The Deuce: Two things I’d push back on

1) It’s only been 4 seasons since they decided to rebuild, not nearly a decade. His first two years he was saddled with the old and cap-strapped rosters of Stan Bowman, teams that had no chance of winning anything meaningful. They were still signing guys like Marc Andre Fleury 5 years ago. If this was 6 years into the rebuild with no results to show for it yet, I’d be pissed too. But we’re just going into year 5 and I expect the next 2 years to be much better.

2) It probably won’t work the way we want it to, but in this new era where free agency is completely dead and teams no longer need to trade good players for contract reasons (at least not for a few more years), I’m guessing that at least 1/3 to 1/2 of the GM’s in the league would swap places with the Blackhawks right now. They are far better set up for future success than the likes of the Kings, Predators, Blues, Senators, Penguins, Kraken, Red Wings, etc. - teams that have tried to stay borderline competitive but with no chance of ever winning anything.

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This will be Kyle's 6th season as GM. 6 seasons covers the entire Blackhawks dynasty Cup run from 2009-2015.

The Blackhawks have made the playoffs 1 time in the last 9 seasons and it was the covid season which 24 teams made the tournament.

From 1997-2008 the previous low point in Blackhawks history they made the playoffs once in 10 seasons.

So if the Hawks don't make the playoffs next year which seems unlikely they will tie that ignominious record.

All this in a league where 50% of the teams make the playoffs and puck luck creates randomness higher than any sport.

Acquiring draft picks and cap space is useful and a plus but a big part of why it is useful is to actually spend it to acquire competitive talent. Not to hold it back or to use it solely on draft picks that take years to develop.

There is 0 reason why it needs to take almost a decade to put a competitive hockey team on the ice. Most orgs that can't do that are usually doing so because of incompetence.