What the Blackhawks have done isn’t easy. It is, in fact, among the most difficult feats in professional sports.
For the first time since 1969, our heroes put it all together this winter and avoided the National Hockey League playoffs. A team really must be some kind of awful to accomplish such a thing, and that’s the upside of this funk.
The Hawks, after years of skating in circles, finally have an identity. They can be officially known as brutal.
In recent seasons, the Hawks have tried to sell the notion that they’re rough and tough. False. They get pushed around from coast to coast and particularly in between. Visiting teams used to fear coming to Chicago. No more.
The Hawks also have operated on this myth that they’re smart and disciplined. Wrong. They are as soft in the head as they are in the spine. Teams don’t yield so many goals in the last minute and lose so many games on the last shot by coincidence or because of bad officiating.
The Hawks also like to think that their attitude and character will make up for what they lack in raw talent. Bolshoi. The Hawks flunk chemistry, they have an absence of leadership, and they’re pretty boring too.
The last time the Hawks achieved mission implausible and missed the postseason, there weren’t as many other terrible teams around. The Hawks actually had a winning record in 1968-69, but finished last anyway. The next season, energized by rookies such as Tony Esposito, Keith Magnuson and Cliff Koroll, the Hawks finished first.
Now President Bill Wirtz and Senior Vice President Bob Pulford are promising to take a similar long, hard look at the situation. The Hawks are the most profitable NHL franchise, but no playoffs means Dollar Bill must perform one of his most odious tasks–issuing hefty ticket refunds.
Wirtz and Pulford won’t have to hire Scotland Yard to discover the problem, because they’ve presided over an era of attrition during which not one but two superior goalies–Dominik Hasek and Ed Belfour–virtually were given away.
If the Hawks were so deep at that position–they weren’t–surely they could have secured some warmer bodies in return. But that has been the trend. Jeremy Roenick wanted too much and talked too much, so the Hawks shipped him out. Fine. If he had to go, he had to go.
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In exchange, however, the Hawks received Alex Zhamnov, who commands about $3 million per annum for the privilege of picking his spots. Some nights he plays with passion, some nights he plays with very little interest, some nights he doesn’t play, period.
When the second most productive point scorer on your feeble offense is as inconsistent and unreliable as Zhamnov, you deserve to struggle. The Hawks have nobody to pressure him out of a job. The roster is thin. Don’t be fooled by a team that sent seven stars to the Winter Olympics. The Hawks missed the playoffs on merit.
After Wirtz and Pulford complete their big investigation, they could fire more general managers and more coaches and maybe even more team doctors. That’s the way it’s usually done. Even Mike Keenan got the gate, albeit after he was allowed to dismantle a 106-point team.
Or Wirtz and Pulford could take the wiser approach and hire some players. Apparently, Brett Hull is a lock to jump as a free agent from St. Louis. That should help the Hawks rejoin the playoff fun. It can be done quickly. Compare last year’s out-of-it Boston Bruins with this year’s.
But if Wirtz and Pulford aim higher–or even permit Bob Murray to fix the mediocrity he inherited–the Hawks could pull an even more difficult trick than this season’s vanishing act. By the year 2000 or so, when all those front-running fans have abandoned the Bulls, the Hawks could be popular again.
Hockey is a sleeping giant in Chicago, awaiting a wakeup call. Perhaps that quiet playoff cash register will be a silent alarm.