Is there a little black cloud hanging over the heads of the Chicago Blackhawks?
You’d think after last season’s amazing coming of age for this valued Original Six franchise all would be rosy heading into the 2009-10 season. But they aren’t.
That isn’t to say the Blackhawks are incapable of duplicating last season’s amazing 104-point season and trip to the Western Conference final. But there are a number of little concerns that could all add up to one big headache.
Let’s start with the change of general managers. Nobody would suggest Dale Tallon was perfect, but he did not deserve to lose his job one year after his team improved to 104 points from 88 the year before.
Stan Bowman, the son of legendary coach Scotty Bowman, who works as a consultant with the team, moves into the driver’s seat. Bowman deserves a chance to succeed so we’ll reserve judgment on his appointment. At the end of the day, though, it appears the rumours of a rift in the front office of this emerging franchise are true.
Team president John McDonough has been the golden boy since joining the Blackhawks in 2007 from Major League Baseball’s Chicago Cubs, but his orchestrating the switch of GMs could be the first major mark against his otherwise sparkling resume.
Time will tell.
The team also had a rather unpleasant parting of ways with their top scorer, Martin Havlat, who joined the Minnesota Wild as an unrestricted free agent. Havlat insists he was shoved out the door (at least Tallon was kept in the organization as a senior advisor) and has suggested there was a distinct lack of professionalism attached to his departure.
When it comes to player personnel decisions, teams are free to do as they choose, but they have to know their decisions could reflect poorly on them. Was this any way to treat your best offensive player?
Which leads us to the signing of Marian Hossa. Perhaps the Blackhawks thought signing the gifted right winger would be their automatic ticket to the Stanley Cup final. He did, after all, play in the final last season with the Red Wings as well as the year before with Pittsburgh, losing on both occasions.
Hossa is an excellent two-way player who, at the end of the day, is an upgrade over Havlat. But there are a couple of hitches. For starters he’s injured. He had off-season shoulder surgery and is expected to miss the first few weeks of the season.
Then there’s the small matter of his contract being investigated by the league. Hossa signed a 12-year deal worth $62 million, but it is front-end loaded with $59.3 million being paid out in the first eight years and the final $3.5 million paid over the final four seasons. The NHL is investigating if the deal goes against the spirit of the collective bargaining agreement. If the league rules this to be the case, the Blackhawks could face a monster fine and the loss of draft picks.
There was also the celebrated Patrick Kane taxi saga this past summer. The NHL’s rookie of the year in 2008 was arrested Aug. 9 in the wee hours of the morning in Buffalo. Kane and his cousin, James Kane, were charged with second-degree robbery, fourth-degree criminal mischief and theft of services for allegedly assaulting a cab driver in a dispute over their fare.
Kids make mistakes, no question about that. And most don’t make international headlines, but that is the case when you are a high-level player in the NHL. He should be given a mulligan on this one, but you have to hope, at the very least, this episode will affect his decision-making process moving forward.
Another huge concern is the team’s goaltending. With Nikolai Khabibulin departed for Edmonton, the starter’s job falls to Cristobal Huet. Yikes! Huet has enjoyed a certain level of success in his five-year NHL career with Los Angeles, Montreal, Washington and now the Blackhawks, but he has done absolutely nothing to suggest he can be the No. 1 goaltender on a winning team.
Finally, the Hawks got more bad news this week when it was announced agitating winger Adam Burish would be lost to the club for six months after blowing out his knee. His loss will most certainly be felt.
There is every chance in the world the Blackhawks will be a very competitive team this season and they could challenge for another berth in the Western Conference final. But it would be foolhardy to ignore an unhealthy number of concerns facing this team.
