Blackhawks Ownership Turning Team Into Immediate Contender

Dale Tallon, John McDonough, and Rocky Wirtz should be proud.

The Chicago Blackhawks' general manager, president, and chairman, respectively, have brought a franchise back from the dead.

Okay, it may be a little too early to anoint the Blackhawks as 2008-09 Stanley Cup Champions just yet. But the work done by the front office to bring the 'Hawks from being ranked in a fan poll in ESPN the Magazine as the worst franchise in the four major sports in America (baseball, basketball, football, and hockey) only three years ago has been phenomenal.

The sad and morbid truth of the matter is that the team's uprising began on September 26 of last year when former team chairman, Bill Wirtz, passed away.

Since the elder Wirtz's death, son Rocky has begun a transformation that has brough estranged fans back to the team they loved, all while attracting new and younger fans.

The transformation, which began towards the end of the Bill Wirtz era with the drafting of young sensations Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, hit it's highest point to date this past season when the young 'Hawks provided flashes of brilliance in finishing with 88 points, only three out of the eighth playoff spot in the West.

And it continued Tuesday, with the signings Brian Campbell, the top defenseman on the free agent market, and Cristobal Huet, a much needed upgrade at goalie.

The money Tallon agreed to shell out, $7.1 million a year over eight to Campbell and $5.6 million a year over five to Huet, is a sum unheard of by the Blackhawks over the years, as fans are more accustomed to seeing big-name free agents leave, rather than arrive.

But the signings are just a piece of the huge transformation project the team has undergone under the new front office's reign.

To say that Bill Wirtz wasn't the most fan-friendly would be an understatement. The late chairman did the unheard of, blacking out local broadcasts of home games under the mentality that if fans wouldn't buy a ticket why should they give it to them for free on TV?

Last month Rocky Wirtz announced a new TV deal that would broadcast every single regular-season game between two Chicago stations.

But with all the front office can do to bring fans back, the most important factor is simple: win.

The 'Hawks have only reached the playoffs once in the past 11 years, a short-lived 2002 appearance, and haven't reached the Stanley Cup Finals since being swept by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1992. And their last Stanley Cup Championship was 48 years ago and counting.

So is it possible that the 'Hawks can become the contenders we all forgot they can be? Kane and Toews are future NHL stars, and they have a front office that is prepared to keep that core group of stars together, something that wasn't the case with the likes of Roenick, Amonte, or Chelios, among others.

Campbell should provide an immediate defensive impact that is badly needed, and Huet is an upgrade over the past-his-prime Nikolai Khabibulin.

The 'Hawks will contend for the playoffs, that's for sure. But can they get over the hump and bring the team back to being regular contenders?

One thing's for sure, the front office thinks they can.