Here's a name for Hawks to remember this season

One down, two to go.

It's no secret around the NHL that the Blackhawks have been trying to trick someone into taking Robert Lang, Martin Havlat and Nikolai Khabibulin, so kudos to GM Dale Tallon for moving Lang and even getting a draft pick in return.

Lang was no small headache for coach Denis Savard, as Lang, Havlat and David Koci - the group known as the Czech Republic - were often seen partitioned in the dressing room, speaking in their native tongue.

If the Hawks are stuck with Havlat, at least without Lang - another veteran who didn't care to play in his own end of the ice - Havlat may have to be part of the team this year.

So that's a good start.

It's also, by the way, no secret in NHL circles that Anaheim GM Brian Burke wanted to leave for Toronto this summer and may still have his eye on that situation.

But if that option is gone at the end of the 2008-09 season, when Burke's contract is finished in Anaheim, don't be shocked if the Hawks make a play.

New boss John McDonough probably didn't know Burke when he took the job, but we're told he knows him now and is fully aware that an extraordinary opportunity may await with Burke's contract about to run out.

McDonough does not pretend to be a "hockey guy,'' and the Hawks still have no one under McDonough to oversee hockey in a president's type role.

While McDonough has focused on building a business operation from scratch, there needs to be a chain of command up to Rocky Wirtz on the hockey side.

For the last decade, it has been the inmates running the inmates.

Burke as president would be the ideal No. 3 to owner Wirtz and CEO McDonough.

Burke never has been, and never would, shy from firing and hiring.

It would be quite a change on the West Side, as Burke is not about making friends and kissing babies. He's about physical play, standing up in your own building, and winning.

He's just the kind of front man hockey people respect and, better yet, some dislike.

The Hawks have been awfully cute for about the last 10 months, and Burke would change that perception immediately.

The Hawks remain one of the softest and smallest teams in the league, and Burke would solve that problem instantly.

The Hawks are one of the youngest teams in the NHL, severely lacking veteran character, and Burke would alter the chemistry before his nameplate was glued on the door.

Despite the awkward, summer-long victory parade down Michigan Avenue, the team hasn't sniffed the playoffs since 2002 and has participated in the postseason once since 1997.

Trumpeting last season's improvement as a grand achievement and reason for ticker tape is an odd way of teaching young players what genuine success is in the NHL, a perpetration of a sham Burke would never allow.

Now, based on how good they've repeatedly told us they are, we fully expect the Hawks to win a minimum of two playoff series next spring. So with progression like that, no one need fear for their jobs even if Burke comes aboard.

Barring a surprising extension, Burke will be available, and the Hawks would be crazy to look the other way next spring.

Think Curt Fraser in a suit, and remember the sight of Bobby Smith swimming in red.

Playoffs or not, Burke could only benefit an organization that is nearing a half-century without a Stanley Cup.

He won his 15 months ago.

Camp begins shortly, and the expectations are very, very, high, so let the games begin, on and off the ice.

And keep at least one eye on the front office in Anaheim.

brozner@dailyherald.com