The-Rink.com co-hosts Jeff Osborn, John Jaeckel, are joined by staff writer Aaron Goldschmidt, and friend of the site Christian Deme aka StacheESQ on Facebook live to talk about the firing of John McDonough.

• John McDonough surprisingly fired by Rocky Wirtz
• Danny Wirtz takes over in the interim
• What does this mean going forward?
• Does Stan stay or go?
• We get in-depth with some wishlists
• If you are interested in writing for The Rink for any division, email writefor@the-rink.com

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Watch the entire Facebook live here!!!!

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The post Blackhawks Rinkcast – Season 3, Episode 18 – McDonough Down! appeared first on The Rink.

Just a handful of weeks after giving his President and General Manager votes of confidence, Blackhawks owner Rockwell Wirtz today at least partially, yet dramatically, reversed course, firing the aforementioned team President and CEO John McDonough.

Blackhawk nation finds itself in a state of shock at the news. And yet, for some, especially those of us here at The Rink, it is not a big surprise. We had expected it before the vote of confidence.

McDonough has his supporters—the “he won three Cups and turned the team around” epitaphs are many. But, facts are pesky things. And Wirtz, to his credit, as a smart, shrewd businessman, can see them plain as day.

What turned the fortunes of this franchise around 10–15 years ago were a series of good draft picks, trades and free agent signings, a true rebuild that, at the time, was long and painful. But, it eventually paid off in the form of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa—all acquired by the GMs who preceded McDonough’s handpicked “team player,” Stan Bowman.

And great teams, like great cars, in turn, sell themselves. Marketing can only get in the way if it is really, really bad. Otherwise, if you build it, they will come.

And they did.

Sure, it probably was McDonough’s big idea to put home games on local television and hire back Pat Foley as the team’s play-by-play man. But, after the decades-long ineptitude and fan alienation of Wirtz’ father, Dollar Bill Wirtz, there was nowhere to go but up in the fans’ eyes. McDonough just grabbed the lowest of low hanging fruit.

The young, brash, big and talented team that won the Cup in 2010—almost entirely built by Dale Tallon, Mike Smith, Rick Dudley and Marshall Johnston, and for the most part before McDonough’s tenure began—formed the core of the remaining two Cup teams as well.

And along about 2015, the Hawk front office, swollen with functionaries and false pride, began handing out massive contracts with no movement clauses—including one to a slow Russian forward who had yet to play in a Blackhawk uniform, with McDonough’s full review and approval.

And the price of that arrogance came due in successive seasons, as with each humiliating playoff elimination, followed by two (and possibly three) years out of the playoffs completely, it became more and more apparent that something was wrong with the Hawks’ front office.

And it was McDonough’s show, make no mistake.

Suddenly, with the exit of Marian Hossa, the decline of Brent Seabrook and some would argue Keith as well, with a string of missed draft picks and overhyped prospects, year after year, the celebrated Hawk front office could not get out of its own way. Fingers began to be pointed, and a Hall of Fame coach was replaced with an AHL coach who was younger than some of the team’s best players, which has not worked out.

At that time, McDonough declared himself accountable, and some of us started to wonder when Wirtz would take that to its logical conclusion.

Now we know. The king is dead.

Long live the king

Already, theories abound as to what’s next. Why is Bowman still around—could he have been part of an insurrection? Doubtful, and Bowman will likely be gone sometime this summer, or “reassigned” within the organization.

The idea that Chris Chelios or Eddie Olczyk will be the next team president has been floated.

But, while you cannot rule anything out, Wirtz’s bold move today signifies another is likely soon to follow. In all likelihood, Wirtz will go out and hire the best available visionary leader for his hockey team. And, in light of the huge importance of making excellent hockey decisions going forward, it will probably be not only an executive with a hockey background, but one with some proven bona fides in management—and likely from outside the organization at this time.

Firing Stan Bowman and retaining McDonough, as some would have preferred, would have been like cutting out a small tumor and leaving the cancer to slowly destroy the body. Wirtz did the right thing today.

Let’s all commend him for that and hope it is just a prelude to an even better move.

All for now, comment below.

The post ANALYSIS: The end of McDonough is just the beginning appeared first on The Rink.

Under McDonough’s direction, the Blackhawks won three Stanley Cups and were one of the most successful sports franchises of the past decade. That success did come at a price, as large long-term veteran contracts have restricted their ability to reload on the fly, return to the playoffs and challenge for the Cup once again. The team has not qualified for the playoffs since 2017 and has been seemingly stuck in neutral. At the time of the COVID-19 season pause, the team was not in a playoff position.

In the interim, Daniel Wirtz, 43, currently Vice President of the Chicago Blackhawks and alternate Governor to the NHL, will serve as the team’s President.

Danny Wirtz has been an active advisor with the Blackhawks for the past decade, serves as the Chicago Blackhawks Foundation Vice Chairman and is a representative for the team with the United Center Joint Venture.

As a member of the Board of Directors, Wirtz also provides strategic counsel to its diversified holdings which include the Chicago Blackhawks, Breakthru Beverage Group, Wirtz Realty and banking interests in Illinois and Florida. He also is active in the United Center Joint Venture guiding campus evolution and development.

This announcement might bring some hope to the future of the organization, as the overall message and on-ice results seemed to have become stagnant.

Blackhawks Chairman W. Rockwell “Rocky” Wirtz announced today the team has released John McDonough from his role as President and CEO of the organization.

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) April 27, 2020

The post BREAKING: Blackhawks fire John McDonough appeared first on The Rink.

Wirtz discussed the decision, with Bulls Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, to pay United Center employees during this pause in seasons. Wirtz indicated that he and Reinsdorf had a one-on-one call and agreed very quickly to ensure that the employees were appropriately taken care of.

Normally, these kinds of things produce very little in the way of new developments, but Charlie Roumeliotis and Pat Boyle also touched on the possibility of an NHL playoff solution that could include more than just the top 16 teams, which might also include the Blackhawks. Wirtz did not reveal much, but he said he was very hopeful that an eventual season restart would favor the team. This would be the second time in just under 12 months that the Blackhawks have had a very fortunate opportunity thrown in their lap following the team moving up to select third overall in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft.

The team is, in no way, good enough to be a playoff-caliber team in the normal format, but a few potential playoff games would certainly warm Wirtz’s heart (or line his wallet).

The final piece to their interview was a question from Boyle regarding Wirtz’s evaluation of the organization. After a trip through the public relations wilderness, Wirtz said the following:

“The nice thing is, John McDonough and his crew, and Stan Bowman, in my humble opinion, we have a good organization. They will figure it out. On my epitaph and on my tombstone with my kids, I promise you, it’s going to say: ‘Just figure it out.’ It’s going to be the day I was born, the day I died and, ‘Just figure it out.’ They will figure it out. I promise you.”

On one hand, what else is he going to say with the season paused and in limbo? He is not going to tip his hand with potential regular season games left to play and cause controversy to go along with the state of the pandemic, but it is certainly surprising that he does not seem more concerned with an organization that is on the precipice of missing the playoffs for the third straight year, has not won a playoff game in four years and has not gotten past the first round of the playoffs in five seasons.

If Wirtz does not make some moves this offseason, this organization will be stuck in neutral for another season, which is another year they have burned off the prime of the careers of Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane.

Listen to the full interview below:

The post Rocky Wirtz addresses season postponement, state of Blackhawks appeared first on The Rink.

But somewhere in the calls to #FireBowman or #FireEmAll, the reality of the business of hockey settles in: mass firings and turnover in the front office would only add to the harsh economics of what the Blackhawks are dealing with. They have a lot of money invested in a “core” that is aging and starting to decline. The Youth Movement that was supposed to turn the franchise around, every year since 2015, is only now starting to gain a little traction in the form of Adam Boqvist and Kirby Dach—and still has a long way to go. And needs more prospects like those.

Put another way: abruptly firing John McDonough, Stan Bowman and Al McIsaac (among others) would cost a lot of money in terms of current employment contracts/severance agreements, etc. Again, with revenues to the team on the decline and perhaps about to go in freefall. It’s not easy, and I’m glad it’s not my money.

All that said, it’s not like Rocky Wirtz has spent the last 5 years meditating in the Himalayas. He’s hired and empowered this front office—and watched them in action— so he now very much also owns what they’ve done.

So what follows are some suggestions I have, based upon what I’ve observed in successful franchises—as well as some insightful fan suggestions on Twitter.

1. Separate the business and hockey functions. Immediately, firmly, and permanently.

This is perhaps an even bigger, but simpler order. The Blackhawks need less cooks in the kitchen of hockey decisions. They have for some time.

There are those who continue to argue that based on what they’ve “heard” from “highly placed” sources, McDonough or “John” as some call him (GAG), never meddles in hockey decisions. However, by McDonough’s own oft-repeated account, he wants lots of visibility into hockey decisions, and there are many other sources who intimate that far too many hockey decisions at 1901 W. Madison have to go through extensive review and discussion by a lot of individuals.

Think about that. And then think about how the Hawks so often seem to wait too long to strike, and box themselves into a corner by waiting so long. Like they did yesterday.

There is a common sense argument, not to mention proven real world practice, that the only people making hockey decisions should be hockey people: scouts and general managers (preferably who come from a scouting background). Sure, by all means you have to get buy-in on the money, and the cap implications, from someone with a talent for numbers and an encyclopaedic knowledge of the CBA. Ironically, back when the core of the Hawks Cup teams was allowed to be perfected by Dale Tallon and Marc Bergevin and others, that numbers guy was, in fact, Bowman.

Let’s be clear, even with former Norfolk Admirals GM McIsaac as his official Hockey Whisperer, even though he’s allegedly shown up at at least one practice in a Hawk coaches’ warmup, McDonough is not nor has he ever been a hockey guy. And no, checking out Drew Leblanc’s “youtubes” does not make you one.

So maybe, even if you can’t part ways with McDonough for whatever reason, make him President of Business Operations, and hire a co-equal President of Hockey Operations (a person form a pure hockey background)—a structure utilized by other NHL teams and teams in other sports, like the Chicago Cubs.

If the current staff doesn’t like it and wants their old power back, let them go find it elsewhere. Life is full of choices.

Or clean house and start over with that structure. Not my circus, not my monkeys. Just use some common sense. For a change. Leave hockey to capable hockey people—and no one else.

And let me be clear, if Bowman, or even Bowman and Jeremy Colliton become the sole fall guys for this mess, but nothing else changes, do not expect the results to change. Bigger change is needed.

2. Be honest—finally—about the direction of the team

Ironically enough, this has become a popular refrain on Hawk twitter of late. Welcome to the party. We’ve been saying it over and over again for the last 2-3 years.

From what I can glean, Hawk fans have reached their saturation point with this marketing department’s BS and its influence on, if not the actual direction of the team itself, then at least how that direction is communicated (or not) to fans.

Fans who pay a lot of money for their tickets and jerseys.

It’s time for Rocky Wirtz—not freaking John McDonough or Stan Bowman—to stand before the media and lay out an honest vision for where this team is going and what fans can expect. Right now.

Are you really rebuilding?

Or are you trying to contend?

Depending on the answer—what is the plan?

How will you achieve it?

It’s simple. But unfortunately, the answer to those questions to this point, which the team seems to want to avoid addressing openly at all costs, is that they’re trying to do both. Despite the now annual disastrous results.

No one in the Hawk front office and likely Wirtz himself, seems to have the stomach for really tearing down and shipping out the team’s best players for boatloads of draft picks and cap room necessary to rebuild—”best players” who may not be good enough to even get the team into the playoffs anymore. At least not with the supporting casts and coaching Bowman (and the rest of the committee) provides.

So they just keep following the same script. One Goal. Anything Can Happen. We like our team, And we really like Dylan Sikura.

Sorry guys, the gig’s up. Everyone sees through it. And the bills—in terms of non-renewed season tickets, even flatter ticket resales and merchandise revenues—are going to get stiffer.

Just tell the truth.

Man up. And fix it.

Yeah, some of the post-2007 late arrivers may peel away. Yeah, there’s going to be a half-empty building for a year or two, but the proud Chicago Blackhawks and their longtime fans have suffered worse and for longer in the past.

Here’s hoping for a new and brighter day, not just for those of us at The Rink, but for all the fans we interact with on a daily basis, for the players, everyone associated with the Indianhead. We all deserve better.

Comment below.

The post Analysis: Where do the Blackhawks go from here? appeared first on The Rink.

At this point, after the impending third straight year of not making the playoffs and not winning a playoff game since 2016, the “professional” writers are still too terrified to call a spade a spade and call this entire organization out for what it is…

B-R-O-K-E-N

The longer that the Blackhawks fanbase accepts McDonough and his entourage of “yes men”  making awful decisions after terrible moves, the longer Chicago will be just another average NHL team in the middle of the pack just scraping by. The Chicago Blackhawks are a broken organization and no one seems to be holding the front office accountable for it. As much as I love to watch Leafs fans meltdown, at least they are holding the team’s decision makers responsible.

For that, I respect them.

It didn’t have to be this way, though. Last summer, when the Blackhawks (by no actions of their own) were gifted the third overall draft pick, Stan Bowman made the right decision by drafting Kirby Dach. It certainly wasn’t the popular decision but drafting Dach over yet another in a long line of “smallish puck moving defensemen” was the right move. Bringing in Calvin de Haan and Olli Maatta for the rights to two players they didn’t want anymore and a middle-six wing (that has since been replaced very nicely by Dominik Kubalik) were sneaky good moves. This brings me to the final move he made which, again, was gifted to him.

Robin Lehner

Late in the day on July 1, when Lehner’s people were scrambling, Bowman had just enough cap space to sign Lehner to a pretty affordable one year deal. Big win! Before Lehner was brought in, Bowman was looking at another season with the fragile Corey Crawford and the inexperienced Collin Delia as his goaltending duo. Fast forward eight months and Lehner has been nothing short of an amazing addition to this team.

Not so fast, though, because it looks as though they are about to screw that up, as well.

If recent reports are correct (and I have no reason to think they aren’t), the negotiations between Lehner and the team have headed south this past week. One might assume that Lehner and his agent are looking to drive his salary into the $9 million or $10 million range, which is something that the Blackhawks certainly should not buy into. Recent reports, though, are that he is looking for a seven-year deal in the range of $7 million to $7.5 million, which is very reasonable for a 28-year-old goalie who was a Vezina Trophy finalist a year ago and is currently (at minimum) a top ten NHL goalie. The same team that is paying $11 million for Lehner and Crawford this season, is allegedly balking at a potential duo (Lehner/Delia) that would be paid $8 million next season.

I’m no math professor, but $8 million sure seems like less than $11 million.

Yes, it’s true that the team could bring back their soon-to-be 36-year-old goalie who has multiple recent major concussions on his resume for a cheaper deal. That is because he’s aging out and has a major head injury history, which are both things you cannot avoid with “hopes and prayers”. Contrary to what one Blackhawks “writer” thinks, the UFA goalie crop this summer is NOT strong. Outside of Lehner and Crawford, the only name on the list that might be able to play at their level is Braden Holtby, who is somehow having an awful season behind one of the best teams in the NHL. You don’t turn that around by playing behind a defense that gives up the most shots in the entire league.

Jeff, surely there have to be more goalies out there, right?

This is the alleged “strong” goalie market they have to choose from July 1:

Craig Anderson
Jaroslav Halak
Anton Khudobin
Thomas Greiss
Mike Smith
Cam Talbot
Jimmy Howard
Pavel Francouz

Francouz is the only one that could potentially be a better-than-Cam Ward level backup. The current Avalanche backup is older than Lehner, though, at 29. Call me crazy, but letting your known asset go to take a huge risk on any of these guys listed above is an enormous gamble with a high likelihood of little-to-no reward. (note – Francouz signed and extension in Colorado)

How has this organization completely screwed themselves like this? The answer? Arrogance.

Last season, when fans had to suffer through Cam Ward and Collin Delia getting their brains beat in on a nightly basis, they kept trying to sell that unrealistic playoff narrative. Stan and company did nothing to open up this roster for a re-tool at the deadline and the team finished with a mediocre draft position. This should have landed them yet another three-year project that could eventually turn into a serviceable NHL player after Kane and Toews were either gone or swiftly riding off into the sunset.

Then, by sheer luck, the third overall pick was dropped into their lap. They got lucky.

None of this happened because Stan Bowman or John McDonough are great at their jobs. How do they follow that up? Another dismal season, potentially reverting their goaltending situation right back into last season’s disarray, One More Shift and more public relations nonsense about the playoffs that they are in no way qualified to compete in.

That is called kicking the can down the road. When will enough be enough? When will fans stop renewing season tickets? When will the fanbase hit the Wirtz cartel where it hurts them most, the pocketbook?

The Chicago organization has been suffocating under a blanket of John McDonough led stupid decisions for at least five years and they just keep getting away with it by spoon-feeding the casual fans with their “just get in the playoffs, anything can happen,” and “anything is possible when you have Toews and Kane on your team” narratives. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, fans, but that’s a bunch of Public Relations nonsense the marketing department is feeding you so you will still spend money on their mediocre-at-best product. You’re all being lied to, treated like idiots, and far too many fans are lapping it up like a big bowl of chicken noodle soup.

You should all be as furious as I am about it!  The time is now, people.

It is time for Rocky Wirtz to put his money where his mouth is and stand firm on this “accountability” he has been preaching about for the last three summers.  Start chopping heads, otherwise, they have just become another franchise repeatedly blowing smoke up everyone’s behinds and they will become victims of their own arrogance.

The post ANALYSIS: Where is this alleged Blackhawks accountability? appeared first on The Rink.

I was (and still am) a Dale Tallon fan. And anyone who goes around saying that Stan Bowman won 3 Stanley Cups not only does Tallon (and to a degree Mike Smith and Rick Dudley) a huge disservice, but they sound pretty stupid when they say it.

I have also tried, especially the last 2-3 years, to give Bowman the benefit of the doubt, and credit when it’s due. But the fact is, in terms of his hockey career, Stan Bowman was born on third base. Twice.

First, as the son of a legendary coach and not so legendary GM, the second in inheriting arguably the best collection of young talent in the NHL of the previous 25 years when he took over the Blackhawks GM responsibilities in 2009.

All that said, I was also a Kenny Williams fan when he was GM of the White Sox. But, as a friend of mine who knows a thing or two about baseball told me after the Sox won the World Series in 2005, Kenny Williams became a good GM through on the job training in the position. Which is a fair point.

And I felt like Bowman could do the same.

Again, you really need to go back and look at the rosters of all three Cup teams before you lay foundational, primary credit for any of them at Bowman’s feet. It was Smith and Dudley (and especially Marshall Johnston) who unearthed a fat biracial kid from Northern Minnesota who became the one-man wrecking crew known as Dustin Byfuglien.

And it was Smith who drafted Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Corey Crawford in two short years.

Tallon was the guy who, along with Rocky Wirtz’ brother Peter, bit the bullet and did the total teardown and rebuild from 2004-2007 that ultimately resulted in Dave Bolland, Bryan Bickell, Patrick Sharp, Troy Brouwer, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Jonathan Toews, Andrew Ladd, Bryan Campbell and Patrick Kane joining the franchise.

But you can argue that Bowman did a good enough job maintaining the core and filling in around the edges over the next 5+ years after 2009. And you could hope that he was learning as he went. As I did.

The high point of the Bowman era was probably 2015, when not only did the Hawks win their 3^rd Cup in 6 years, but the team threw out some big contracts, most notably to Artem Anisimov and Brent Seabrook. Kane and Toews were eventually both paid a million more dollars a year than Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. And everybody got lengthy no-movement clauses.

Then a funny thing happened on the way to the Hawks’ 4^th Cup in the decade.

Pfffffffffffffft.

Since then, the Hawks have made the playoffs twice, only to be eliminated in round 1, and in the last three years (including likely this season), not at all. All this while paying Kane, Toews, Seabrook, Keith, Crawford and Saad combined nearly $45 million a year.

Suddenly, all of Bowman’s fill in around the edges moves stopped working. Then, they failed year after year. Every year has promised a new youth movement, with most failing miserably.

Nearly all of Bowman’s first round draft picks since 2010 are either playing with other teams, or in the case of Mark McNeill (2011), not even in the NHL. Ryan Hartman (2013) may be soon to follow.

Sure, Bowman has had his wins, like grabbing Alex DeBrincat in the 2^nd round in 2016. Yet the lustre is fading even from that move as DeBrincat is struggling through an off year (at best). And I’m probably in the minority of those who think Bowman made a wise move in trading Artemi Panarin for Saad. Because after all, despite all the meatballs and interwebz experts out there who said otherwise, Panarin was never re-signing in Chicago in 2019.

In the end, it’s fair to say, this front office generally handled success very well but has not handled adversity well at all. Bowman is a maintainer, a numbers guy, not a scout or a builder. McDonough and his flunkies can’t seem to get out of the way.

After a bad start last season, Hall of Fame coach Joel Quenneville was relieved of his duties—only to be “replaced” by a career minor league coach who is younger than some of his veteran players. Has it worked? No.

Yet Bowman and McDonough, the two men largely responsible for giving Seabrook a nearly $7 million per year extension to the next millennium, with a hard no-movement clause for all but the last two years, for trading Niklas Hjalmarsson for Connor Murphy, for re-acquiring every washed up ex-Hawk under the sun year after year with predictably miserable results, for proclaiming Dylan Sikura the team’s “big trade deadline acquisition” in 2018, still have jobs.

When Quenneville was fired, a stern-faced McDonough declared to the media: “we’re all accountable. I’m accountable.”

Really? Then Rockwell Wirtz, it is time you hold Mr. McDonough accountable.

Where am I going with all this? Like I said, Bowman started his tenure as GM not only on third base, but halfway to home. That he scored three times is not so remarkable.

Setting aside the marvelous collection of talent he inherited and rode to success over a 5-6 year span, his misses have outnumbered his hits.

And since McDonough hired Bowman—after firing a very popular and successful GM in order to do so—he is just as, if not more so responsible for this mess. Let’s be clear on this: you can’t tease Bowman out from McDonough, as McDonough fired Tallon and hired Bowman in order to give himself and others in the front office more visibility into hockey decisions. He as much as said so at the time.

But the ever-optimistic Hawk fan will point to the last two drafts, of Adam Boqvist and Kirby Dach, as proof that prosperity is just around the corner.

Yet even there, we can find a possible fly in the ointment. Boqvist appears to be emerging into a really nice player, but the Hawks may have passed on an even better all around, big, mobile defenseman in the Seth Jones mold, when they let Noah Dobson slide to the Islanders in 2018.

Perhaps recognizing his error, Bowman even publicly acknowledged that his team had become too small and too soft for the playoffs after taking Dach in 2019.

But that begs a very important question that no one has really asked yet.

After years of drafting tiny, soft players in the draft’s higher rounds, why did it take Bowman, of ALL people, so long to finally see that hockey was still a contact sport, that the Erik Gustafssons of the world never do anything but hurt their teams in big, physical matchups?

The truth is, and the evidence proves, this is an organization navigating without a roadmap.

They’re not contending and they’re not really rebuilding. They’re not big or physical up and down the ice. And they’re not overly skilled past Kane and Toews. They’ve overcommitted on big money long term contracts to aging players. Their pipeline is nearly bereft of meaningful prospects.

Wednesday, it was rumored that the goalie they signed to possibly replace Crawford (Robin Lehner, who has shown himself to be more than up to the task) will be traded in the next couple of weeks because the team “can’t afford him.” And the 35 year-old oft-concussed Crawford will be extended. Remember, this team has $11 million invested in the goalie position this year—and they can’t afford to sign Lehner for next season and beyond—after he has made clear he would like to be in Chicago? What?

It’s time to face facts: Bowman and McDonough have been caught with their pants down, even though most of us would rather look the other way.

We can sit here and debate til the cows come home if the team should really go all in on a rebuild and trade away the remaining cornerstones of the Cup years for the high picks and elite prospects it takes to rebuild on, or if Chicago should continue to try to “soft rebuild” around Kane and Toews.

But, can there really be any debate that this front office has failed fairly spectacularly over the last few seasons—and there seems to be no end in sight?

So whatever direction the franchise ultimately chooses, there should be some new hockey minds (who aren’t defending five years of mediocrity and have no sacred cows) executing an actual plan.

But try this—if you want to know how caught up (and poorly served) Hawk fans are with all this nonsense about their great corporate front office being “on it.” Ask yourself if today you would switch places with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Most Hawk fans, I suspect, would say “no way.” Without realizing that even after losing the “great Breadman” and Sergei Bobrovsky (and replacing him with some dude named Merzlikins), even after a raft of injuries to their remaining good players, the Blue Jackets are at present, 30-17-10 and the top wildcard in the (much better) Eastern Conference.

Why?

Because they have an excellent, experienced coach.

They have a rock solid GM from a scouting background.

And the team works together, flawlessly, from the end of the bench all the way up through the executive suite. They’re big, they play hard every night, and they win maybe more games than their talent justifies. And they’ll make the playoffs again this year.

All things you can’t say about Stan Bowman and John McDonough’s Blackhawks.

Your move, Rocky.

The post Analysis: Hawks need a roadmap and better leaders (Bowman and McDonough must go) appeared first on The Rink.

There are many schools of thought on this, and most are (at least partly) valid.

Blackhawks fans have been extremely fortunate and certainly need to take that into account. Outside of the 90s Bulls, this has been the most successful era for a Chicago sports franchise, IN HISTORY. Most teams would gladly trade with the Blackhawks to have three cup wins in less than a decade.

All that success ended in the spring of 2016, though, when the Blackhawks were swept by the Nashville Predators after amassing one of the best regular season records in the team’s history. They have gone steadily downhill and most of their moves have been washes, at best. To compound the issue, the front office continues to blatantly lie and deny.

That brings me to my little theme. After listening to The Fixx’s “One Thing Leads to Another” on the radio, it struck me that the lyrics could be plugged into the State of the Blackhawks organization so, without further ado…

The deception with tact, just what are you trying to say?
You’ve got a blank face, which irritates
Communicate, pull out your party piece
You see dimensions in two
State your case with black or white
But when one little cross leads to shots, grit your teeth
You run for cover so discreet, why don’t they…

Last spring, when the Blackhawks brass trotted out in front of the media, team president John McDonough told the media and the fan base that they stood behind Stan Bowman and Joel Quenneville, but proclaimed that everyone would be held accountable for missing the playoffs. Bowman then followed up with his (now famous) #WeLikeOurTeam.

On the surface, Stan Bowman certainly looked like he believed their dull lifeless #WeLikeOurTeam mantra. It was almost like he was taken into a back room, hypnotized and told that his first response to every question would now be #WeLikeOurTeam.

They conveniently forgot to mention that by “standing behind” Joel Quenneville they were waiting to stab him in the back after 15 games and use him as the fall guy.

Not only that, but he handed the team over to a very raw head coach that probably wasn’t ready to be an NHL coach.  I have said it several times before, Bowman pulled the pin out of a grenade and dropped it in Colliton’s lap.  Much like they have done with several young prospects.

We will get to that later, though.

Just prior to the NHL draft, Bowman did absolutely nothing to put the organization into position to improve. The Blackhawks held the 8th overall pick and Nashville’s 27th overall pick (thanks to the dumping of Ryan Hartman). There were quite a few high end forwards at the top, and some potential generational defensemen that the organization could have moved up to pick. They stuck to their position and made their picks.

No trades; nothing.

When their number was called at the draft, the organization took a gamble with smallish project Adam Boqvist. If they were happy with Boqvist (and by all accounts they were), Bowman could have potentially packaged up the 27th pick to unload a big contract and clear up some cap room for the pending free agent period.

They didn’t accomplish that either and picked Nicolas Beaudin. This is all fine and well, but do the Blackhawks really need half a dozen clones? Apparently they were swallowing that #WeLikeOurTeam charade, themselves, which has proven to be a huge mistake.

As training camp opened, the only moves they made were to bring in an over-the-hill forward in Chris Kunitz, an over-the-hill goalie in Cam Ward, and a pair of third pair defensemen in Brandon Manning and Brandon Davidson. If they truly believed in this team, they are awful at their jobs because just about everyone with a set of eyes knew this team had huge holes to fill.

Do what they say, say what you mean, and baby
One thing leads to another
You told me something wrong, I know I listen too long but then
One thing leads to another

Are the Chicago Blackhawks in a full rebuild? Label it however you would like, but this transition they are in the middle of is a rebuild. Not “rebuilding on the fly.” Not “reloading.”

Full blown rebuild.

Stop lying and treating the fans like a bunch of shaved chimps. Enough is enough. John McDonough treats the fans like it is 1995 before most had readily available access to the internet. When the team could just shovel loads of nonsense to the beat writers and the fans were forced to consume it. It is almost 2019 and fans have more information at the tips of their fingers than libraries of books and newspapers. Independent websites and media outlets (like this one) have a voice to point out the nonsense.

The excuse of “Well, what else are they supposed to say?” simply is not valid. It is a lazy cop out response. Several sports franchises have been open and honest with their fans about the necessity to rebuild. SEVERAL!

Fans bought in and, in most situations, the teams came out of the other end of the meat grinder and had success. THAT is what the “public relations genius” John McDonough should be saying. All he has to do is look at his former employer across the city to see how that works.

While the outrage is somewhat misdirected, a prime example is the way the team handled the firing of Joel Quenneville. Fans realized that the Quenneville was the sacrificial lamb and the results since then support that. What we’re seeing is a fan base backlash against Bowman.

While he certainly has his hand in this mess, Stan Bowman is a John McDonough “yes man.” Firing Bowman will not change much of what is going on at 1901 W. Madison. McDonough will just hire another obedient muppet that he can smear his fingerprints all over. This back office needs a full extermination.

The impression that you sell
Passes in and out like a scent
But the long face that you see comes from living close to your fears
If this is up then I’m up but you’re running out of sight
You’ve seen your name on the walls
And when one little bump leads to shock miss a beat
You run for cover and there’s heat, why don’t they

The contract issues started as far back as the signings of Marian Hossa, Brian Campbell and Cristobal Huet. Two of the three players ended up being albatrosses that Bowman had to creatively discard, which has been common theme during the Bowman tenure.

I realize that Tallon signed those players, but they have John McDonough’s greasy stink all over them.

Making a contract disappear is part of being a professional sports executive, but taking losses (many times significant) in almost every instance should not be acceptable.

I digress, though. Huet was completely unnecessary at the time, and that is on Dale Tallon. If you look back, ten years ago, Huet was signed for the same salary that two time cup winning goalie Corey Crawford currently makes. The move reeks of a John McDonough public relations stunt.

Even though the Blackhawks had a young, fresh Corey Crawford ready to dip his toes in the NHL waters, Tallon ran out and grossly overpaid Huet to compete with incumbent Nikolai Khabibulin. Huet failed to beat out Khabibulin in his first year and then lost his job to Antti Niemi the following season. Eventually, Bowman was forced to loan Huet to a team in Switzerland (might as well been Siberia) to make the mistake disappear.

Hossa and Campbell worked much better at the time, but it was only three years into Campbell’s eight year $57 million deal that Bowman was forced to trade him to Florida and their old pal Dale Tallon for a bag full of bricks named Rostislav Olesz. A bag of bricks that Bowman would eventually be forced to use one of his two compliance buyout allowances to dispose of. You might label that a loss.

This was just the beginning of a laundry list of questionable moves that systematically forced the Blackhawks to give up valuable assets in exchange for teams to take on their messes.

In 2010, they were forced to trade Dustin Byfuglien (among others, because they couldn’t afford him) to Atlanta for Marty Reasoner, Joey Crabb, Jeremy Morin and two draft picks that resulted in Kevin Hayes and Justin Holl. This move still stings nine years later.

That same summer they traded Andrew Ladd (because they couldn’t afford him) to Atlanta for Ivan Vishnevskiy and a draft pick that resulted in AHL lifer Adam Clendening.

In 2011, they traded the rights to Troy Brouwer (because they couldn’t afford him) for a draft pick that resulted in Phillip Danault (whom they never fully developed and were forced to part with later) to Washington.

In 2014, they traded Nick Leddy (because Bowman waited to long to address serious cap issues until they were forced to scramble) the New York Islanders for T.J. Brennan, Ville Pokka and Anders Nilsson. Brennan is an AHL lifer, they never developed Pokka and were forced to trade Nilsson away.

Do what they say, say what they mean
One thing leads to another
You told me something wrong, I know I listen too long but then
One thing leads to another, yeah, yeah, yeah
One thing leads to another

As I alluded to earlier, the biggest question is how did the Blackhawks get to this terrible state so fast? Questionable player contracts.

The biggest issues this organization currently face are the salaries of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Brent Seabrook. Those three, alone, account for $28 million against the salary cap. With that kind of structure, they will never be able to sign more than one high end free agent like they need. Why are these players (and several before them) overpaid? Because “hard driving, cap expert” Stan Bowman was tossing extra millions (and no movement clauses) around like they were nickels.

In theory, rewarding the players that brought you three championships is a commendable act. If that act doesn’t restrict you from future success.

Some of these contract snafus can be smoothed out by just taking into account that Duncan Keith, Niklas Hjalmarsson, and Corey Crawford were underpaid for years. The problem with this is that a true “cap guru” should be able to sprinkle a few bargains with tightly negotiated, reasonable contracts. Something we are all watching in Toronto. You should not have a need to make excuses for people that are at the top of their respective profession.

Unless those snafus were a result of Bowman’s boss meddling in hockey decisions.

It would not be hard to imagine McDonough directing Bowman to re-sign Bryan Bickell as a public relations move, when most of the fan base had come to terms with the forward pricing himself out of Chicago.

Then it’s easy to believe
Somebody’s been lying to me
But when the wrong word goes in the right ear
I know why you’ve been lying to me
It’s getting rough, off the cuff I’ve got to say enough’s enough

The last issue that has led to the Blackhawks demise is the back office falling in love, and failing to develop mediocre prospects.  Selling the fans a huge bag of nonsense disguised as a well developed, NHL ready player that will make a difference, nightly.  As a result they cast unrealistic expectations on a young (many times fragile) hockey mind that takes them years to overcome.

The most recent example is Dylan Sikura.  He’s a fine player.  A raw, physically underdeveloped player, though.  Last winter Stan Bowman (with a straight face) told the Blackhawks fanbase that (essentially) they didn’t need to make a trade deadline acquisition because Sikura would fill the role.  They made sure that they signed him as fast as possible and threw him to the wolves.  He came out and had three assist (two of which were secondary) in five games.

Maybe it they were honest with the fans and convey the fact that Sikura was coming from playing at a level several steps below the NHL, he is physically underdeveloped and it might take him some time to adjust the fans wouldn’t have been on #SikuraWatch for the first 3 months of the season, and they would accept him developing in the AHL.

Instead, the team and the media throw out this ridiculous public relations hype that makes the casual fan think Dylan Sikura is the next Patrick Kane.  He’s not and never will be.  Let him develop.  What has rushing a player ever accomplished?  For every Alex DeBrincat that jumps right into the lineup (even though his first 20 games were a struggle), there are five Marko Danos or Bill Sweats or Akim Alius or Kyle Beaches or Mark McNeills.  BE PATIENT AND STOP BLENDING YOUNG KID’S MINDS UP!

Remember the hype about Wouter Peeters being the next Blackhawks goalie and how they were very carefully developing him in the USHL?  This was just over 12 months ago.  Since then, he had a decent first USHL season and has essentially disappeared from existence.  Three games this fall and disappeared from the Lincoln Stars roster after October 5th.

Bigger the harder he falls
But when the wrong antidote is like a bulge on the throat
You run for cover in the heat why don’t they

Do what they say, say what they mean
One thing leads to another
You told me something wrong, I know I listen too long but then
One thing leads to another, yeah, yeah
One thing (one thing) leads to another………

The moral of the story is that the lying and delusions in this back office are now crippling this organization. John McDonough has created a culture that is full of self aggrandizing nonsense above all else. It is time that Rocky Wirtz stopped buying into this hype and hired some real hockey architects rather than a bunch of public relations clowns running around the front office patting themselves on the back.

The post Blackhawks Analysis: One Thing Leads to Another appeared first on The Rink.

I touched on this at the end of last night’s Blackhawks Rinkcast, but it needs to be reinforced and probably will be for quite a while. In this culture, with all the outrage, we need to reel this back in, come together as Blackhawks fans and agree on one thing:

Don’t take your anger out on Jeremy Colliton.

Regardless of your opinion on the move, how it was handled or whether the right guy was turfed, one thing is undisputed; None of this is Jeremy Colliton’s fault.  It just isn’t.

It is going to be very easy for us as fans (myself included) to fall into the lazy behavior of criticizing any move Colliton makes (or doesn’t make), to validate your anger or disappointment in the coaching move. If you want to be mad and lash out, blame John McDonough.

This is a move that was made at the top of the organization and Stan Bowman was forced to abide by it. Joel Quenneville was Bowman’s security blanket. He masked many of Bowman’s questionable moves, or lack of moves, with his solid reputation as a head coach.

Was it perfect? Of course not!

Joel Quenneville was very frustrating, at times, to the outsiders.  Infuriating, even.

Nothing against Colliton, but Stan Bowman will be exposed very blatantly if he continues to do his job (or more specifically not do it) the way he has recently. He cannot hide behind a 33-year-old rookie head coach that has been coaching in North America for under 18 months. Colliton will have his own challenges.

This brings me to my original point. As fans of this team, like Colliton, we were all dealt this bad hand. The best thing we can do is rally behind him. If he fails (and he certain might) he will write this chapter of his career. We cannot write this chapter for him, before he has coached a single NHL game.

Remember, this is the same team that slam-dunk future Hockey Hall of Fame coach Joel Quenneville could not mask the problems of. Colliton is inheriting the same non-playoff team that was performing like a non-playoff team. In firing Joel Quenneville, Stan Bowman did not also acquire a couple of top four defenders, or a Thunderdome tough center that can win draws and is a bloodhound defensively.

AGAIN, THIS IS NOT JEREMY COLLITON’S FAULT.

So, as we celebrate the launch of the Winter Classic sweaters later today and we then watch the Blackhawks take on the Carolina Hurricanes in game one of Colliton’s NHL coaching career, remember one thing:

It starts at the top. Blame this corporate meddling mastermind

Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

The post ANALYSIS: Resist The Urge to Blame Jeremy Colliton appeared first on The Rink.

The-Rink.com co-hosts Jeff “Gatekeeper” Osborn and John Jaeckel get together with The Rink Rockford Icehogs Head Writer Mario Tirabassi to talk about the Blackhawks firing Joel Quenneville and his assistants, then promoting Jeremy Colliton.

• Joel Quenneville out, Kevin Dineen out, Ulf Samuelsson out.  Jeremy Colliton in, Barry Smith in, Don Granato stays, Jimmy Waite stays.
• Derek King takes over in Rockford while Sheldon Brookbank stays there as an assistant.
• We dissect yet another awkward press conference in Blackhawks lore.
• Mario give us more insight into Coach Colliton.
• Very in-depth talk about the move, what led up to it, what the future could hold.
• We spend a good hour focussing on some great listener and reader questions

Please subscribe, rate this episode, and even write us a review. Reviews will be read on the air.

Also, Please help spread the word to more #RinkRats and visit our sponsor www.PUCKHCKY.com. Use the discount code “THERINK” for 10% off all orders.

The post The Blackhawks Rinkcast – Episode 35 – Quenneville Fired appeared first on The Rink.

This announcement gets out ahead of the looming dead time between the beginning of the playoffs, and the final game of the Stanley Cup final when the question would, no doubt, be front of mind.

Now the Blackhawks can focus their attention on their plan of attack for the NHL Entry Draft on June 22–23, 2018, at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, and the Free Agency signing period July 1st.

The post Blackhawks Announce Stan Bowman and Joel Quenneville to Return appeared first on The Rink.