CHICAGO — The Chicago Blackhawks took another step toward hiring a new general manager Wednesday, announcing plans to begin interviewing candidates this week and to have the new personnel boss in place before the March 21 trade deadline.
The Hawks also said they will host a town hall for fans and media next Wednesday to address questions about the direction of the franchise.
CEO Danny Wirtz said in a team statement that he’ll lead an advisory committee that will interview prospective candidates to replace Stan Bowman, who resigned from his roles of president of hockey operations and GM in the wake of the Brad Aldrich scandal.
Now Wirtz is seeking a leader for a “next generation” front office.
“Over the last six weeks, our leadership has been taking part in a discovery and research process that explored all functions and structure of our Hockey Operations department,” Wirtz said in the statement, which was released before Wednesday’s road game against the Detroit Red Wings. “This top to bottom exercise revealed an incredible amount of in-house talent while also highlighting areas for growth and opportunities to become more competitive.
“We plan to create a next generation Hockey Operations department with a path to sustained success for the Chicago Blackhawks. Our next step is to find the right leader, and we will begin to reach out to potential candidates this week to interview for the General Manager role.”
Interim GM Kyle Davidson will have an opportunity to interview for the job, and he has campaigned to continue in the role.
Similar to Bowman’s role, the new GM will report to Wirtz.
The Hawks would like to have their GM in place before the trade deadline to guide the team’s strategy, but it’s unclear how far in advance they’ll make their decision.
With a 15-20-7 record and .440 points percentage entering Wednesday, the Hawks are long shots to make the playoffs and are expected to be sellers at the deadline. Goaltender Marc-André Fleury and forward Dominik Kubalík are among the bigger names floated as trade possibilities.
The new GM will have to decide whether to engage in a full rebuild or make more modest moves.
“We are looking to hire the best strategic mind who can build and develop a Hockey Operations leadership team that will be best in class across professional sports,” Wirtz said in the statement. “This new leader will create a team environment that brings the best experts together to guide decision-making on the future of the Blackhawks while ensuring they share in the overall organizational goals of consistently competing at a championship level. And without question, he or she must be someone who exhibits our organizational values.”
According to the statement, the Hawks will search “inside and outside of hockey.” Rumored candidates include players-turned-broadcasters Eddie Olczyk and Kevin Weekes, former Hawks GM Bob Murray and former Montreal Canadiens executive Scott Mellanby, a finalist for the Vancouver Canucks GM job that went to Patrik Allvin on Wednesday.
Wirtz and president of business operations Jaime Faulkner will lead the search with input from the advisory committee.
The Hawks said they intend to be transparent about the search and will explain “the greater vision of the Chicago Blackhawks” in the town hall, which will be conducted in person for media, special guests and corporate partners and broadcast online for fans.
The plan is for the town hall to take place in the afternoon before next Wednesday’s home game against the Minnesota Wild.
