During Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson’s 14 years in the organization, he never has seen anything quite like the injury plague that struck the team this season.
Taylor Hall missed 72 games with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Andreas Athanasiou missed 54 games with a groin- and hip-related injury. Connor Murphy missed 36 games with a groin injury. Most absurd was the wave of forward injuries in January: Connor Bedard, Nick Foligno, Tyler Johnson, Joey Anderson, Taylor Raddysh and Anthony Beauvillier were sidelined simultaneously at one point.
Based on CHIP, a statistic that takes man-games lost and multiplies it by each player’s per-game salary, the Hawks ranked second in the league, according to NHL Injury Viz. Only the Golden Knights were affected more heavily by injuries than the Hawks.
And even that stat might underestimate the impact the injuries had. From Davidson’s perspective, the Hawks were uniquely unprepared to handle such a nightmarish scenario.
‘‘I see this as one of these perfect-storm situations,’’ Davidson said Friday. ‘‘We had so many injuries, and where we are in our rebuild and our organizational construction, we didn’t have the depth [to overcome it]. A lot of the good teams can sustain [through] injuries because they’ve got the depth to make up for it. We just didn’t have that, so it hit us a lot harder.
‘‘That resulted in losing more games than we expected this year, so it was tough. It felt like a long year. I’m not going to lie: I’m happy to be in the offseason and be able to do some things that feel like you’re turning the page and looking forward to the future.’’
Davidson already has declared he’s ready to begin building up the Hawks’ roster after nearly three years of intense rebuilding. He already has said he thinks it’s time for the team to take a “step forward” next season. But how will he make that happen?
The plan revolves around improving the Hawks’ depth. That’s the answer Davidson gives when asked about his top offseason objective. The team’s lack of depth was exposed this season, and that’s something that can be addressed immediately.
‘‘Hopefully we can build something in the summer — whether it’s [through] trades, free agency or the development of some of our young players that push for spots — so that guys are coming into camp knowing they’ve got to earn a spot on this team because there are other players right beside them fighting for the same spots,’’ Davidson said.
‘‘It’s important to create a culture of competition and . . . force players to elevate their own games. That’s the goal. We still maintain an eye on being responsible with what we do from a long-term perspective, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t better our situation in the short term, too.’’
Davidson’s biggest long-term objectives — to accumulate and develop prospects and to preserve salary-cap space — remain the same as they have been. Neither will be sacrificed whatsoever this summer.
It’s reasonable to assume the Hawks won’t sign any top-tier free agents or acquire any top-tier players on the trade market because those types of players will demand expensive, multiyear contracts the Hawks aren’t willing to commit to.
In fact, the Hawks probably won’t spend to the cap until summer 2026, when Bedard, Kevin Korchinski, Frank Nazar and now Lukas Reichel will need new contracts. Thus, players such as Jake Guentzel, Sam Reinhart and Mitch Marner aren’t worth fantasizing about this summer.
‘‘We’ve put in so much work to try to acquire these young prospects that, should they develop the way we believe they’re on track to, we’re going to have to be able to afford those players,’’ Davidson said. ‘‘We don’t want to block anyone out financially.’’
But it is reasonable to assume the Hawks will try to bring in some solid players this summer. That might include at least one new top-six forward and one new top-four defenseman, plus more guys who will compete for roles further down the depth chart.
It’s far too early to predict which players they’ll target, but picture guys on the same general tier as Jake DeBrusk, Teuvo Teravainen, Chris Tanev and Alexandre Carrier.
First, the Hawks no longer are tanking. They’re not concerned about optimizing their first-round draft position next season the way they were last season and this season. Davidson never would admit it, but this is the first time he genuinely has sounded motivated to improve the team.
Second, those types of solid-but-not-star players won’t demand obstructive financial commitments. The Hawks happily will dish out contracts similar to the extensions they gave Foligno and Jason Dickinson — two-year deals (expiring in 2026) with cap hits in the $4 million to $5 million range — and should be able to find some takers for those offers.
Come training camp in September, the Hawks ideally will have more NHL-caliber players walking into Fifth Third Arena than the number of roster spots available to them. Their roster won’t be stacked, by any means, but it at least should be fleshed out, with plenty of veterans and prospects alike competing for jobs.
They need enough depth to bump some players out of roles they previously held because there have been too many times in recent years when players have held roles their talent didn’t justify. And they also need enough depth to have viable replacement options when injuries do strike.
‘‘[People say] we’re supposed to finish in the bottom of the standings; we don’t want that,’’ Davidson said. ‘‘We want to take some steps forward here, and that starts with creating a bit of roster competition and depth.’’
More updates
The Hawks’ front office and amateur-scouting staff will meet Monday and Tuesday to begin finalizing their draft rankings.
Although Russian forward Ivan Demidov and Michigan State defenseman Artyom Levshunov seem to be the two leading candidates for the No. 2 overall pick, Davidson isn’t naming any names yet.
‘‘We’ve got a lot of really good options available to us, and it’s going to be a really hard decision,’’ he said. ‘‘I understand who people are talking about publicly, but that doesn’t come into play with how we decide who we’re going to take.’’
On a lighter note, Davidson said he has enjoyed watching the year-over-year development of his 16-month-old daughter, Willa, more than any prospect out there. The draft lottery Tuesday coincided with her first time in daycare, but she has taken to hockey quickly.
‘‘She enjoyed the games at the end of the year so much more [than the beginning] because she could recognize and point out things that she enjoyed, like the scoreboard and when lights would start flashing and the music,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s been a fun progression to see her enjoy the games in a different way.’’
