The Chicago Blackhawks had a season that would take a toll on any general manager. The Blackhawks finished their schedule last week with a 25-46-11 record, the second worst in the NHL.
General manager Kyle Davidson chose to fire head coach Luke Richardson on Dec. 5 and appoint Rockford IceHogs head coach Anders Sorensen as the Blackhawks’ interim head coach. Davidson made the risky move to make Mark Eaton the IceHogs’ head coach, even though he had no prior coaching experience.
Chicago Blackhawks’ GM had a health scare this season
Per Phil Thompson of the Chicago Tribune, Davidson told reporters last week that he dealt with a heart scare during the season. He was dealing with symptoms related to Tetralogy of Fallot.
“It was a challenging season for myself,” Davidson said. “I would say that’s mostly away from the rink. … New child, a heart surgery and going through that whole situation where … feeling the way I was feeling, finding out the news, going through the process of second, third opinions and doing that all while in between work. That’s not easy.
“I didn’t have heart surgery on my bingo card this year.”
Kyle Davidson had serious symptoms to deal with
Davidson had two open heart surgeries as an infant and another in 2019. Davidson had to replace a pulmonary valve in his heart during the season after dealing with serious side effects from the heart issue in late August and September.
“It’s a combination of palpitations, fatigue, inability to really do workouts that I would be able to do previously; shortness of breath, especially laying on my back,” Davidson said. “All kinds of things that are little signs along the way that something isn’t working especially well.”
Davidson spent time in the hospital in November for heart palpitations. He was able to have the valve replacement on Feb. 11.
Davidson had to balance his health and duties as GM of the Blackhawks through the winter. He wound up leaning heavily on associate general manager Norm Maciver and assistant GM Meghan Hunter.
Fortunately, he was able to persevere to the offseason. But there might not be as much rest during that time as Davidson would like, or need.
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