A crooked smile crept across Chicago Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson’s face as he reflected on his full-circle moment with free-agent “pickup” Teuvo Teräväinen.
“It’s funny, this is way back … I picked Teuvo up from the airport when he first came over,” Davidson said. “I don’t even know if he remembers me or knows that the guy that picked him up is the same person that signed him now.”
Davidson’s bio suggests his title was hockey administration coordinator when Teräväinen first arrived from Finland in 2013. Davidson couldn’t recall.
But he certainly inked Teräväinen to a three-year, $16.2 million contract Monday, cementing the forward’s role in the Hawks’ future.
“He’s 29,” Davidson said. “Holy jeez, that’s for me where it feels like, OK, I’ve sort of been around a little while too. … That was definitely a weird one thinking that, you know, I picked this guy up when he was 19 or whatever at O’Hare, coming over for the first time to play for the Blackhawks. And I drove him home after games and stuff, back to his hotel.
“So it’s funny to see that come full circle where I’m signing him to a new contract and bringing him in as a veteran player when I picked him up at the airport as the youngest player on the team at the time.”
Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson talks about having a “full-circle”moment when he signed Teuvo Teravainen, the same prospect he picked up at O’Hare when Davidson was an assistant:
“I don't even know if he remembers me.” pic.twitter.com/84zPSFPv40
— Phillip Thompson (@_phil_thompson) July 5, 2024
Teräväinen helped the Hawks secure the 2015 Stanley Cup, and at 21 at the time, he would’ve been a key piece of the future. But the cap-strapped Hawks had to trade him to the Carolina Hurricanes in order to shed Bryan Bickell’s contract.
Now Teräväinen, who turns 30 before the season, joins a fresh cast of free-agent acquisitions — Tyler Bertuzzi, T.J. Brodie and Alec Martinez among them — who are trying to elevate the franchise from rebuilding stage to playoff contention.
“I did (a rebuild) for six years (in Detroit),” Bertuzzi said, “(and) it’s just another opportunity to hopefully stick this one out and ride it all the way and get us back to the playoffs and in contention.
“I think I was the first (signing Monday) and to see more signings after that was intriguing and great to see: a lot of veterans, guys who have played a lot of games in the league, a few who have won Cups. That’s a great move to start heading in the right direction.”
Davidson told reporters Friday at Fifth Third Arena: “I’m really excited about where our group’s at, what we were able to do on July 1. We added a lot of talent, a lot of experience and I think we elevated our group.”
Let’s be clear: The Hawks aren’t close to a contender yet, even with the upgrades.
With the team they fielded last season — and thanks to a slew of injuries in the middle of season — they were playing more for lottery position than a distant wild-card hope.
But they’ve taken a definitive step in that direction with this roster remake, and from here on out they should be judged accordingly.
“I certainly hope we’ve taken a step, yeah,” Davidson said. “I think the draft is a little bit of a different time horizon than free agency, but another three first-round picks (this year) that we’re really excited about, I think that’s a step in one time horizon. And some of the players we were able to add in free agency, we’ve made our NHL team better.”
Teräväinen and Bertuzzi, a pair of 20-goal scorers, are signed for three and four years, respectively. They’re not rentals or flip candidates like Max Domi was.
“Their style of play,” Davidson said, “how they can fill different roles up and down the lineup but especially their ability to play in the top six and help drive offense was something that we see value in. But it wasn’t something we wanted just to have for one year or something. Frankly, if we wanted to go one or two years, we probably wouldn’t have signed them.”
That represents a change in philosophy for the Hawks. They aren’t opting for scrappy role players, waiver claims and reclamation projects. They found a gem in Jason Dickinson but a dud in Taylor Raddysh.
Consider a depth forward such as Joey Anderson, who signed a two-year, $1.6 million deal to stay in Chicago. Last season he filled a dire need when called to play up and down the lineup.
But there’s a difference between hard work and overworked. Let the Andersons of the roster play within their range.
“I believe we did find players who, one, they have a true identity either in the top six or bottom six,” Davidson said. “You know exactly what they are. It’s not, ‘Hey, if it doesn’t work out in the top six, they can play on the fourth line.’ That’s more of an ambiguous role. And so I believe we’ve found players who truly do have a niche and a clear identity to them as to what they are.”
Seth Jones and Nick Foligno — whom both Martinez and Bertuzzi cited for helping sell them on the Hawks — said at the end of last season that the locker room needed “identity pieces.”
“There is a path forward and we’re going to push this,” Foligno said in April. “I was a little pointed at the end of the year because I was pissed off about the loss (in the finale), but that is something that’s important to me is that we have an identity of what we’re trying to be.”
That type of player, Jones added at the time, “does a good job, gets off (the ice), doesn’t complain about his ice time — he doesn’t care about that. He just wants to see the team win.
“We call them ‘identity pieces,’ guys like that that will bring different guys into the fight in those situations.”
In short: accountability, something the Hawks have lacked for years.
“When Nick and I talked … (I learned) we think similarly,” Martinez said, “and our approach to the game and doing things the right way are in line. That’s cool as someone who was a free agent and hearing that.”
Like Teräväinen and Martinez, Bertuzzi has become accustomed to postseason play. He’ll have to readjust his expectations in Chicago.
That’s OK. He, like them, knows what he signed up for and embraces the challenge of trying to shepherd the Hawks to the promised land.
“It’s an awesome opportunity for everyone on the team to look at each other and think we can do it,” Bertuzzi said. “And it’s going to take some time, but progress every year and get better. Just going back to every night, putting our best effort out, and I think we can live with that.”
