CHICAGO (AP) — Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson defended coach Jeff Blashill on Wednesday while taking responsibility for the team's lackluster start.
Davidson also said Mark Eaton is going to be embedded with the coaching staff for the foreseeable future to help improve individual defensive skills for one of the NHL's worst defensive teams. Eaton, a former NHL defenseman, is the team's assistant general manager for player development.
Heading into this season, Davidson and several Chicago players talked about contending for a playoff spot. But the Blackhawks are off to a 4-13-1 start after dropping six in a row and nine of 10 overall.
“Simply put, we’ve not been good enough,” Davidson said. “This isn’t what we told our fans to expect. And, you know, I take responsibility in this and I’m not going to come up here today and make any excuses.”
Chicago concluded an ugly three-game trip with a 9-2 loss at Carolina on Saturday night. The Blackhawks had four days off after the matchup with the Hurricanes, leading to speculation about Blashill's future in his second season with the franchise, but Davidson decided to keep the team's coaching staff in place.
“Blash is our head coach,” Davidson said. “I have full confidence in him. The players believe in him. He’s made them better.”
Blashill, 52, is the second full-time coach hired by Davidson since he took over as interim GM after Stan Bowman resigned in October 2021. Davidson, who joined the organization as a hockey operations intern in 2010, had the interim tag dropped on March 1, 2022.
The rebuilding Blackhawks finished No. 31 in the NHL each of the past three seasons. They haven’t made the postseason since the league used an expanded playoff format for the pandemic-affected 2019-20 season.
“With the maturation of young players and the players we’ve drafted and bringing in the league, we have to get through these rough times that they’re experiencing in their development in order to get to the other side,” Davidson said.
Davidson said he has been having conversations with other GMs about upgrading his roster through the trade market, but he isn't going to make a move just to make a move. The Blackhawks have three first-round picks and two second-round selections in next year's draft.
In the meantime, Blashill and the coaches have been focusing on fundamentals during the team's break before Thursday night's game against Buffalo.
“We talked about, you know, little different points of emphasis and things like that, making sure we’re better in certain areas,” Blashill said. “We’ve had a chance to have three productive practices and now we got to go out and play.”
Blashill is 33-52-15 in 100 games with Chicago, but he also has been backed by his players during his team's difficult start.
“Yeah, 100 percent belief,” captain Connor Bedard said. “I think he gives us a great game plan and super easy to talk to, really, you really know his message. He and the whole coaching staff are doing a great job.”
Some of Chicago's trouble can be attributed to injuries. Bedard missed the first six games of the season. Defenseman Bowen Byram and forward Patrick Kane are on injured reserve with upper-body injuries, but they practiced on Wednesday in non-contact jerseys.
The biggest issue is team defense. The Blackhawks are allowing 4.22 goals per game, ranking No. 31 in the league going into Wednesday's action. That's where Eaton is expected to help when he joins the coaching staff beginning on Monday.
“We’re not defending well enough,” Davidson said. “We give up odd-man rushes, specifically 2-on-1s and breakaways, at a rate that’s, you know, one of the highest in the league, as well as the high-danger chances that we’re giving up at a too high of a rate in our defensive zone, which obviously then leads to goals against, which we have to do a much better job of cutting down on.”
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Chicago Blackhawks center Connor Bedard (98) reacts to his goal with defenseman Sam Rinzel, left, after he scored against the Carolina Hurricanes during the third period of an NHL hockey game, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Seward)
Chicago Blackhawks head coach Jeff Blashill, left, confers with center Connor Bedard (98) after the team lost to the Carolina Hurricanes in an NHL hockey game, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Seward)
HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — When Fernando Mendoza was working his way toward becoming the Raiders' starting quarterback, Kirk Cousins mentored the rookie rather than shunning him.
That was despite knowing Mendoza would eventually replace Cousins, which occurred Tuesday when the 15-year veteran was traded to Minnesota.
Mendoza hopes to rely on what he learned from Cousins when he makes his first start for Las Vegas on Sunday against visiting Seattle.
“It would have been really easy for Kirk, being a veteran quarterback and having already proved everything, to be a little bit more dismissive,” Mendoza said Wednesday. “But he had me with open arms and has taught me so many things. Whether it’s film study, how to operate as a starting quarterback, all the different multifaceted approaches that have made him so successful throughout his career, he has shared with no restrictions or no constraints.”
This is the moment the organization knew was coming at some point and Raiders fans have anticipated since it became clear the club would select Mendoza with the top pick in this year's draft.
Mendoza was coming off a season in which he captured the Heisman Trophy and led former basketball powerhouse Indiana to its first national championship in football.
Secondary-market ticket prices for Sunday's game have more than doubled at Vivid Seats since news broke of the trade and Mendoza's elevation. The lowest-priced ticket on the resale app went from $176 to $365. At TickPick, another resale site, the cheapest ticket went from $282 to $395.
Mendoza had his chance to run the first-team offense Wednesday for the first time since he was promoted. The Raiders went through a walk-through rather than a full practice, but wide receiver Tre Tucker said Mendoza impressed even in that setting.
“We’ve been seeing it all year,” Tucker said. “He’s been taking reps with us, he’s been doing everything. You see a throw in practice and you're like, ‘Wow.' So for that to be out there this Sunday is going to be fun.”
Mendoza will face a tough opponent in his debut start.
The defending Super Bowl champion Seahawks lead the league in total defense, allowing 244.2 yards per game. Next are the Vikings at 280.0. Seattle is tied for fourth with Pittsburgh in scoring defense at 18.0 points allowed.
But the Seahawks enter the game with scant video of Mendoza to study. He has made just one appearance, completing 6 of 8 passes for 48 yards in garbage time of a blowout loss to New England.
“We are going to watch his plays and lean on our information we had coming out of the draft process and put our best foot forward,” Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said.
Raiders coach Klint Kubiak, who was the Seahawks' offensive coordinator last season, said the entire playbook will be at Mendoza's disposal.
“We gathered information on what every player can handle going back to April, and we have an awareness of his situation and him being in his first game,” Kubiak said. “However, we’re not peeling back anything, and we’re going to go do what the whole team does best.”
Most of what Mendoza has done this season has occurred behind the scenes in practice and with video and playbook study. Coaches and teammates have raved about his commitment to getting better, and they said Mendoza has shined in practice in recent weeks.
Cousins played so well — his 20 touchdown passes are second only to Cincinnati's Joe Burrow's 23 — that Kubiak wasn't in a hurry to take the 38-year-old off the field, even though the move was inevitable.
The question was when.
That happened Tuesday, when the QB-needy Vikings — coming off an embarrassing offensive performance Monday night in a 23-6 loss to Buffalo — sent a 2027 third-round draft pick to the Raiders for Cousins.
Mendoza was suddenly in charge in Las Vegas. The deal came together so quickly that Mendoza didn't have a chance to tell his family before the news broke.
“All the guys in the locker room love Kirk,” tight end Brock Bowers said. “He was a great locker room guy to have around, and I know all the media love him, too. It was definitely a tough loss for, I guess, the vibe in the locker room and the morale, but we're excited to see what Fernando can do. We all have trust and faith in him. We see what he's been doing in camp, so I'm excited to see what he does here.”
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Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins speaks during an NFL football press conference, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026, in Eagan, Minn., the day after being traded to the team by the Las Vegas Raiders. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
