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The Chicago Blackhawks are 4-13-1 to start the 2026-2027 season. The last time the team started a season this poorly was in the 1928-29 season.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson mentioned the urgency in aiming to improve and lauded the Blackhawks fans who've stuck with the team.
"Simply put, we’ve not been good enough," Davidson said on Wednesday.
What they're saying:
The Blackhawks started the season with a three-game losing streak. They're currently on a six-game skid entering Thursday's game against the Sabres.
Before the season, the Blackhawks made moves to align themselves with a playoff push. Signing Patrick Kane, trading for Bowen Byram and looking to their prospect pool of younger players to take the next step was a big part of their vision of success. So far, that vision hasn't materialized.
"This isn’t what we told our fans to expect, and I take responsibility for this," Davidson said. "We’re not defending well enough."
It's a bit of everything.
The Blackhawks rank dead last in the NHL with 2.17 goals scored per game and rank second-to-last with 4.22 goals allowed per game. Their nine points are ahead of only the Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks have seven points.
This year, the Blackhawks have asked more of their younger players as the team wants to vie for the playoffs. Those players are still parts of the team Davidson sees as foundational. They weren't here when he started this job, and he believes they're on the track to improve.
"I think I can confidently say that we've, as a group, 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," Davidson said when asked if he was the right general manager to lead the team. "That's the plan moving forward. 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."
What's next:
There are moves the Blackhawks could make to improve. Davidson has gone down trade routes before, especially this offseason. However, he doesn't want to be too hasty.
"I’ve made it clear around the league that we’re intent on improving the playing roster," he said. "This is a precarious time where you don’t want to do something to do something and make a mistake you’ll regret later."
The Blackhawks will stick with their guys for now, and look for improvement. Davidson won't put a timeline on that, but did promise the team would start trying new things.
"It's not like there's a date in weeks or months or something that I have in mind," he said. "We're going to enter into a little new phase of how we're focusing on some different things and refocusing on some elements and providing support in that endeavor.
Above all, Davidson did understand the fans, above all, deserve better.
"We know that they’ve stuck with us through this rebuild," Davidson said of the fans. "They deserve more than what we provided this year, but they can be rest assured that every single day we are making our way out of this
The Source: Quotes are from Blackhawks' general manager Kyle Davidson's press conference on Wednesday.