GM Kyle Davidson’s ‘challenging season’ included heart scare — and making tough choices for Chicago Blackhawks

Whatever you think of Kyle Davidson as Chicago Blackhawks general manager, you cant say he doesnt put his heart in it.

Looking back on the season, Davidson dealt with several curveballs: firing a coach, a players very public trade request and a worse-than-expected finish in the standings.

But the biggest bombshell was learning he needed to replace a pulmonary valve in his heart, just days before his second daughter, Charlotte, was born, and a couple of weeks before he dismissed coach Luke Richardson.

It was a challenging season for myself, he said during end-of-season interviews Thursday at Fifth Third Arena.

I would say thats mostly away from the rink.

...

New child, a heart surgery and going through that whole situation where ...

feeling the way I was feeling, finding out the news, going through the process of second, third opinions and doing that all while in between work.

Thats not easy.

I didnt have heart surgery on my bingo card this year.

Earlier this season, Davidson talked to the Tribune about the challenges curveballs and grenades, ups and downs, he later called it that he navigated in his third full season since he was promoted from interim general manager to the permanent role in March 2022 .

One particular episode in mid-November tested him and his family.

But you have to start at the beginning.

I was born with Tetralogy of Fallot, a congenital heart defect, and so Ive been followed by a cardiologist my whole life, the 36-year-old Sudbury, Ontario, native said.

I had two open hearts really early on in life (as an infant), another open-heart (surgery) in November 2019, and so Im very in tune with what is normal for me and whats not.

Yeah, its a lot, Davidsons wife, Angelica, told the Tribune.

When he initially told me about it (while dating), it was just something he kind of just brushed off: By the way, Ive got this heart condition, not a big deal.

Doesnt affect anything in life.

Like, OK, thats good.

You should probably see a cardiologist, though.

And he is like, Yeah, youre right.

And fast forward a couple weeks later, hes like, Yeah, I need open-heart surgery.

We werent even dating a year, and I was obviously not married, no kids, and I was still scared out of my mind.

Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson speaks with the media following the firing of coach Luke Richardson and the hiring of interim coach Anders Sorensen on Dec.

6, 2024, at Fifth Third Arena.

(Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune) Davidson had surgery for a pulmonary valve replacement in November 2019, and he was told it would likely last 10 to 15 years.

But he started experiencing symptoms that something was amiss in late August and early September.

Its a combination of palpitations, fatigue, inability to really do workouts that I would be able to do previously; shortness of breath, especially laying on my back, Davidson said.

All kinds of things that are little signs along the way that something isnt working especially well.

He got tested and the results indicated some abnormalities with the pulmonary valve, and he and his physicians had a plan for more testing and treatment.

But then he experienced another bout of heart palpitations, a really aggressive beating of the heart, Davidson said.

It kind of threw up some flags.

Davidson admitted himself to a hospital in Chicago around the time the Hawks were out west for games in Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, from Nov.

14-16.

So during that time more tests showed that, you know what there is, there is a failure of the pulmonary valve, and it needs to be replaced, he said.

Column: Its a turbulent week for Chicagos top sports executives, who could use a group hug It came as a shock.

Typically, replacement valves last at least a decade, and it was only five years for Davidsons.

That was a tough bit of news, he said.

It was at a time where the team wasnt doing as well.

My wife is basically at her due date with our second daughter.

...

Our daughter, Charlotte, was born on the 26th.

So, like, literally a week later.

Davidson, now with two young daughters, Charlotte and Willa, pushed his health concerns to the back-burner.

But he knew at some point that season, his heart problem needed to be addressed.

For myself, there are leaflets in a valve that allow blood flow in and out, Davidson said.

(As) it was explained to me, one of the leaflets was just basically nonexistent.

It just wasnt working anymore ...

causing the heart to work much harder than it needs to, and thus enlarging the heart.

Meanwhile, the Hawks kept looking worse, with young franchise player Connor Bedard admitting you lose a bit of confidence during a 12-game goal drought.

Blackhawks center Connor Bedard (98) takes off his helmet as coach Luke Richardson looks on in the first period of a preseason game against the Wild on Oct.

4, 2024, at the United Center.

(John J.

Kim/Chicago Tribune) Finally, when the Hawks had gone on a four-game losing streak with a Dec.

4 home loss to the Boston Bruins eight losses in 10 games Davidson decided to pull the plug.

The next day, he fired Richardson and promoted Rockford IceHogs coach Anders Sorensen to Hawks interim coach.

Davidson wasnt going to wait for a time that was more convenient to his personal life.

Its not necessarily something that I decided that night or that game, like its a little bit of an accumulation, naturally, he said.

But no, I never considered kicking anything down the road, probably other than my health.

If somethings going to be delayed, its me.

On the day of the Bruins game, while Davidsons head was in 10 different places, he and his family filmed a segment for the NHLs Road to the Winter Classic, going behind the scenes of the lead-up to the Hawks nationally televised game against the St.

Louis Blues on New Years Eve at Wrigley Field .

My wifes on camera talking, and Im just thinking about, like, medical visits, game that night, hopefully we dont have to make a coaching change, but were really close, he said.

The taping was in the afternoon.

The next morning, we made a coaching change, he said.

Angelica remembered how Davidson was at that time: He was just down about having to make that call.

...

When he has to make those decisions, it genuinely weighs on him.

He loses sleep over that stuff and what thats going to feel like for Luke and his family.

The Blackhawks acknowledge applause from the crowd as they thank the fans after a shootout loss to the Jets in the home finale on April 12, 2025, at the United Center.

(Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune) Davidson hasnt backed away from his decision or the timing of it.

The job never stops, he said.

If anything, I kicked the can for my heart down the road.

...

Postponing the job was never a consideration.

But he could only put off the choice he faced for so long: open-heart surgery, which required a long recovery process, or a less invasive, outpatient transcatheter procedure, which called for making an incision in the groin area and inserting a replacement valve, which is then guided up to the heart.

After gathering more information about both options, he learned that in his case, medically, one wasnt any more beneficial long term than the other.

And Davidson remembered what it was like recovering from heart surgery in 2019.

I think some of the most intense pain Ive experienced is sneezing or coughing or even laughing after getting open heart and that sternum is healing itself, he said.

The chest plates have to grow back together.

And so its really intense.

Its not something I wanted to experience again.

It was decided: transcatheter.

The Davidsons drove up to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., for a valve replacement scheduled for Feb.

11.

We actually ended up having to take Charlotte with us on that five-hour car ride, Angelica said.

Since then Davidson has had check-ins with his cardiologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital while keeping doctors at the Mayo Clinic informed of his progress.

Still, he didnt get much of a reprieve.

Blackhawks defenseman Seth Jones skates down the ice against the Golden Knights on Jan.

18, 2025, at the United Center.

(Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune) Later that month, defenseman Seth Jones went public with his desire to be traded to a contender before the March 7 deadline.

The Hawks swung a deal to trade Jones to the Florida Panthers on March 1.

Throughout the season, Davidson had been forced to delegate more to his staff more than whats normally within his comfort zone.

If a test he needed to do required anesthesia, you cant jump right back to the office, Davidson said.

And so you do have to lean on them.

(Associate general manager) Norm (Maciver) is going to be with the coaches for this number of games.

Or (assistant general manager) Meghan (Hunter) is going to handle something going on in the front office.

...

Or someone needs to go see that game in Rockford that I cant attend now.

Colleagues with the Hawks wonder how he managed it all this season.

Incredibly, he finds a way to balance it all, which is just so impressive, Chairman and CEO Danny Wirtz said.

Defenseman Connor Murphy added that team executives dont really have any time off, and even on off days, they spend a lot of times on the phones and in offices trying to get stuff done, he said.

So you feel for him and hope (he) and his family are healthy.

Despite receiving a positive prognosis for his procedure, Davidson acknowledges that he can never fully put his heart condition behind him.

Its a lifelong companion.

Its going to be something thats in the back of my mind for the rest of my life, he said.

How is it going to hold up? ...

Theres still that little seed of doubt and that maybe, like a grain of sand that keeps grinding, keeps grinding.

It weighs on Angelica too.

It just seems like the stakes are just so much higher given that weve had more time in our relationship, she said.

Now were married, we also have these two little girls.

He already has so much on his plate with his job and traveling and everything that occupies his mental space there.

So its been a lot to navigate for the both of us, for sure.

For Davidson, going through that adversity shapes who he is now.

It changes you, he said.

It has to.

...

It doesnt change the hockey side of my managing and what I see on the ice, but it changes how you handle adverse situations.

...

You can call back on on how you managed through something like that.

Blackhawks center Connor Bedard heads to the locker room after a shootout loss to the Jets on April 12, 2025, at the United Center.

(Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune) If there was a rainbow after the storm, it came from the future.

In the second half of the season, the Hawks started calling up high-end prospects from Rockford or signing them after their college seasons.

Landon Slaggert, Artyom Levshunov, Sam Rinzel, Oliver Moore, for example, and they performed beyond expectations.

Frank Nazar, who came up in the first half, looked like a future star by the end of the season.

Wirtz said hes proud Davidsons seeing the fruit of his labor start to come to fruition.

Related Articles With Bulls and Hawks done, White Sox struggling, CHSN may need to think outside the Comcast cable box Column: Its a turbulent week for Chicagos top sports executives, who could use a group hug Artemi Panarin and MSG reportedly made settlement payments after employees sexual assault allegations Alex Ovechkin finishes his GR8 Chase season with 897 career goals, 3 more than Wayne Gretzky Connor Bedard says hes committed to the Chicago Blackhawks but shies away from extension talk The first part of his tenure was just assembling the assets and the pieces, Wirtz said.

Now theyre actually players that are on the ice that were starting to see them become real players in the NHL.

...

Still a long way to go, but now youre starting to see it, and its exciting.

The 25-46-11 season ended with two straight wins and a standings point in five of the last six games what constitutes as a high note by Hawks standards in recent seasons.

And given how the team finished, powered by the youth movement, Davidson said he cant help but be optimistic.

So he looks forward to getting back in shape, prioritizing family and putting the job on the back-burner.

For now.

This is a challenging job.

It doesnt matter what year, he said during the exit interviews Thursday.

Theres going to be curveballs and grenades, ups and downs and whatever you have to deal with.

...

Its all part of our growth and maturation as an organization, as a team, in this rebuild.

...

I feel like at the end of the day, standing here now, that we feel like were in a good spot moving forward..

This article has been shared from the original article on chicagotribune, here is the link to the original article.