David Carle withdraws from Blackhawks' coaching search: report

The Blackhawks have struck out on their top choice in their coaching search.

University of Denver coach David Carle has withdrawn from the Hawks' search, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported Saturday, despite an "aggressive pursuit" by the team.

Carle has been the hottest up-and-coming name in coaching circles recently after leading Denver to two national championships and three Frozen Four appearances in the last four years. He also coached the U.S. to back-to-back gold medals — for the first time ever — in the 2024 and 2025 world junior championships.

The Alaska native made it clear throughout the season he wasn't eager to leave a great situation in Denver. The fact the Hawks missed out on him will be perceived very differently in hindsight based on whether he stays there or leaves for a different NHL coaching job. The Rangers, Flyers, Bruins, Ducks and Kraken are all also conducting coaching searches at the moment.

Hawks general manager Kyle Davidson will now have to turn his attention elsewhere. There's an enormously large pool of candidates — including former NHL coaches waiting for new gigs, current NHL assistants and AHL head coaches, other college coaches and even Hawks interim coach Anders Sorensen — but nobody else stands out nearly as much as Carle.

Davidson said April 17 that prior NHL coaching experience would be a plus, but not a prerequisite. He also said he hoped to hire a new coach earlier this offseason than he did back in 2022, when Luke Richardson wasn't brought aboard until late June.