The Chicago Blackhawks promised they would be looking outside of the hockey world in their search for a new general manager and they have done just that. The team confirmed today that they have interviewed Jeff Greenberg for their vacant GM position. Greenberg currently serves as assistant GM for the Chicago Cubs, a title he received in 2020 after climbing the ranks from intern to director of baseball operations.
He has been with the Cubs since 2012 and took on a bigger role when Jed Hoyer was promoted from GM to president following Theo Epstein’s departure. Just a few months ago, the Cubs hired Carter Hawkins as the club’s new general manager, sliding him into the top spot ahead of Greenberg and the other assistants. Greenberg joins interim GM Kyle Davidson, Eric Tulsky, Scott Mellanby, and Peter Chiarelli as the people confirmed to have already interviewed for the position.
That group certainly covers a lot of ground and suggests that the Blackhawks are wide open to hiring someone that hasn’t previously been a general manager in the NHL. Greenberg wouldn’t be the only baseball executive to make the move to hockey in recent years though. In 2019, Ned Colletti was hired by the San Jose Sharks as a pro scout after a long career in MLB front offices.
The connection between the Blackhawks and Cubs, in this case, goes deeper than just sharing a city, as Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet explained on a recent 32 Thoughts podcast:
Jamie Faulkner, who runs the business empire of the Blackhawks, her husband is an executive vice president of the Cubs, so there is a connection there. I’ve heard he may be involved. If you believe they have to go somewhere different, [Greenberg] would be different.
Jeff Marek, Friedman’s podcast partner, was on Sirius XM Radio this morning and noted that this isn’t the first time a Greenberg has been flirting with an NHL position. Jeff Greenberg’s father Chuck Greenberg was involved in an attempted purchase of the Carolina Hurricanes in the past and is a good friend of Mario Lemieux. While that purchase–and other less notable attempts–didn’t go through, his son could very well find his way into an NHL front office instead.
The Blackhawks have not given a clear timeline on when they expect to name someone to the position, only that there are more interviews scheduled in the coming days. The team is taking an approach not often seen in the NHL, announcing each interview as it is conducted, even for those like Tulsky and Chiarelli who are still working with another organization.
I heard Ryan Pace is available, why don’t you interview him.
Come on! Are you just want to make the franchise more of a laughingstock
as it is now?
First, you cover up a tragedy, then you let your lunatic old man loose on the press saying things he has no right to say and now you may hire a baseball guy to by a GM of a hockey team?