The Chicago Blackhawks will promote interim general manager Kyle Davidson as their permanent GM, according to multiple reports Monday.
No announcement has come from the team, but several outlets report the Blackhawks plan to make the move official on Tuesday.
The 33-year-old will become the 10th general manager in Blackhawks history, as well as the youngest GM in the NHL.
Davidson was named interim general manager in October after Stan Bowman stepped down in the wake of an investigation into sexual misconduct allegations from 2010 involving former video coach Bradley Aldrich, who allegedly assaulted two players. Reid Schar, a former U.S. attorney, interviewed 139 witnesses during a four-month investigation and found the team failed to take action following a May 23, 2010, meeting to discuss the allegations of sexual assault.
The promotion marks a meteoric rise for Davidson, who started with the Blackhawks as a team intern in the hockey operations department in 2010. He has worked his way up the front-office organizational ladder, gaining wide-ranging experience in contract negotiations, managing the salary cap, scouting and analytics. He was named assistant GM in 2019.
The Blackhawks have fallen on hard times in recent years. Chicago entered Monday in seventh place in the Central Division with a 19-27-8 record — ahead of only the Arizona Coyotes, who own the worst record in the NHL.
Chicago has missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs in three of the past four seasons. The Blackhawks have not gotten past the first round of the playoffs since 2014-15, when they won the Stanley Cup for the third time in six seasons.
–Field Level Media