CHICAGO — The date was June 15, 2015, when the Chicago Blackhawks put an exclamation point on their modern dynasty.
Hall of Famer Duncan Keith broke a scoreless tie when the rebound of his own shot got behind Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop late in the second period at the United Center. Patrick Kane’s slap shot in the third dashed any hopes for the Lightning as the Hawks hoisted the Stanley Cup for the third time in six seasons.
The Hawks haven’t made any notable postseason noise since that fabled summer day. A fall was bound to happen, as Kane — now with the Detroit Red Wings — put it back in November.
That fall ended up being harder than the franchise would’ve liked. More than a decade later, the Hawks find themselves still in recovery mode.
General manager Kyle Davidson, upon being handed the keys full time in March 2022, made the decision to leave the past behind and rebuild. Now headed toward his fifth full season in charge and first with a new contract extension, how far along are the Hawks?
Past the starting point, but they need to show more than that in the 2026-27 season.
This past season was a step forward — an 11-point increase from 2024-25. It deserves to be noted, and Davidson did just that during exit interviews.
“I was quite happy with how our season went,” he said. “I think we took some really nice steps forward. A lot of experience for young players, some nice steps forward in their style of play.
“It’s really exciting to see these young players get experience, understand what the league is, take that information into the offseason and use that as motivation to grow over the summer and come back hungry to start next year.”
A focus on building talent through the draft brings with it the trials and errors of youth. We saw a fair share of both from the 2025-26 Hawks.
Ryan Greene’s ice vision has validated his top-line status, while Oliver Moore’s speed can contend with any skater on the ice. There also are question marks. Artyom Levshunov didn’t have the best rookie season, and Kevin Korchinski has yet to prove he can be a consistent NHL defenseman.
The Hawks had some ugly showings. A 9-3 shellacking in Buffalo. A 4-0 loss in Columbus before the Olympic break. A 7-2 home loss to a Carolina Hurricanes team filled with call-ups from the Chicago Wolves.
The explanation was that the team is young — and still will be in 2026-27 — and the players have to grow from these experiences and be content with that learning wavelength. It’s reasonable for now, but the Hawks can’t keep recycling the same explanation after every bad loss.
Comparison is the enemy of progress, but it’s hard to overlook what the Montreal Canadiens have accomplished with a similarly youthful group. The Habs went 48-24-10 in 2025-26 and made the playoffs for the second year in a row, a stark improvement from their 22-49-11 record in 2021-22. Their roster that season was the 17th-oldest in the league; this season they had the second-youngest roster, led by rookie Ivan Demidov, 20, and 51-goal scorer Cole Caufield, 25.
The Hawks already had an experienced team in 2022-23, Davidson’ first full season in charge, but tried adding different veterans to make up for the departures of Kane and Jonathan Toews and to help season Connor Bedard, the No. 1 draft pick in 2023. Then they switched gears and became the league’s youngest team in 2025-26. They’ve finished in the bottom four of the NHL in each of the last four seasons.
“If we’re fully healthy and we’re picking top three again (next year) — without a lottery win to put us there — we’ll probably be disappointed with that.” Davidson said.
He added that he would have to see how the next season plays out to make a determination on the progress of the rebuild. What’s the plan if the Hawks do indeed finish with a top-three pick again while healthy? We don’t know, and that’s worrisome in itself.
If nothing else, Bedard’s play is enough to look forward to as he aims to play a full season in 2026-27. There’s not much extra to say about his skill outside of oohs and aahs — he finished with a career-high 75 points despite suffering a separated shoulder in December and missing 12 games. Not only is he expected to take another step forward in his game, but he might be doing it with a captain’s patch.
Bedard, 20, hasn’t shown any outward displeasure with the team’s progress and is optimistic a contract extension will get done this summer. He and the rest of the players are fully on board for the next steps in Davidson’s rebuilding plan.
Whether that’s youth talking or genuine determination is up in the air. One thing that’s certain is losing takes a toll — Quinn Hughes would tell you that — and the Hawks have “succeeded” in that department. In Davidson’s four full seasons as the full-time GM, the Hawks have gone 103-187-38, and they haven’t won 30 or more games since the 2019-20 season.