuild into action that we saw the organization realize it was time to move forward.
However, the second area where Brett’s great piece grabbed me was in the “where are the Blackhawks going to be in 3-4 years from now?” part of my brain. Now that Connor Bedard is here, it appears the front office is ready to begin building around him. And, like the Cubs, most of the players the Blackhawks have added from trades (all draft picks in this scenario, but equally years away from the top level) are starting to get attention. But while it’s been hard for Davidson to make some incredibly tough decisions regarding veterans, the harder part of his job will be knowing when to make the big move to take the team to the next level. And, once the Blackhawks (hopefully) get there, how to remain at/near the top.
Good — and cautionary — thoughts as the team looks to a bright future.
