Blackhawks Bring Back Norm Maciver
UPDATE: The Blackhawks have officially announced that Norm Maciver is returning to the club in the role of associate general manager.
It sounds like Kyle Davidson’s first formal addition to his front office staff will be a reunion with a former colleague.
Norm Maciver will reportedly return to the Hawks, leaving his role as director of player personnel with the expansion Seattle Kraken. According to Frank Seravalli, Maciver will come back with the title of associate general manager, which would be an upgrade from where he was with the organization when he left for Seattle in 2019.
Maciver started working with the Blackhawks in 2006 and worked his way up to being the assistant GM on Stan Bowman’s staff from 2012 until 2019. Bowman demoted him in 2019, making him Vice President of Player Personnel. He spent 14 years with the Blackhawks before leaving for the Kraken.
New boss, same as the old boss
Gee what a bold move.
Awesome. Just what we need here is more StanBo “visionaries”. Might as well just hire old StanBo back. I guess that means we’ll continue to have more “smallish”, “nonphysical” players to carry out StanBo’s Euro-Vision Team. Nothing seems to change with this organization, except less fans sitting in the seats. Wonder what his part in the Beach scandal was or did he have blinders on too??
I wonder whenever Maciver comes into the building, the staff salutes him with a hearty “NOOORRRRRMMM”, like they did on Cheers for the OG Norm!
People. He got demoted by Bowman in 2019 ! That means he must be a Stud !
Great hire!
wasnt he here for the beach scandal? wirtz saving money.
Saying he will oversee scouting and play a big role in hiring next coach.
Not to be a contrarian but it is possible that Stan demoted him because he wasn’t buying what Stan was selling and KD shared that view of Stan – just a theory
Didn’t Rocky say all that were involved with the Beach incident were gone, so it’s none of your business ?? Well now….look how’s back….one of those that were complicit in this whole fiasco….nice job Slackhawks
@Wrap – I am starting to agree with you. Norrrrrm may have been against some of the stupid moves that Lord Stanley was making; otherwise, why would he demote him? There is no reason why Norm is back, except that he and the “intern” were boys and agreed that the Lord of the manor was a massive douchebag! I say, give Norrrrm a chance. For all we know he wanted to report the Beach incident to the police and was punished for speaking against the Lord. I like this move! More importantly, I like the mention of the words – new coach!
Brian Campbell likely named assistant Hm or maybe word it assistant to the Gm to seperate his role if assistant Gms in different areas. Then see what other organizational changes are coming and who is hired as head coach. Hoping for more of a new perspective, have to hope these guys deliver.
SOS just a different day!!!
It has been reported that Maciver’s name did not appear anywhere in the Kyle Beech report.
Agree with Neil: SOS.
@Everyone! I just like the name Norm! How could you not root for a kid named Norman? Imagine the crap he had to deal with as a kid, so I’ll bet that he’s tough as nails! probably named after his grand-father! Go Norrrrrrrm!!!!
Norman as in Norman Bates of Psycho fame?
Finally a tough guy in the organization for the fan base.
Maybe what we’re seeing with KD and MacIver and maybe to a lesser extent Campbell is a slow motion palace coup unseating Bowman, MacIssac, Kelley et al but I would like to see some outside hires now – I’m fine with MacIver at the moment until we have something to judge him on but if KD is serious about knowledge/innovation he’s gonna have to go outside the organization
I think the new coach hire will be very telling
How is Maciver perceived in the NHL? He was hire
I wonder why he was demoted by Bowman and why Davidson thinks he is worthy of being brought back and promoted. The bringing old faces back can be a symptom of an inexperienced executive who finds comfort in the familiar. Or he could have been a good but dissenting voice in the room with Bowman and Davidson liked his thought process. Or could be something completely different.
I don’t think every employee who was in the Hawks organization during the Kyle Beach scandal in 2010 had a responsibility in that mess, thinking so is just lazy.
I honestly don’t care who the Hawks bring in as long as the people they bring in make good decisions. And unfortunately we won’t know what the ramifications of these decisions are until some are made and they can b e judged.
I’ll hold judgement until we can see the effects of these changes.
Writings on the wall an accident waiting to happen sooner than later!! Rocky the flying squirrel has it under control if not bullwinkle Danny will
“He was hired by Seattle. SO someone thought highly of him…” Was what I was going to type before I hit submit…
Boy he really gave it his all in Seattle. I wonder what they think about his abrupt departure? Did he even give any notice or did he just up and resign? This must be that new wave,woke,thinking outside the box management that we were warned about with the upcoming Davidson/Danny Wirtz regime. Get ready to get alot smaller and Euro like Hawk fans! No wonder Rocky was so mad at his meet and greet. He knew that they were getting ready to put the old band back together and that it is potentially going to be a hard sell to season ticket holders and ordinary fans. Wonder who is coaching Team Finland and Team Sweden??? Therein lies out next head coach. ALPO or Orville something or another I think.
@TimW – I agree with your post, but maybe he has ties to Chicago and wanted to be back. Who knows. He still has a cool name! Gotta give him that! They did a pretty decent job assembling that team in Seattle which he was a part of, plus they have some easy moving pieces that are attractive on the open market, and they will probably win before we do. Also, now with war raging within the borders of our top minor league affiliate (the KHL), we really don’t need a robust scouting department. I will say this here first, I predict our next coach will be Marian Hossa!
This team is going no where a shit storm for sure maybe we can break Torontos record for going the longest with out a cup the o is looking more pathetic every day zero confidence hope the fans stay away only way to get there attention
MacIver and Campbell may bring alot to the table and KD trusts them. KD is a young first time Gm who is going to make mistakes, is there going to be anybody there who tells him when he may be on the wrong path.
That’s just great. Some new blood with new ideas! Are there any more Bowman disciples they can reunite with?
Don’t know if there will be anyone in the organ-eye-zation to tell KD he did something wrong, but there will be plenty of Walldogs here to tell him regardless of if it’s right or wrong. Heck – I bet if the Hawks took 5 games to win every round at their next Stanley Cup victory that there would be people here whining about it taking too many games.
I guess the need for patience is only for doctors (that’s a play on words for you Walldogs).
Is Scotty Bowman still with the organIzation?
Stan fired his dad Scotty hope hire knows what he’s doing no one else seems to have a clue
According the Blackhawks official website Scotty Bowman is still listed as Senior Adviser of Hockey Operations. Maybe StanBo is GM’ing from afar.
Silent Spot: In order to get to the Stanley Cup one must first get out of second to last place in the division
If he had anything to do with that useless POS BOWNAN he should not be allowed close to the UNITED CENTER or THE HAWKS !!!!!!!
But Hammer – we have 3 future HOF players on our team!!! Dcat might have a shot at it too some day! And Strome!!! And Beaudin. And Reichel. Commesso. DACH!!!! Heck – maybe Carpenter. Or not. Don’t be such a pessimist!!
We got rid of JC and Bowman. That was the consensus biggest reason we sucked. We won 8-3 last night! It’s already a ton better, though I kinda got creepy shivers listening to Little Ed do play by play last night. The voice is too close!
As Miro would say – Sigh.
We are who they thought we are. I certainly don’t know what’s gonna happen. But I am willing to give the new kid on the block a chance. Actions speak louder than opinions. I want to see what TDL and draft and free agency brings. Then I might be a whiner too. For now – I’ll give him a chance.
Silent Spot: It was a great period but it was IMO it was against a flat Duck team. Little Ed does actually sound like his dad but he looks like Paul Blart Mall Cop’s son. I said I give it thru the offseason to see it thru but so far I’m not seeing “outside the box” yet. Somebody in the media has to pin KD down and ask him his “vision” for the team and what type of players does he want.
Maple Leafs signed another 2nd round Blackhawks defenseman.
Dahlstrom ’13 2nd rd 54 overall
Holl ’10 2nd rd 51 overall
Trade for Krys ’16 2nd rd 45th overall.
57 games 11g 12a -17
52 games 18g 15a -16
45 games 15g 15a -4
Guess who?
Pius Suter
Braden Hagel
Dylan Strome
SS, we have to give them a shot and see how they do, hopefully they get it done. Just as you have to try and put the best team on the ice to be successful, you need to put the best possible team together off the ice to be successful as well. Is that being done here, everybody can their opinion it, just to me i need alot of convincing that they are. The tdl, draft and off season signings/trades are a start.
I like that King believes in set lines, where Colliton thought any 3 players buying into his system should be superior attitude. Is he permanent head coach material though, i hope its someone else. Time will tell.
I think we’ve established that they aren’t good enough, so I agree with SS that we need to chill out and see what happens–most of the scapegoats are gone-Bowman, Kelley, Nylander and Strome is playing much better.
There is a difference between being critical and being ‘stuck’ in negative gear.
MacIver looks like MacGyver! We need a Mr. Do-Everything to fix the rot that Stan left. Blow up a few things, duct tape a certain thing or two, and force a few to man-up, and make some much needed changes to fix this sinking ship…seriously, it’s not that bad. We do have some talented parts; we just need to bring in a talented infusion of young talent. Kane, Toews, and MAF will not play forever, so before they lose all of their value, we need to recoup some talent back for these guys. Also, I am in favor of trading Hagel for two Hagels. I love the way the kid plays, his talent, compete level, and instincts are excellent, but we need more Hagels, so if someone is willing to part with a high pick and a high-end prospect, you have to make that trade!
Tommy – sure if Hagel brought that back you have to seriously consider it but he won’t and either will Strome – hang on to both – they can be part of the rebuild at least in the short term
MAF is the big one – of course the market determines value but KD firsts real rest comes with the Flower situation and what if anything he does
Keeping him does little for the Hawks while a good return would be a huge step forward – we’ll see
Ian, To me it doesn’t look like King so much believes in permanent lines as much as he believes overplaying his top line. Kane and Debrincat playing 25 minutes a game is not sustainable over the long haul of a season or even a playoff series where small players get pushed outside of the prime scoring areas. It’s my opinion that King is not helping to develop players or find out what we have as much as he is trying to steal a few wins against middle to sub par teams. Just my opinion but I have been wrong before.
TimW, not a fan of Kings ice management either, but playing youngsters just play them and getting run off the ice every night is not developing properly either. A happy medium is needed there to protect there confidence too.
Lankinen and Stillman in tonight, MAF, C. Jones out, rest of lineup the same i think.
TW and Ian – yeah King does not seem to have a firm grasp of in game ice time management – he seems like a nice enough guy but not an NHL coach – I can’t imagine him being brought back as head coach of the Hawks and I would prefer he not be HC in RKF either – they haven’t been successful to any significant degree under King
Let’s get a couple of experienced coaches (they don’t have to have NHL experience though) who have a track record of success at various levels – Marian Hossa does not qualify although finding a role for him on the coaching staff is fine but not HC – he may become a HC one day but can we finally hire someone with a good track record? -please!
You see how JC mishandled Strome – that’s an indication that with a good coach (not King) he should be able to get the best out of all the players and then you really see what you have and whether you want to keep them or trade them or send them to the minors
Anybody know if there’s an issue with Entwhistle???
@Entwhistle – yeah, he’s a talented kid with scoring ability, but since the “intern” didn’t trade for him like Laughertty, he doesn’t get regular minutes. More of the Clown King Show! I can’t wait for them to take if off the air!
This hiring of an old Bowman associate was to be expected. When you hire a feel good GM with very limited experience or exposure to his peers, he will not have a large pool of hockey executive that trust him enough to come and work for him.
It’s hard to get excited about this hire seeing the Hawk’s draft history while he was here, he was demoted by Stanley, and how the Kraken are doing. I wonder if he is buddies with oh Danny boy.
wrap
strome – i am terrified of the “strome effort” if he lands a three year contract.
Everyone realizes Strome is on a tear lately cause he’s centering Kane and Dcat right? I’m sure every other scout sees this too and the offer sheets will reflect it. He’s stepped up and played better, no doubt, but put him on another line and watch him tank
Because Soupy has so much front office experience.