Kyle Davidson's 2024 Season, Spellacy In Rockford, And CHSN's Failure
Some thoughts on Kyle Davidson and talking CHSN.
The heads are rolling off of failed GM’s and head coaches. Teams that didn’t make the playoffs have begun their internal purges. Lou Lamoriello, who I always thought of as Palpatine, is among the casualties.
For Kyle Davidson, his seat is far from being warm. At least, that’s what owner Danny Wirtz has indicated in previous interviews. I decided to examine some of his moves during this season. You can read about that below:
I didn’t include the prospect pool in my evaluation because it’s still too early to assess how impactful those players will be. Instead, I looked at trades and signings and commented on what I liked and didn’t like.
Also, A.J. Spellacy will be joining the Rockford IceHogs during their playoff push. Whether he’ll actually play or just go to practices is unknown, but he will return to his OHL club next season. More on that in the link below:
Blackhawks viewership is down
Earlier this week, Sports Business Journal reported that viewership for the Blackhawks was down 78% this season. That’s beyond unacceptable.
CHSN has been a source of frustration since its inception. And I don’t even live in Chicago anymore. From the lack of carriage, asking fans to buy ATTENAES in 2025, to rolling out an expensive app, it’s all been bad.
It’s easy for Danny Wirtz to point the finger at Comcast and say that the deal hasn’t been made because of them. But that’s a bunch of crap. Danny is co-owner of CHSN. His business absolutely has the means to provide better service to Blackhawks fans. If you’re going to allow a full-blown teardown of this team, you can’t make things even harder for fans.
But when I see fans here in California able to watch the Anaheim Ducks for free on an app, I really wonder what it is they’re trying to do with CHSN.
Regional sports networks haven’t been working. Look at New York and Colorado as a couple of examples. But then you have markets that try a little harder to make their product available to as many people as possible. Las Vegas, Anaheim, and Dallas all offer a free app to watch their respective NHL teams.
This isn’t new. But CHSN decides to handle their launch in the manner they did, and now they’re paying the price.
For the Blackhawks, this hurts the fan base.