Imrem: For Blackhawks, it's all or nothing

OK, Blackhawks, go out and win something this postseason.

No excuses, please.

It's been what, two years since you won a Stanley Cup?

You're due.

Actually, you're overdue.

Just due, uh, do it.

The Hawks are on perpetual probation. Anytime they look like anything but the best team in the NHL, they have to explain themselves to an officer of the court of public opinion.

Other Chicago sports teams can only hope to become that fortunate: So good that they're always expected to be better.

The Hawks, who begin the playoffs tonight at Nashville, brought this on themselves. They have been too successful, won too much, raised expectations too high.

Two championships in five seasons in a famished sports town like Chicago aren't enough.

Optimism has returned to our baseball teams, the Bears are encouraged by new leadership, the Bulls are whole again ... but they're all still merely trying to become what the Hawks already are.

The Cubs and Bears recently hired a successful veteran manager and head coach, respectively, the way the Hawks hired Joel Quenneville seven seasons ago.

Sustained success that others talk about? The Hawks are in the midst of it.

Now the problem is that the Hawks are expected to be what the Bulls were in the 1990s and be much more than the Bears were in the 1980s.

That's both a curse and blessing entering the playoffs: The Hawks have to be great every season if not every game in every season.

No, wait. That isn't all they have to be. They have to be champions, so it's time now to step on it.

Entering this postseason with an uncharacteristic four-game losing streak is uncomfortable. It isn't good enough. Third place in the division isn't good enough.

SI.com ranked the Hawks eighth among NHL playoff teams. Not good enough. The Hawks are slight favorites against the Predators in the first round. Not good enough.

Maybe it would be in Florida or Vancouver but it isn't here. Not anymore. Not for a franchise expected to win now and again and again.

Hawks' chairman Rocky Wirtz and president John McDonough have to prove again that they can extend the winning culture.

General manager Stan Bowman has to prove he still can make player acquisitions that maintain the Hawks as legitimate title contenders.

Joel Quenneville has to prove again that his players still listen to him and center/captain/all-star Jonathan Toews has to prove again that he can inspire his teammates.

Patrick Kane has to prove again that he can play at an MVP level as he returns from a broken collarbone. Corey Crawford has to prove again that he is a championship goaltender. Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa have to prove again that they are premier goal scorers.

All of them, from top to bottom on the Hawks, still talk like champions should, and now it's time to back it up.

The Hawks have to perform well every night now. If they win, they have to do it conclusively. If they lose, they have to do it impressively nevertheless.

Why? Because that's what dynasties do. Letdowns are forbidden. Disappointments are unacceptable.

So, yes, the Blackhawks brought this upon themselves. It's a burden other Chicago teams are striving to bear.

The time has arrived, Blackhawks, to go out and win a third Stanley Cup in six seasons.

No excuses.

mimrem@dailyherald.com