Blackhawks 2007 = Business As Usual Unfortunately

Post by **Minstrel** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 7:04 pm

With all the surprise of seeing the sun come up in the morning Kyle Calder and his new 2.9 million dollar arbitrator awarded contract have been dealt to Philly. The second that ruling came down I'm sure Kyle started pricing moving companies...

So my two favorite Hawks players have both been moved right no Blackhawks schedule; they're just about to hit their prime which means hit their prime earning years too and good ole Dollar Bill Wirtz wants none of that. I'm sure Dale wasn't picturing moving Bell and Calder to get Havlat but in effect that's what he had to do because of ye ole bottom line. Well, you watch what a line of Bell-Thornton-Cheechoo does in San Jose or how Calder fits on the wings with Philly young stud centers. These are guys team would kill for and fans will love; they're young, hungry and talented. Gritty tough kids that never take a shift off and lead by example. I'm actually happy for them to get their releases from the Hockey Hell they have lived through, I'm sure they feel like they are about 40 years old instead of 26 and 27.

Now, are either Teemu Selanne or Rick Nash? No... but they both have clocked in at around the 30 goal level by pure effort only playing with a neverending cast of old broken down veterans and kids that should be playing 2nd or 3rd line in the AHL.

As usual the 'talk' is that they addressed a team need which is the line we always get fed for why players are dealt when the real issue is the team need served here was keeping the current and potential budgets in line. It's nice to have Smolinki and Handzus; they fit in with the Wirtzian Dynasty Hawk Holy Grail; play enough defense to win enough games to sneak into that last playoff spot and earn that sweet sweet playoff bonus cash. That is all this team is ever designed to do.

thecoolstuff · Post by **thecoolstuff** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 1:03 am

Ok, why is money always the main goal of the blackhawks?(instead of capturing the stanely cup) I've seen many analysis talking about profit is the most important thing for the hawks. But why? I mean, I know that every sports team owner wants to make more $$ but why is the blackhawks doing it so obviously?

please explain.

Post by **inSTAALed** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 2:00 am

Their owner

Post by **Shadd666** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 1:02 am

Is anyone told Hawks' owners that hockey is a sport?...

Post by **inSTAALed** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 2:08 am

I'm sure they have, but listening is most likely their problem

Post by **Minstrel** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 2:16 am

Our owner is an old fool billionaire; he sees the team like he sees a luxury Yacht or a lakeside mansion... it's more about having something that only the richest people in the world can have. He honestly doesn't care about how much money he makes as long as he does make money. He pays nothing for the team to play at the United Center because he owns his part of it as well as his portion of the concessions, he owns the exculsive distribution of all alchohol in the UC (no matter who plays there including concerts etc.) as that is his main business the liquor distribution business. He also owns a very high majority percentage of the parking around the UC. All of that gains him extra premium bonuses if the UC hosts a playoff round, to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars...

Wirtz always has taken the approach and been quoted as such that "I always feel that the players should pay us for the priveledge of being a Blackhawk" and that is how he approaches contracts. He was one of the key owners that lead the owners vs the union battles back in the day. He still feels like it is the 1960s and he gets particularly upset when players want to be compensated for their performances, and taking the Hawks to arbitration no matter the reward signs your ticket out of here. That's how we knew Calder was gone.

thecoolstuff · Post by **thecoolstuff** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 5:40 am

Wow, no offence whatsoever, but doesnt it suck being a Blackhawks fan knowing that every year the team will have a slim chance of winning the Stanley Cup or even make it into the playoff? No wonder the Hawks have problem selling tickets... If Vancouver has an owner like this, there will be riot none stop until the owner is assassined or something. How do people in Chicago still keep their loyalty to their team? Now those are true hockey fans!

Post by **Minstrel** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 6:35 am

thecoolstuff wrote:How do people in Chicago still keep their loyalty to their team? Now those are true hockey fans!

Basically that's the only reason

we don't get a lot of poser or bandwagon Hawks fans

It is however why I gave up writing for ESPN about the Hawks after 3 years; spending three-four hours per game night watching or listening (on AM radio) to the game and then having to try to 'report' on the players performances and potential/explain playtime decisions etc was just too darn much after three years even for me. So, now if they are home versus Phoenix I don't feel required to listen to the game on AM radio.

People are always stunned when I say that they probably saw the game but I live 5 minutes from the UC (as I used to, I live further north now) and was blacked out. This would happen if a Hawks game was picked up on ESPN2; you could see it anywhere in the world that gets ESPN2 but not in a bar accross the street from the actual physical location of the contest.

I would usually start with something like "Wow, did you see that Vancouver game last night? If you did you don't live in Chicago!" This is one of the long-time sagas of Wirtz' regime and it shows what I mean about he doesn't care how much money he makes as long as he makes money and does things his own way. Wirtz owns the home television rights for the Blackhawks.

In the verrry early 80's; back when cable was in it's infancy and maybe two or three people per suburban block actually had cable he pulled the hoem games from UHF. Wirtz proposed 'HawkVision' which was a package of all home games via this new cable thing as PPV for like $12 per home game but it was like CenterIce you had to buy the full package or nothing... and it was too expensive/not available enough to make money. He cancelled it and refuses to show home games ever since... ESPN, NBC and OLN have national contracts so he can't block display of those games, at most one a year or so to the Chicago audience but every other home game is AM radio only coverage in the Chicago broadcast area (including CenterIce unless you have it hacked to think you live somewhere else).

His "reason" remains, as reaffirmed prior to last year when a lot of "New NHL, new focus on bringing fans back to the game, what about those home games?" pressure was being put on, "Newspapers don't give away their product for free, neither do we. We also do this to protect the investment of our Season Ticket Holders, why should people who haven't paid to support the team get to see games for free? If you want to see the game come on down." Last I hear those protected investments total under 2500 which is just criminal since the majoity of those are business clients who alone should nab 10k or so in the nations third largest city (after NY and LA)!

If you do go to a game you will something even more depressing than the on-ice product; you will see the scoreboard 'movie' before games containing franchise highlights, video of famous Hawks etc contains footage of the team's last Stanley Cup win. Foootage that is in very grainy black and white. Run that through your processors; the last time the Hawks won it all color TV didn't exist.

This is also why I say being a Hawks fan is more of a disease there is no cure for than an enjoyable passtime... the best you can do is find a support group to deal with the rage, frustration and depression. Yeah, it sucks rocks.

Post by **Shadd666** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 6:40 pm

It always sucks when sport teams are owned by people who don't love sport and who don't care about their team... Hawks are a "good" example of that...

You just have to pray for Writz to have a car/jet crash...

Or try to put pressure on him via the press...that kind of guys never like to be treated like loosers in the medias... So a recurrent newspaper attack against the incapacity of Wirtz to do anything good with the Hawks might change some things...not sure either...

thecoolstuff · Post by **thecoolstuff** » Tue Aug 08, 2006 1:56 am

Third largest city in the USA and local pubs dont even broadcast their home hockey team?!...brutal just brutal. What do they play then? basketball?

How come no one in Chicago is standing up against this tyranny? This is unimaginable in Canada. Now I know why hockey isnt popular as other sports in the states, its because of some owners! If hockey is going to thrive in US, owners like Wirtz should not allow to own a franchise. I wish the NHL or at least someone can do something about this. I'm sure if the hawks is managed properly they can be one of the highest income teams in the league!

Post by **Minstrel** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 9:06 pm

I've split this sorry tale off into it's own thread but would liek to pre-emptively mention that the Hawks are apparently about to trade Khabibulin'n salary as well. No I don't have any source for that beside that it would be typical Hawks.

The reason I say this though is the recent signing of Sebastian Caron. The team has already signed Patrick Lalime in the offseason so why bring in Caron to back up Khabibulin and Lalime? It just don't add up

Last year they didn't sign a veteran backup for Khabibulin claiming they believed in one of the 'kids' to get the backup job done and now this year they've signed two backups to Nik?? Yeah... sure, it's just like them to sign extra players to the roster.

So to me this looks like the first step to them dealing Khabibulin and his contract in the continuing adjustments to compensate for paying to bring in Havlat.

Get ready for the "We just believe in Patrick (Lalime) to regain the form he showed with the Senators a few years ago and believe that he can provide us with play worthy of a #1 goaltender, he's really impressed us so far and we have no problem relying on him [and his magnitudes smaller contract] in the upcoming season. We're sorry that Nik didn't work out with the team but Player X (insert name of naff old veteran and/or AHL Lifer aquired in the deal here) is a great fit for our club and we're very happy to have him."

Post by **E5150_ca** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 12:58 am

Minstrel wrote:I've split this sorry tale off into it's own thread but would liek to pre-emptively mention that the Hawks are apparently about to trade Khabibulin'n salary as well. No I don't have any source for that beside that it would be typical Hawks.

The reason I say this though is the recent signing of Sebastian Caron. The team has already signed Patrick Lalime in the offseason so why bring in Caron to back up Khabibulin and Lalime? It just don't add up Last year they didn't sign a veteran backup for Khabibulin claiming they believed in one of the 'kids' to get the backup job done and now this year they've signed two backups to Nik?? Yeah... sure, it's just like them to sign extra players to the roster.

So to me this looks like the first step to them dealing Khabibulin and his contract in the continuing adjustments to compensate for paying to bring in Havlat.

Get ready for the "We just believe in Patrick (Lalime) to regain the form he showed with the Senators a few years ago and believe that he can provide us with play worthy of a #1 goaltender, he's really impressed us so far and we have no problem relying on him [and his magnitudes smaller contract] in the upcoming season. We're sorry that Nik didn't work out with the team but Player X (insert name of naff old veteran and/or AHL Lifer aquired in the deal here) is a great fit for our club and we're very happy to have him."

Maybe they've been playing alotta EHM, Caron is HOT in game.

Post by **Shadd666** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 1:15 am

E5150_ca wrote:Maybe they've been playing alotta EHM, Caron is HOT in game.

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLL

Nice one!

However,if they prefer play to EHM than doing the same job in real life,i agree to exchange my place with their,give them my old computer and take their salary

Minstrel,do you wanna be my head coach? lol