Rinkcast host Andy Campbell is joined by Rink staffers Eric Andrews, Sean Fitzgerald, and Andrew Bard to discuss Blackhawks’ chairman Rocky Wirtz’s outbursts at Wednesday night’s town hall, as well as the random emergence of Peter Chiarelli as a candidate.

Watch the entire replay of the Facebook live right here:

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Blackhawks Rinkcast – Season 5, Episode 13 – A Rocky Wednesday Night https://t.co/B25sDaSpOQ

— Chicago Blackhawks Rinkcast (@TheRinkcast) February 4, 2022

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What happened on the ice in a brutal loss to the Wild on Wednesday pales in comparison to Blackhawks Chairman Rocky Wirtz’s comments during the Hawks’ town hall meeting hours before. In what should have been a session dedicated to the to the organization’s growth since their misconduct in the handling of the Kyle Beach sexual assault accusations, instead became a shockingly awkward step backwards for a team seemingly locked in a dismissive and bygone subculture of white privilege and entitlement.

It has been seen time and time again in the last 12+ hours. Seasoned reporter Mark Lazerus asking a very straight-forward and lay-up of a question of Blackhawks CEO Danny Wirtz (Rocky’s son) on how the organization plans to move forward to change the culture following the Beach incident. An intelligent and poised Danny Wirtz fully prepared to answer and address the question was then cut off by his father, who bitterly and angrily rejected the idea of speaking about such an issue. Rocky Wirtz then followed his stern objection to Lazerus’ question by berating Chicago Tribune reporter Phil Thompson, not even allowing him to finish his inquest.

Here’s the full segment/video. Just ridiculous from Rocky Wirtz. pic.twitter.com/9k9QxKW0gI

— Wally Mazurek (@WallMaz35) February 3, 2022

Danny Wirtz attempted to interject midway through the onslaught on Lazerus and was quickly silenced by his father. In just over a minute, all of the great work Danny and President of Business Operations Jaime Faulkner have done over the last few months to restore good faith to the fanbase was wiped out. In fairness to Danny Wirtz, he has been terrific in his role as CEO recently and has been a catalyst and agent for change. His one mistake? Inviting Dad to join him on stage during last night’s session.

The brutal truth of how Rocky Wirtz feels about the Beach scandal reared its head. He may as well have said, “I really do not want to talk or deal with this anymore.” Oh wait, he kind of did just say that. For an organization in severe need of an overhaul that has preached a message of transparency and accountability of late, their chairman gave you anything but that on Wednesday night. Rocky Wirtz does not want to deal with it, plain and simple. Whether he has an axe to grind with Lazerus or not, who knows, but something really set fire to Rocky Wirtz, and he lost it. He simply hates the fact that he has to address this and just flat out does not want to. It is sad, and honestly, kind of scary, as what happened last night can and will hurt this franchise for a number of different reasons.

Buying a ticket to go see this team right now? Nope, not really on my list of things to do. A destination for free agents believing that the Hawks have a healthy environment to play in? No chance. What about pursuing a job in their corporate office, public relations or ticket sales? I would turn back if I were you. To say this is troubling is the understatement of the century. It was not too long ago that Rocky Wirtz was viewed as the savior of the franchise, and every public appearance in the United Center was met with a chorus of cheers, followed by the chanting of his name. Now, he may want to reconsider any public appearance for the time being, and there is little question that when he does show up at the UC again, the chorus from the fanbase may sound considerably different.

So, the Hawks lost 5–0 on Wednesday, and honestly, who cares? Yep, a lost season yet again in many ways, and clearly a lost organization at that as well.

The post Blackhawks embarrassed by rocky night on and off the ice appeared first on The Rink.

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.

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.

This team stinks.

It stinks because of several bad decisions by the front office.

And it will continue to stink as long as those aforementioned fans continue to buy in to the “spin” of the front office/marketing/pr monster at 1901 W. Madison.

Those who used to read me over at hockeybuzz will recall, perhaps, my “myth exploding” blogs. This will be one of those. The first myth:

“Bowman won 3 Cups.”

Sure, Bowman was the titular GM for all three Cup wins in 2010, 2013 and 2015. But the fact is, Gordie Clifton, the Official 2^nd Rate Lounge Singer of The-Rink.com, could have served as GM and won at least one Cup after inheriting Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, Marian Hossa, Brent Seabrook, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Dustin Byfuglien, Brian Campbell, and Dave Bolland.

In fact, while Bowman deserves some credit for tinkering around the edges to optimize his rosters (trades for Michal Handzus and Antoine Vermette before the 2013 and 2015 trade deadlines), the 2013 and 2015 Cup do not happen without the aforementioned core of players that was assembled by previous GMs Mike Smith and Dale Tallon. No, Bowman sank 2-3 relative gimme putts after Smith and Tallon drove the green.

Here’s another myth:

“Tallon couldn’t manage the cap—so he got fired.”

While there may be an element of truth in that, it skirts the larger reason. Team President John McDonough wanted a “company man” in the role of GM. He said as much at the time.

Around that time, the Hawks also clarified a job description for former Norfolk Admirals GM Al McIsaac as McDonough’s “personal adviser” on hockey matters, a sort of “hockey whisperer” to inform a guy who basically knew (and still knows) very little about the game. Or are you forgetting his incisive scouting of once future great Drew Leblanc via “youtubes?”

Later, McDonough would explain to the media how he wanted to “understand” every move of any significance Bowman made—before he made it. Essentially, he wanted to approve any important move, ostensibly with the help of his “hockey whisperer,” McIsaac.

This, I have been told by sources within the Hawk organization and outside as well, made it next to impossible to do “value for value” trades with the Hawks. Certainly, Bowman has done a few of those (with McDonough’s stamp of approval—don’t kid yourself), but they’ve been driven largely by the salary cap or impending free agency (Brandon Saad to Columbus in 2015, Artemi Panarin for Saad in 2017, Niklas Hjalmarsson to Arizona in that same year), and they haven’t turned out very well.

Oh, finally, who was the assistant GM in charge of the cap during Tallon’s tenure as GM? Right.

Next myth:

“Bowman has drafted well.”

That’s somewhere between debatable and flat out inaccurate. Many fans (and writers) have jumped to point out that Bowman drafted Saad at 43^rd overall in 2011 (the same year he took Mark McNeill at 18^th). And many of these same fans now also rush to point out how Saad is “ a bum,” because “he don’t score no goalsss.” Another metric used in support of Bowman’s “shrewd” draft moves was grabbing Alex DeBrincat at #46 overall in 2016. Meh, ok.

But just for the sake of comparison, Columbus took an arguably slightly better version of DeBrincat, Cam Atkinson (he’s much faster, and just as much a scorer), in the 6^th round in 2008.

The point being, in the 10 years Bowman has been running the Hawks draft, he has not drafted a single elite player, and most of his 1^st round picks are either on other teams or no longer in the NHL. And all those players picked with selections gained during the great talent sell-off of 2010? Pffffffft.

The big myth this year:

“We still think this is a playoff team.”

This was the myth that Bowman and McDonough floated when they made Hall of Fame head coach Joel Quenneville the fall guy for their abject failure as NHL executives, and replaced him with 33 year-old Jeremy Colliton. It’s since been embraced and amplified by Hawk ticket reps. Leave it to McDonough to completely miss on the gravitas necessary to coach storied veterans with all kinds of achievements in the pro game, in favor of hiring a guy with 5 years of pro coaching experience, 4 in Europe and 1 in the AHL. And this is not an indictment of Colliton, who was clearly put in position to fail. But the calculus that getting decent production out of a team of 21 year olds would translate to the 2018-19 Chicago Blackhawks was just plain stupid. Remember, it was McDonough and Bowman who made the call—and who felt Colliton was the right guy to optimize the performance of their veteran-laden roster.

Another half-truth:

“Bowman needs to go.”

Bowman needs to go, but so does McDonough. Because anyone McDonough hires to “replace” Bowman will just become another extension of the crowded, dysfunctional management apparatus at the top of Hawk hockey operations. I am not a betting man by nature, but I would not hesitate to put several thousand dollars on a wager that, if the Hawks continue to suck the exhaust of the rest of the NHL this season, Bowman’s will be the next body McDonough throws on the fire. But it won’t change anything, unless you believe McDonough can recognize how his style and his choices have contributed to this mess. Don’t bet on that.

Another myth:

“You can’t deal any of these big contracts.”

You can, but it won’t be easy or cheap or popular. It may mean parting with other assets you wanted to keep. It may mean retained salary. It definitely means—as an NHL exec suggested to me a few weeks ago—a new, objective leadership team that isn’t trying to force old narratives, cover their past moves, and delude a fanbase into buying a sub-standard product..

The last myth. Wait, no it’s a mentality.

“But if you trade (insert name here), there goes our (insert function here)”

This is what is keeping this team in the Land of Make Believe—“we can still make the playoffs,” “next year will be better when all our young (tiny, fragile, bad in their own end) defensemen magically matriculate from the NCAA and junior.” Did you watch the Winnipeg Jets absolutely blitzkrieg the Hawks in the first period last night before setting it on cruise the rest of the way? The Jets had to go through a few years of stinking—and drafting a raft of exciting young talent (Josh Morrissey, Nikolaj Ehlers, Patrik Laine, etc) to get where they are now—big, fast, talented, dangerous.

This last bit is also not a myth.

Having been a fan of this team since the mid-70s, I have seen how front office dysfunction, massive egos, bad personnel decisions, and dishonesty with fans can ensure mediocrity—not just year after year but decade after decade.

The Chicago Blackhawks, led by Chairman Rocky Wirtz, need to bite the bullet and clean house from the top down. Soon.

Bring in a Team President who is either a legitimate hockey person, or possessive of an ego that will allow him to get out of the way and let hockey people do their jobs. Followed by a GM with a scouting/playing background. And the right head coach for the roster. In the end, maybe that is Colliton. Maybe not.

Regardless, the chain of decisions and the decisions themselves need to be made the right way, for the right reasons, with painstaking honesty. Or expect things to get worse and stay that way for a long time.

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