The Chicago Blackhawks have interviewed Tampa Bay executive Mathieu Darche for their general manager job.
The Blackhawks announced Darche's interview on Wednesday. The 45-year-old Darche is the director of hockey operations for the Lightning, winner of the last two Stanley Cup titles.
Darche is the sixth known candidate for the job. Interim GM Kyle Davidson, Carolina Hurricanes assistant GM Eric Tulsky, former NHL forward Scott Mellanby, longtime NHL executive Peter Chiarelli and Chicago Cubs executive Jeff Greenberg also have interviewed for the role.
Darche played 250 regular-season games over nine NHL seasons, retiring in 2013. He joined Tampa Bay in 2019 in his current role.
Former Blackhawks forwards Eddie Olczyk, Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp are helping the team with its GM search.
Davidson was elevated to the interim job after longtime general manager Stan Bowman resigned in October in the wake of a report by an outside law firm that found the organization mishandled allegations that an assistant coach sexually assaulted a player during the team’s Stanley Cup run in 2010.
The report also played a role in the departure of Al MacIsaac, another of Chicago’s top hockey executives, and the NHL fined the team $2 million for “the organization’s inadequate internal procedures and insufficient and untimely response.”
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