Chicago Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson taps Jeff Greenberg, a Cubs executive, for a key front-office role

Chicago Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson finalized his new leadership team Thursday by hiring former Cubs executive Jeff Greenberg, a onetime rival for the Hawks GM job, as one of his top two lieutenants.

Greenberg was named associate general manager, the same title former Seattle Kraken executive Norm Maciver holds.

Maciver, Davidson’s former colleague when both worked under former GM Stan Bowman, has been tasked with merging pro and amateur scouting into one department.

Greenberg, who most recently served as Cubs assistant general manager, will oversee the “strategic systems and processes that will fuel the entire hockey operations group,” according to a team release.

He starts May 9.

“Our journey is just beginning as we build a next-generation foundation for this team, and that starts with a focus on modernizing and improving the hockey operations infrastructure in our front office,” Davidson said in a statement. “We will only get back to being best-in-class on the ice if we are working with best-in-class information and ideas behind the scenes.”

Said Greenberg in a statement: “There couldn’t be a more exciting time to get in on the ground floor of this journey and pursue every possible solution to put this team back on the path to winning hockey.”

Greenberg raised eyebrows when he was revealed as a candidate interviewed for the permanent GM role despite not having a hockey background.

Ultimately, seven candidates were interviewed but Greenberg emerged among three finalists, including Davidson — who served as interim GM since Bowman stepped down in October — and Tampa Bay Lightning director of hockey operations Mathieu Darche.

Davidson praised Greenberg and said the two hit it off immediately.

“We connected instantly over our parallel paths, shared love for hockey and vision for this sport’s future,” Davidson said. “I’m excited for our fans to see what he, alongside Norm, can bring as key voices at the table — a table that will continue to grow with other leaders we will add to the team.”

Greenberg is Davidson’s choice, but it seemingly has CEO Danny Wirtz’s fingerprints on it.

Wirtz has made it his calling card to think “outside the box” while trying to turn around the franchise — on the ice and at the box office— and that informed his decisions to hire current president of business operations Jaime Faulkner, a former consumer technology and analytics executive, and to pick Davidson, who made the bold pitch to rebuild from the ground up.

Wirtz and Faulkner hired Mike Forde of consulting firm Sportsology to advise with the GM search.

Wirtz told the Tribune after a Blackhawks town hall in early February he wanted “someone in the room that has operated in different sports that can bring other perspectives. … It’s helpful to have someone who has been inside (on) how to structure organizations.”

Wirtz was impressed with Sportsology’s work with Chelsea FC and several NBA teams.

“You look across global sports, European soccer has done a lot in terms of performance area, medical, that are far beyond what we do,” he said.

That line of thinking extended to the kind of executives Hawks ownership was looking to add to the organization.

Greenberg hadn’t been revealed as a contender yet when Wirtz spoke to the Tribune, but the chief executive kept an open attitude about the role.

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“The general manager position primarily has to be very familiar with the system of hockey but that doesn’t preclude injecting outside of hockey,” Wirtz said. “Typically hockey does not hire a ton from outside (but) lot of sports have found success bringing in people from other sports, from management to consulting to legal, lots of other stuff.

“You see a lot of profiles of general managers across the NHL now they’re coming from less traditional backgrounds. I think it’s a wave across the league and I want to make sure we keep an open mind. Doesn’t mean we won’t go closer ‘in the box,’ but we want to be considering all options.”

In his 11 seasons with the Cubs, Greenberg worked his way up from director of pro scouting and baseball operations to assistant to the general manager. He was part of the rebuild that culminated in the 2016 World Series championship. He also worked for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Pittsburgh Pirates and Major League Baseball, the latter in labor relations.

Greenberg grew up playing hockey in Pittsburgh.

His new role with the Hawks will involve him in scouting, development, coaching and operations. His job will be to help modernize the processes and tools the front office uses — one Davidson’s top priorities — to collect and share data about playersin the pipeline and elsewhere in the NHL. Greenberg’s team also will help create strategies to give the Hawks a competitive advantage.

“Jeff will be both an architect and connector of the hockey operations group, ensuring that we’re always at the forefront of professional sports,” Davidson said in the release.