New Blackhawks GM Davidson ready to hit the ground running

How in the world does someone go from a hockey operations intern to the team's general manager?

Impossible, right?

Or at least a one-in-a-million shot - a dream not even worth dreaming.

Well, if that's the case, then don't wake Kyle Davidson, who was named the 10th general manager of the Chicago Blackhawks in front of friends, family and media Tuesday inside the United Center.

"To ascend to this position, I'm really proud of that," said the 33-year-old Sudbury, Ontario, native. "I'm really proud that I did it all with the Chicago Blackhawks. It's been a great ride and I look forward to continuing that in this chair."

The road ahead figures to be filled with plenty of speed bumps, but Davidson believes the Hawks will indeed become a force to be reckoned with once his philosophies are in place and can take root.

Davidson, who was interim GM the last several months, beat out six other candidates, a group that was trimmed to three last week.

So why did the Hawks go this route instead of choosing someone like Mathieu Darche, who helped build the Tampa Bay Lightning into two-time Stanley Cup champs?

In the end, it seemed to come down to Davidson's familiarity with the Hawks and what he's done over the past 12 years to earn the trust of CEO Danny Wirtz, President of Business Operations Jaime Faulkner and plenty of others.

Wirtz loves the fact that Davidson:

• Has become "an expert of the inner workings and nuances of the salary cap" and the CBA.

• Has paved the way for the Hawks' hockey strategy and analytics department.

• Possesses "high character and high values."

"I have seen Kyle step up as both a visible and vocal leader both on and off the ice," Wirtz said. "He's already well respected in this organization and is seen as a true partner to both the hockey and the business side. It became clear, without a doubt, ... that Kyle was the answer."

As he did in November when Davidson introduced Derek King as the interim coach, he again impressed during the 30-minute Q&A with reporters at the UC.

"I'm someone that doesn't take any day for granted," said Davidson, who was born with a congenital heart defect and has undergone three open-heart surgeries. "I've committed myself to be better every single day and I appreciate every opportunity that comes my way."

And make no mistake - this is his biggest one yet. It will be interesting to see how Davidson transforms a flawed team that is in seventh place in the Central Division at 19-27-8.

King minced no words a few weeks ago when he said it's going to take a lot of work.

And Davidson definitely agrees.

"It's clear that we need to be better," Davidson said. "The standings tell us that every single day. We're a long way from where we want to be and where we need to be as a team, and we intend to rebuild this both on and off the ice.

"No matter if it takes three years (or) five years to get to the level of success that we're looking to achieve - when we get there it's our mission to stay there."

Davidson had a brief conversation Tuesday with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, whose contracts end after next season. Davidson made it clear the future Hall of Famers will be kept in the loop going forward.

"I'll tell you for sure there won't be any surprises on their end in terms of what we plan on doing with the organization," Davidson said.

The next three weeks will be busy ones as Davidson puts a staff in place, while also dealing with the March 21 trade deadline.

There was a lot of talk Tuesday about changing "the general philosophies" and "foundational things" Davidson would like to fix moving forward. Pressed as to what that means, Davidson gave an admittedly vague answer but did say: "It goes into how we're going to operate in the front office and ways we'll incorporate new information, new perspective. It's going to take time and it's going to take time in terms of re-imagining how we want to evaluate players, execute at (the) draft, scouting, how we build analytics.

"It's a very broad change in philosophy because I'm a new person that's coming in with some strong beliefs in how we should move forward."

So is this going to be a long, drawn-out rebuild? It might be.

But that's OK with the Wirtzes, who have seen their fair share of dry spells in the past.

"We're going to give (Davidson) the time he needs," Danny Wirtz said. "One of the advantages of our family being in this for four generations is we've seen ups and downs in this franchise, so we do have patience on our side built in.

"We're as anxious as anyone to see a winning team, but we just want to do it the right way."

@johndietzdh