Blackhawks Add To Growing Front Office, Hire Jeff Greenberg
On Thursday the Chicago Blackhawks hired Jeff Greenberg as the new associate general manager. Greenberg, 36, was with the Chicago Cubs, was in the running for the GM job that was ultimately given to Davidson.
“It’s the direction I always wanted to go,” Davidson told ESPN, “To bring in that outside influence and expertise we don’t have in-house, and someone that can bring the unique perspective of how a front office can be run. I’m excited to get his influence into our group. I think he can help push us into the area a lot of other sports are in right now, streamlining, modernizing and adding sophistication to the decision-making process, that hockey isn’t necessarily at the level of, in my opinion.”
Chicago Cubs GM Jed Hoyer says in a statement that Jeff Greenberg is "simply one of the best teammates I have worked with." #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/cOlnl4qBQR
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) April 28, 2022
Greenberg joins Norm Maciver in the new-look Blackhawks front office. Maciver was brought back from Seattle earlier this season.
Could be the type of addition that as fans we never get to fully realize how important his hiring improves the efficiency of the organization.
Had to be difficult decision for Greenberg – lost out on a job but offered next level down.
Having experience with same job functions in a different sport should be valuable for designing/shaping the “new” front office. However the Devil-in-the-details means will likely be a while before his contribution is apparent. Good luck to him. Hope he is successful.
it is not a “status quo, this is what every other hockey franchise would do” move. i am great with it. talent is talent. apparently he was very impressive in his interview. he can learn the nuts and bolts. perhaps, and i am hoping this is the case, he has some very strong thinking outside the box skills. the last thing kd needs is a lackey kissing his boots.
and apparently kd has enough confidence in himself to hire a guy who aspires to his job and was a competitor for the job. good for him. coaching trees come from head coaches who are not afraid to employ talented assistants. same can work for gm trees.
Need a designated talent evaluator. Cheif scout. One that is needed to say yes to aquire a player either by trade or draft pick. In the Pat and Dale telecast Dale said he saw something in Robertson but Dallas took him one pick a head. I know that’s the GM duty but is this GM good enough to do that yet?
Interesting hire – I like it and good for both the KD and Greenberg for doing it after they competed for the GM job
I didn’t realize Greenberg was also very young – there should be no shortage of fresh ideas between the two of them – hope it works out for the betterment of the Hawks
I wonder how the addition of Greenberg will affect the rebuild process? The Cubs really did tear everything down to rebuild. Would his voice make it more or less likely to move someone like DeBrincat? Will Kane and Toews finish their careers here?
Bold move.
Ya ….let’s have a baseball guy make hockey decisions….sounds like a winner to me….NOT !!!!!
last time we hired a cubs front office personal, he went to destroy an organIzation and turned his back to a sexual assault.
it is sad, Kand and Toews came to the UC with 5-8k fans and they will leave the organIzation with the same watching.
Don’t know if it is a good or bad move because he will be behind the scenes. At the end of the day you need people who have an eye for talent (drafting, trades and Ufa signings)and a clear direction of how you want you your team to play. Putting in systems of how operations are to take place is fine , but at the end of the day you need the human element to deliver which players you want. Time will tell if KD is the guy. On the bright side anyone is better than Bowman.
I will be the first to admit that I don’t know much about this guy or why hiring him is a good thing. My questions are…what does he bring to the organ-I-zation? What does he know about evaluating hockey talent? What will his duties be? What will his role be while he is next to Davidson? Is he just a sounding board for Davidson because Davidson is really not ready? I don’t know. I like the Raddysh and Kachouk acquisitions. I’m just not sure what this move does. How about the scouting department? Who is evaluating the talent for Davidson…and now Greenberg? I just don’t know enough to have an educated opinion on this. The team will, most likely, not have a 1st Rd Pick. Bowman’s parting gift. So…will this draft be a stockpile for Rockford?
This will be one of the most interesting drafts because the team will, most likely, have no difference makers. What kind of players will Davidson draft? Who will the HC be? What will be the team mantra be? If Ian Mitchell makes the team, he’ll be the 5′-10″ guy. A Brian Rafalski? I certainly hope so.
Let’s see how this goes.
No clue if this is a good addition or not. Makes sense thou bringing in a fresh set of eyes and hopefully it works out for them.
What makes this such a great move? Cubs haven’t won anything in 6 years and don’t appear to be competing for a championship any time soon. This looks like Danny trying to outsmart everyone by hiring Jaime’s husbands buddy. This franchise deserves some real hockey folks holding the reins. Heck, even the broadcast analyists not named Eddie are non hockey people.
Let’s face it, if Davidson is the leader and does well, the keys are competent scouts, NHL and AHL coaches , and then the development of a culture in the system.
The arrogance of Bowman gone is refreshing. I feel much more optimistic with that alone. Keeping him as long as they did was the number one mistake of the last 5 years.
Then a #1 NHL goalie in the system, a 1-2 partner for Jones , etc. etc. etc. Lots of work but at least a sense of a fresh start.
He’s an analytics guy. Every sports organization is adding analytics to their decision making processes. Evaluations are becoming more data driven. Glad the Hawks are adding this to their organization. The fact that he comes from a different sport’s organization that’ has a little farther along in using data at least gives him some insight into how the numbers can be used in evaluations and perhaps some of the limits in using numbers. They don’t measure a guy’s heart or commitment to excellence. Used appropriately it can provide another tool for evaluations; hopefully not a pure moneyball approach.
Steve good point, analytics don’t play any sports, they just need to be presented properly to tell you an accurate story as possible.
This is off-point, but It would be devastating if the Blackhawks forsook the next generational player for the sake of a couple meaningless midseason wins.