In an era where harmful trolling is at an all-time high, Chicago Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson engaged in some trickery of the benign variety on Wednesday.
When the NHL executive was stopped while cruising the streets of Nashville by someone from an outlet called PenaltyBoxRadio looking to do a man-on-the-street style interview about the NHL draft, he obliged, but did so as “Kyle from Chicago” rather than revealing his true identity.
The entire clip is worth a watch:
Highlights from the interaction included, but are not limited to:
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When Davidson says he’s been to Nashville “a couple of times” and confirms the reason was to see Blackhawks games.
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When Davidson is asked to rank his hockey knowledge on a scale of 1-to-10 and goes with four, adding “some people say I don’t know that much.”
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Davidson’s expression when he confirms that he’s “very confident” the NHL didn’t rig the draft lottery in favor of the Blackhawks:
The best part of the clip is that everything is in good fun.
Davidson can’t be accused of messing around during a consequential day for his team as the Blackhawks have the first overall pick. The decision about who they’re going to take (Connor Bedard) was never difficult, and was made ages ago.
From the PenaltyBoxRadio side, the reporter might’ve suffered a moment of embarrassment along the way, but it’s also not fair to expect someone who primarily covers the Predators to be able to identify the Blackhawks GM in street clothes. If the outlet felt the ordeal painted them in a poor light they wouldn’t have publicized it and had so much fun with it on Twitter.
Wednesday night figures to be one of the most consequential days of Davidson’s career as he gets to call the name of a player projected to change his franchise’s fortunes.
That didn’t preclude him from enjoying a sunny afternoon in Nashville and showcasing his sense of humor — a welcome development in a league where players or executives letting their personalities show can be a rare occurrence.
