Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson Doesn't Plan on Fast-Tracking Head Coaching Search

Davidson doesn’t plan on fast-tracking Hawks coaching search originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago

Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson has had a lengthy to-do list since being hired as the permanent general manager on March 1, and one of the top priorities was to fill out his hockey operations executive team. He has officially done that after bringing back Norm Maciver as an associate general manager and hiring Jeff Greenberg of the Chicago Cubs to serve as his second associate GM.

Finding a permanent head coach is another item that's near the top of the list, but Davidson confirmed on Monday that he's in no rush to make a hire. He and the leadership team are still building the profile of their ideal next head coach and once that's finalized, then they'll put together a candidate list.

The plan is to have a permanent coach in place by early July, and the timeline hasn't changed despite recent movement around the league that's seen high-profile coaches like Barry Trotz and Peter DeBoer shake loose.

"I don't think we're concerned with the number of openings or some teams moving fast," Davidson said. "I think we're going to run through our process on our end and we'll find the best candidate for us through that process. I don't think we'll try and fast-track anything based on what's going on elsewhere."

When asked whether he's looking for a hard-nosed veteran or a younger-type coach that can potentially grow with the team, Davidson said they're still flushing that out.

"As far as the type of coach or the type of person, we're not married to one thing over another," Davidson said. "That's sort of what we're going through now before we get into building a true candidate list, is creating that profile and creating that certain list of criteria that we would like to see from our next head coach and then building the candidate list off of that."

Davidson did say that interim head coach Derek King "absolutely" remains a candidate for the position, and that nothing has changed from that perspective.

The head coaching search will be led by Davidson, Greenberg, Maciver and Brian Campbell, who was Davidson's right-hand man during his interim GM tenure.

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