Chicago Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson does not look like your typical veteran GM.
The 34-year-old Davidson looks youthful and, on the street, could be mistaken for a guy headed to the gym.
Davidson’s anonymity led to a bizarre scene Wednesday in Nashville, where the Blackhawks’ GM is attending the 2023 NHL Draft. A reporter with Nashville’s Penalty Box Radio stopped Davidson for one of those “man-on-the-street” interviews, asking him about the NHL Draft and hockey in general.
Yet the reporter did not realize Davidson is an NHL GM.
Davidson, who identified himself as “Kyle from Chicago,” played along. When the reporter asked Davidson to grade his hockey knowledge on a scale of 1-to-1o, he responded, “4.”
“I’m a fan of the sport; I don’t know, some people say I don’t know that much,” Davidson said, somehow not cracking up at his secret.
When the reporter asked Davidson how many hockey players he could name, the GM called named Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux, then began reeling off members of the Blackhawks’ 2013 Stanley Cup championship team.
So we walked around downtown Nashville talking to hockey fans about the 2023 NHL Draft.
And then this happened. @NHLBlackhawks come get your GM! pic.twitter.com/zuZjGxhHdf
— PenaltyBoxRadio (@PenaltyBoxRadio) June 28, 2023
Finally, the reporter asked Davidson if he believed the conspiracy theory that the NHL rigged the draft lottery to give the Blackhawks the No. 1 pick.
“No … I’m very confident,” Davidson said, looking directly at the camera.
Typical “Man-on-the-street” interviews can quickly get cringe-worthy, but sometimes they can be hilarious, which is why they’ve been a staple of late-night TV shows for years. This one was both cringeworthy and funny, and fans loved it.
This is probably the best content involving an NHL employee that I’ve seen in the past decade
— pharmAziz (@pharmaziz) June 28, 2023
This is the greatest thing I’ve ever seen.
— /Cam Robinson/ (@Hockey_Robinson) June 28, 2023
“What is one change you would make to the NHL right now?”
[Calculating how much he can get fined]
“Umm, I don’t know. I think it’s pretty awesome.”— Steven D. Kluber (@stevenkluber) June 28, 2023
This is too good to be real.
— Pete (@PeterGaeta) June 28, 2023
The only way he would have convinced me the draft wasn’t rigged for Chicago was if he joked that it WAS rigged! Now I’m just left wondering, “what’s he trying to hide?!” 😮
— Jacmert (@Jacmert) June 28, 2023
Cool example of the other end of the Dunning-Kruger Effect where a guy who knows how much he doesn’t know rates his knowledge a 4. You just know any regular hockey fan walking down the street would have rated themselves higher
— Professional Amateur Vexillologist (@DweebOfTheYear) June 28, 2023
