The Connor Bedard name being etched into the Stanley Cup could be four or five summers from now on.
Of course, he would have won that spring Comte Smaystrophy after a truly ridiculous playoff run alongside Michael Misa and Frank Nazar. Kevin Kolchinski also lights up Sam Lindsel, earning points as a partner in the top pair. Alex Vlasic's work as Shutdown Defender will become legendary. That second line of Nick Laldis, Sacha Bowiebert and Oliver Moore made them match up and were forced to choose poison to the opposing coach.
And who can forget how Samuel Savoir, Landon Slaggart and Marek Banucker wreaked havoc with their newly refined hair and put energy out of their seats for the team and fans?
It can definitely happen.
Kyle Davidson relies on it to test Chicago's patience, betting on his reputation. Davidson sold Danny Wirtz with plans to sabotage the franchise and rebuild it through the NHL Draft. That's exactly what Davidson did.
The first round pick of eight in the last three seasons. Two more this year. Two more the following year. It would always be an interesting footnote in Blackhawks history that Davidson's tank failed, but the ping pong ball fell anyway and landed him on Bedard. The rest was done with ruthlessness and lack of emotion. Davidson has as clear vision as the general manager of the game.
This is how professional sports teams run these days, especially in pay cap leagues. When things go wrong, you blow it up and start over. That's exactly how it works.
The problem is that things aren't going well. It's not the NHL. It's not the Cap era. still. The Buffalo Sabres blow it off and try to tank for Conor McDavid, missing the playoffs for 14 consecutive seasons. The Detroit Red Wings exploded it, built through the draft and worked well. The Edmonton Oilers chose No. 1 four times in five seasons, landing the most talented player the game has ever seen, and didn't reach real competition until last spring.
And the Blackhawks were removed for eight years from their final true playoff appearance, but a few years away from the next playoff.
On Saturday, Davidson traded defensive man Seth Jones, one of his three best players, for the Florida Panthers. Because Jones couldn't take the loss anymore. Davidson did relatively well in this deal – he won goaltender Spencer Knight and maintained only $2.5 million a year for Jones' large contract, but it was still another deal that clearly made the Blackhawks worse. Always take a step forward and back two steps.
So let's take a look at the team that has acquired Jones. When Bill Jeet took over the GM in Florida, the Panthers were still like a league laugh. They had not won a playoff series in a quarter century. The roster was equipped with mediocre players from their mid- to late 20s. They were stuck.
The Florida Panthers GM Bilgeet will be holding the 2024 Stanley Cup. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
But Zito didn't tear it. He didn't rebuild the Panthers. he I'll remake it they. He used all his tools (trading, free agency, exemption wire) to rebuild the plane while still in the air. Within four years, the Panthers are Stanley Cup champions, model franchises and league vy hopes.
See how that championship team was built. Zito has created one of the bravest deals in modern NHL history to land Matthew Tkachuk. He saw players who hadn't yet reached his potential and made a deal with Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, Brandon Montour and Etu Luostalinen. He made a smart signing in free agency, bringing in Carter Verharge, Evan Rodriguez and Oliver Ekman Larson. And he finds gold on the exemption wire, dumps Gustav and gets kicked out by the Vancouver Canucks, Blackhawks and Carolina Hurricanes, watching him become one of the best defenders in the league. He left his first round pick in 2022 and 2023 in 2024, 2025 in 2025, and 2026 in 2026. The only important player to pass the draft was already there when he arrived.
It certainly wasn't easy, and certainly some luck involved. Certainly, Zito didn't see himself throwing away from becoming a player. No one saw a 57-goal season from Reinhardt after six apparent seasons at Buffalo. And he overwhelmed him with Sergei Bobrovsky's $10 million cap hit and did all this with the Albatross that he eventually flew. What Zito did is very difficult.
But what Davidson is doing can be even more difficult.
Davidson had the opportunity to do this more quickly to save all this misery to his fans. 2021-22 The Blackhawks featured 23-year-old Alex De Blanctatt and 23-year-old Brandon Hagel. They had Jones, 26, and Dylan Strom, 24. And they posted 92 points to Patrick Kane.
now? DeBlanccat is with the Detroit Red Wings on his fourth 30-goal season. Hagel is in Tampa Bay Lightning, a burgeoning superstar who enjoys his second 30 goal season and a game-by-game campaign. Strom is with the Washington Capitals, running history to Shotgun as Alex Ovechkin's center, scoring 59 points in 60 games. Kane has only played 100 games but has scored more points over the past two seasons than all Blackhawks players other than Bedard.
That's more than Florida when Zito took over. However, DeBlanctatt and Hagel were too old (even though they were a year younger than Barkov and Ekblad when Zito took over). The Bedard was too important. The draft was the only way forward. Disassembly was the only way.
Of course, it's easy and perhaps stupid to point this out in hindsight. There are few GMs who are willing to be as bold as Zito, so there are few GMSs. It usually ends with shooting. If Davidson tried to recover around his young rising star and Kane on the spot, the Blackhawks could be stuck in the same mushy middle as they had in the Stanley Cup finals for the past few years.
But one of these scenarios sounds pretty good compared to what the Blackhawks have been in the last four years, perhaps they will be in the coming years, and what kicks Jones out of the city he was so excited to begin with.
What has been done is done, but there is no need to stay like this. It's been a long time since Davidson was going offensive and actually trying to win. Yes, he ran with Jake Gunzel last summer, but he got shorter. He somehow has to convince Mikko Lantanen or Mitch Marner this summer to sign up to play with Bedard for seven years. Or chase Wyatt Johnston, Noadbuson, or Evan Bouchard on the offer sheet. Or package countless picks and prospects, as well as some of the younger players he's accumulated.
Or all of the above. That's what Zito does. That's what Zito did. That's what works.
It's time to be bold. It's time to be creative. It's time to start winning again. Because the current pass is not just unbearable. It's very unlikely to work. History has shown us that. And it's better to aim to become the Florida Panthers than to risk becoming the Buffalo Sabres.
(Seth Jones' top photo: Bill Smith / NHLI by Getty Images)
