Hawks carry on without Bill Wirtz

For Blackhawks general manager Dale Tallon and coach Denis Savard, it's going to be a hockey season unlike any other they have experienced in their long associations with the team.

That's because owner Bill Wirtz won't be there.

Tallon will miss his daily chats with the boss about hockey in general and about how different Hawks players were doing in particular.

For Savard, the coaches' office won't be the same after games without Wirtz filling it with his larger-than-life presence, offering congratulations following a win or encouragement after a defeat.

But the season must go on, and it'll start Thursday in Minnesota, just three days after Monday's funeral for the man who ran the Hawks for the last 41 years.

Wirtz, 77, died Wednesday after losing his battle with cancer.

"I talked to him last week and it was all about the team, making the team better and committing ourselves to winning and getting a championship," Tallon said. "We discussed that last week and he wanted to know what kind of team we had, were they good in the locker room, were they classy guys, were they caring guys, were they passionate, and I said, yeah, they were.

"I told him it was going to be a fun team, and I told him about the kids, but he was more interested in the overall team instead of the individuals, and that's the way he was."

Tallon said Wirtz was solidly behind the direction the team was taking, building a foundation with draft picks.

"We worked together and communicated on a daily basis," Tallon said. "We discussed the direction we wanted to move in, how we had to rebuild the foundation of the team, and I had his total blessing."

That plan is sure to continue when sons Peter and Rocky Wirtz assume ownership of the team, as is expected.

Savard grew especially close with Bill Wirtz through the years and would like nothing more than to honor him by leading the Hawks back to the playoffs.

"It's very unfortunate because we feel our team is on the rise now," Savard said. "He'll be above watching us, but he won't be with us down here, obviously."

With so many of today's Hawks new to the organization, Savard made it a point to talk to his team about Wirtz and what it meant to play for him.

"Like I told some of our players that don't know him like I do, all he would ask is for an effort every night and to make sure you're a class act off the ice and on the ice and to take care of your family," Savard said.

Savard considered canceling practice Wednesday out of respect for Wirtz but decided to go ahead with it.

"Mr. Wirtz would say go on, move on, and let's go get the team ready for Oct. 4," Savard said.

While Wirtz's death was front-page news in Chicago, it also was felt throughout the hockey world, where the Hawks' owner was considered a giant in the industry.

It was Wirtz who helped negotiate the settlement with the World Hockey Association in the late 1970s when the new league threatened the the NHL's existence. He was a major influence in expansion and with helping U.S. hockey reach its present level of excellence in terms of sending players to the NHL.

"He was one of the most important men in all of hockey," said Hawks senior vice president Bob Pulford. "He basically saved the league with the settlement with the WHA.

"He spent 18 years as chairman of the (NHL) Board of Governors. If he wasn't the most powerful man in hockey during that time, he was 1A."