BLOG: Davidson Builds Toward Future with Draft Pick Haul in Coming Years

As the trade deadline came to an end on Friday, Blackhawks General Manager Kyle Davidson and his staff finished a busy week making multiple trades to acquire seven picks in the next four drafts, plus nine new players for the Blackhawks roster and prospect pipeline.
Although trading away a franchise icon in Patrick Kane and a top scorer in Max Domi aren't the moves easiest to make, Davidson felt the returns they received will only help make Chicago's future brighter.
"It's been really busy, really hectic and lots of different things flying around lots of scenarios," Davidson said. "But in the end, as I look back on it, now, we didn't have the busiest day today, so we had a little time to reflect and just really, really happy with what we were able to accomplish."

Going into the next three drafts, the Blackhawks accumulated six first-round draft picks from now through the 2025 NHL Draft -- the most of any team in the league. As it currently stands, Chicago holds 29 picks over the next three drafts, in addition to the 11 picks they made last season to rebuild the future of the Original Six team.

While obtaining mostly draft picks in return for his trades, Davidson knew it was important to have multiple picks within the next few drafts to help spread out the wave of prospective talent that they can acquire. With a heavy short-term focus going into the 2023 and 2024 drafts, the team hopes to also use the 2025 and 2026 picks as assets, by draft or trade, to acquire high-end talent to fill in the roster gaps of players that are already in the Blackhawks' system.
"I think we're in a good spot to select and create a prospect pool of our own that we're really proud of," Davidson said. "And then over time, we can see where we might need some help and some filling into some holes. We can do that either through trades of what might be potentially on a roster, what might be in a prospect pool or through draft capital that we've accumulated."

Entering his first year as the Blackhawks' head coach, Luke Richardson had faith in Davidson since he joined the team based on open conversations during the hiring process about the direction the team is going. Although he doesn't like to use terms like 'rebuild' as a coach, Richardson knew that the team would be going through change, but also still wanted to see his team succeed with the players they are developing.
After being announced as head coach in June, Richardson watched Davidson and the scouting team enter the 2022 draft with no first round picks. The first-year head coach began to have faith as he watched Davidson acquire three first-round picks before the first day was over.
"I had a chance to meet with them and watch them go through that process last year before the draft with no first round picks and then the next day, I'm sitting at the table twiddling my thumbs thinking I'm not doing anything all day, they had three," Richardson said. "So, they wheeled and dealed and got three picks and I really like the three guys (we took in the first round) in development camp. So, to me, that's 100% faith in the system that's going on here and the direction we're going."

With a little over three months until the 2023 draft, Davidson's next focus will be what the team brings to upcoming draft table. After a revamping of the scouting team last summer that helped select prospects like Kevin Korchinski, Frank Nazar and Sam Rinzel, Davidson knows the next future picks can possibly jump start the journey of the rebuild.
"That's the way we see this thing being built is through the draft and through utilizing the draft capital that we've amassed, especially in the next draft coming up," Davidson said. "So, we'll see how that goes and see where our picks land and what kind of players we can bring in and what positions and then we'll just kind of we'll go from there."
With the trades heavily focused on acquiring draft picks to strengthen the prospective pool, the team now looks to recreate a similar success to the perennial championship contender the built with the selections of Jonathan Toews and Kane.
"In reality, we know what it takes in this league to build a championship team, and that's how they did it in the past," Richardson said. "Jonathan and Patrick were part of that and now [they're] trying to do it again."