It's impolite to speak ill of the dead so it's worth remembering that above all, William Wirtz was an extremely successful businessman who gave back generously through his wide-ranging philanthropy.
Wirtz, who died Wednesday morning at age 77, was a powerful individual on many levels as well, but particularly within the NHL's Board of Governors, where his influence was acutely felt for four decades after he took over his family-owned Chicago Blackhawks in 1966. The impact he made on the game during that time is certainly open to debate, but there's just no denying it was a period when a once-great franchise was essentially run into the ground.
No doubt it is coincidence that Wirtz left the scene when a new era seems to be dawning in Chicago. The Blackhawks may have fallen off the league-wide radar as much as in Chicago recently, but the organization has used the time to stockpile several high first-round draft picks, many of whom will be cast into prime-time roles this season alongside an interesting collection of talented veterans.
|
|
| Top pick Patrick Kane is being counted on for early-season minutes. (Getty Images) |
It's an impressive collection of talented young players who fit into a lineup the organization genuinely believes has the ability to seriously compete.
"It's pretty exciting around here now to see all the new guys we brought in and the young guys with so much skill," said forward Martin Havlat. "We definitely believe we are a playoff team now."
That would be a first for Chicago since 2002, when the Blackhawks ended a four-season playoff drought, and a significant step forward for a team that managed just 71 points last season. Chicago had all kinds of problems last season, none more pressing than a dearth of production that left the team with the league's second-worst scoring total. It was so bad that Havlat managed to lead the team in scoring despite missing 26 games with injures.
"We have offense now," said Chicago general manager Dale Tallon. "That's the one thing we've lacked in the last couple of years, but we feel we can compete with anybody."
And right away, presumably, although Tallon said the underlying goal is to build a team that will be in the mix over the long haul. That's why the team signed forwards Robert Lang, Sergei Samsonov and Yanic Perreault over the summer, veterans with good stats on their résumés who will help boost the attack, and hopefully provide the appropriate environment to let young players develop at the right pace.
"Last year, we used 16 first-year pros with all the injuries and replacements and we weren't quite ready," Tallon said. "With the new rules, younger guys can be successful a lot quicker because there's not as much clutching and grabbing and guys don't have to fight through as much for ice position. But we want them to be ready. I don't want to destroy the future to get some early success that might fool some people."
Which means that Kane, a native of Buffalo, N.Y., will get in the first 10 games of the season with the Blackhawks before the team decides whether to exercise a salary-saving option and return him to junior. Toews, who is out until the start of the season with a broken finger, will likely draw a third-line spot at the outset. Barker, 21, seems to have a lock on a job and Skille has a chance, but regardless of the lineup that he opens with next week, coach Denis Savard will have options he missed last season.
"The nice thing is that when you start from the beginning at training camp, you can change everything," said Savard, a franchise icon from his Chicago playing days in the '80s and early '90s who got his first head coaching job last November when Trent Yawney was fired. "When you take over during the season, there's not much you can really do other than tweaking."
For a while, that was enough. Savard took over a faltering team and turned it into a .500 club for about a month, but reality set in and the Blackhawks reverted to their losing ways. They posted a 14-24-2 record, including a 10-game losing streak, over the final 42 games and finished 26th overall in the standings.
"I'm not surprised we played well at the beginning because when there's a new voice in the room, guys are more motivated," Savard said. "But the group we had here wasn't good at handling adversity.
"We could have won maybe six of those 10 we lost in the streak, but we didn't and the guys didn't handle it very well. They were trying, but no matter what I did or said to keep them loose, the mentality of where we were as a team, as a group, that was tough. Now we have brand-new personnel, players with the skill and character to be leaders and to make a difference."
And set a new tone for the future.
"We don't expect our young players to take us to the top right away," Savard said. "Our better, older guys have to do that and the kids will follow. But our younger players are going to make a difference too, and certain games they'll even take over.
"The thing is we're not thinking about next year and the year after that. We're ready to win now. Not everybody believes that now, but by Game 40, people will realize the 'Hawks have turned the corner."
