Blackhawks to consider candidates from outside hockey for GM

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The Chicago Blackhawks are taking an unusual approach to their search for their next general manager and plan to make a decision before the NHL trade deadline in March.

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Blackhawks CEO Danny Wirtz, the son of team owner Rocky Wirtz, said Wednesday the interview process will include candidates "both inside and outside of hockey." Danny Wirtz and President of Business Operations Jaime Faulkner will lead the interview process, with help from an advisory group "comprised of leaders across the sports industry as well as our search partners," Danny Wirtz said.

"We plan to create a next generation hockey operations department with a path to sustained success for the Chicago Blackhawks," Danny Wirtz said in a release. "Our next step is to find the right leader, and we will begin to reach out to potential candidates this week to interview for the general manager role. That position will be the highest-ranking executive in hockey operations and will report directly to me."

Interim GM Kyle Davidson will interview for the position, and Wirtz said Davidson "will continue to have full autonomy of hockey decisions in the meantime."

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