Rocky, Blackhawks continue to get job done

A four-man crew from EPIX, the television channel filming all the behind-the-scenes stuff for the "Road to the Winter Classic" series, waited patiently as Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz prepared to make the walk from his seat in the 100 section of the United Center to his office across the concourse.

Seconds later, Wirtz pulled open a curtain, strode confidently across the white tile toward his office, closed the door and …

"Perfect," the director said.

One take. No fuss, no muss.

That's what is called getting the job done, and that's just what Wirtz has been doing since taking over a moribund Blackhawks franchise in October 2007.

Two Stanley Cups, four Western Conference final appearances, packed houses every night …

In a recent survey by Sports Business Daily, Wirtz, arguably the most popular owner in town, was named the hands-down winner in the category of most effective team owner in the NHL.

Wonder where the folks up in Lake Forest might rank if a similar poll of NFL owners was conducted?

But we digress.

With the midway point of the season rapidly approaching and only a couple of weeks until the Hawks take on the Washington Capitals in the Winter Classic at Nationals Park, Wirtz sat down with the Daily Herald to talk all things Hawks … and beyond.

Q. Do you ever sit back and go, you know what? I am a pretty good owner?

A. I don't know about that (laughs). The best compliment I could get is that when you turn this over to the next generation of the Wirtz family, you're going to leave them something in better shape than you got it in.

If I've done that, then I've done my job.

And hopefully train the next generation - which we're doing now - to take over at the appropriate time.

Q. Are you going to introduce that next generation to us?

A. No, but we've got plenty in the works.

Q. Commissioner Gary Bettman recently estimated that next year's salary cap would be around $73 million. Thoughts?

A. I think it's good because he went through the machinations on where the Canadian dollar is, and it's complicated.

There are so many pundits out there looking at mathematical equations, but they don't have all the pieces. It's complicated, but I think he's right.

I like what (general manager) Stan (Bowman) says, that he'll worry about it when he knows the numbers.

Q. Nothing ever fazes Stan, does it?

A. No. I've never seen a man peel an orange quicker and calmer during a hockey game in my life - and no emotion.

I think after we won the Stanley Cup, he smiled.

Q. Patrick Kane is absolutely lighting it up on the ice. How proud are you of him as a person?

A. What I'm proud of is, for example, is if he's asked to do an interview after the game or to talk to someone like a child who's struggling, there's never even a question - and that's something the Blackhawks staff knows.

Because what he'll do is give back and never ask for recognition. It's something we're all proud of. He's just a quality, quality person.

Chicago embraces people like that because they're very, very genuine.

Q. Does it bother you at all that the White Sox and Cubs fourth starters might make as much as Kane and Jonathan Toews next season?

A. If hockey had the TV money baseball has, that wouldn't be the case.

The starting pitcher used to be making $5 million and now he makes $20 million to $25 million, but I'll put the quality of our individuals up against anyone.

Q. If money and logistics weren't an issue, where would you hold your dream Winter Classic?

A. I think either at Notre Dame or in Green Bay.

Notre Dame would be good because we have training camp there, and it's just neat and you get a lot of people.

And obviously, wherever you play, if you play the Red Wings, it would be ideal. (Smiles).

Q. The NHL's arrow seems to be pointing up. What needs to be done to keep it that way?

A. I think we're exposing more people to the game all the time. Attendance is going up. Both the Winter Classic and the Stadium Series are doing well.

In Canada with the Rogers TV deal (12 years, $5.2 billion), that will help because they'll get a lot of exposure and it will give U.S. television something to really look forward to innovation-wise.

I think television is going to be a big part of this.

Q. You guys are so progressive in allowing all these behind-the-scenes cameras in the lead-up to the Winter Classic. Although Joel seems a little wary, yet accepting.

A. Well, there's a certain word, one that we won't discuss now, that is his favorite word when we lose. I can't imagine they'll have that in there (laughs).

We haven't had too many losses this year, but we have had some bad periods.

Q. On a totally different topic, is traffic the reason why you moved game times at the United Center back to 7:30 p.m.?

A. It was. John (McDonough) and Jay (Blunk) did a good job tracking how many people were here before the national anthem.

With traffic and security - because we hand-wand everyone - it just takes that much longer to get everyone in. It's helped, and I think quite frankly some of the restaurants around town thanked us too because (the fans) could get a meal in by quarter to 7 p.m. and not miss the game.

Q. I recall a few years ago the team was cranking, the UC was always full, and yet you said the team wasn't making money. How is that going now?

A. We're close. It's something John McDonough cringes over, but we're getting closer all the time.

At the time I said that, we had the second-lowest ticket prices in the league. It's something we've had to be very careful about; we take ticket prices very seriously.

We're getting better, and obviously getting to the later rounds of the playoffs helps, but what most fans don't realize is every round you advance, the league takes so much of a percentage of those playoff tickets.

It's not like the days of old where you kept 100 percent of your own gate.

Q. Speaking of John, I've already heard people say he might be a guy who could help the Bears. His name's always coming up for things like that. Are you expecting him to someday move on to another challenge?

A. He's done a terrific job for the Hawks, and the best compliment you could have is people talking about what he could do for someone else. That's just a great compliment for John, his accomplishments and what he does to build an organization.

When they talk about him that way I'm like a proud father.

Q. Back to admitting you're a good owner. Doesn't it say a lot about you that you had the foresight to go out and snatch him?

A. At the time, and I always kid about it, I was a good salesman. You go from president of the Cubs to president of the Hawks … it might not have been an even trade. (Laughs).

I think people thought John might have been drinking when he talked to me - you know we were at a bar (Champps in Schaumburg). We had Diet Cokes, though.

They said no one sober would do that, but, seriously, he believed what I was saying that we were not going to stand still.

Hindsight is 20-20 … but it worked out.

• Read Mike's Hawks reports on Twitter @dhspellman.