The Chicago Blackhawks are still searching for their next head coach to lead the franchise, with their vacancy officially adding another excited piece to the puzzle on Monday. The franchise secured the third overall pick in this summer’s draft, and general manager Kyle Davidson was pumped about the results of the lottery even though the team dropped a spot in order.
“I thought it was kind of exciting,” Davidson told the media. “The last couple years haven’t been necessarily like chalk, but teams close to the top of the odds have moved up or stayed the same, so it was kind of exciting from that standpoint. Third overall, we’re going to get a great player. I’m excited to head into meetings next week with our amateur group and start the process of nailing down where we want to line up the board and what it looks like. We stayed in good range where I think we’re going to be really excited with what we end up with.”
Another important part of the Blackhawks’ rebuild will join the organization on June 27 in Los Angeles, and it should be known by then who the next bench boss will be. Despite missing out on their top candidate, a new report has come out saying that Chicago pushed hard for him to be the next leader of the franchise.
The Chicago Blackhawks pushed hard for David Carle
A recent report from John Buccigross of ESPN stated that a team (Chicago) made an extremely enticing offer to David Carle of Denver University, but the young guru held off on making the leap to the NHL ranks this offseason. There is no secret that Carle was a top option in this cycle for many organizations with head coaching vacancies, with the Chicago Blackhawks being one of them. Carle agreed to a new contract to remain at Denver on Monday, proving that he does not plan on coaching at the NHL level anytime soon.
Carle has a 179-73-17 record in his time as the Denver head coach. He has led the program since 2018 and has a 12-2 NCAA tournament record in his tenure. Along with working at Denver, Carle was the head coach for the U.S. National Junior Team for the last two years. He helped them bring home the gold medal both years and announced that he will not return to the role next season.
The Chicago Blackhawks young core should attract candidates
Even though the Blackhawks missed out on the Carle and Mike Sullivan sweepstakes, there are still some attractive candidates out there like Rick Tocchet and Jay Woodcroft. What Chicago has built in their prospect pool has given fans something to look forward to and they even got to see some more first-round picks make their NHL debut this past season.
Six of the eight first-round selections in the last three drafts were with the team at some point this season, and the other two picks from that 2024 class are not too far behind. Everyone is hoping that Connor Bedard will take a massive step forward in his third NHL season after posting back-to-back 20-plus goal and 60-plus point campaigns to begin his career.
Chicago Blackhawks coaching icon set to return to the NHL after 3 seasons away from the bench
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