Toews says bandwagon fans are welcome aboard
Other than Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby going head-to-head in the Eastern Conference, the Blackhawks have become the NHL's second biggest story in the playoffs.
For the second day in a row Tuesday morning, the Hawks' dressing room was nearly jammed to capacity with reporters and TV crews soaking up every word these young and likable guys had to say.
"It's exciting and all part of the experience," captain Jonathan Toews said.
When Toews returned home from Vancouver on Sunday, he said his answering machine was filled with messages.
"You get a lot of messages and phone calls from tons of people that are watching, and it's pretty awesome," Toews said. "A lot of non-conventional hockey fans are coming around to the Hawks, and we don't mind. If they're bandwagon fans we'll take them anyway. It's a lot of fun to have the city behind us like this."
More and more people are seeing the Hawks as a team that might go a long way in the playoffs, which is talk coach Joel Quenneville is trying to keep out of his dressing room.
"That's a work in progress," Quenneville said. "I like the enthusiasm to maybe think like that, but at the same time we realize how challenging and how tough is it, and we have some work to do.
"You don't want to get to far ahead of yourself. I like to look at the next game and the next day, and that's basically how we all should look at it."
The x-factor: Now that the playoffs are here, senior advisor Scotty Bowman is with the Hawks full-time, and Joel Quenneville said he would be crazy not to seek the advice of the greatest coach of all-time.
"Scotty puts everything in perspective," Quenneville said. "He's seen it all and been through it all, and he's got some good instincts in a lot of situations in all aspects of your thought process as a coach and as an organization.
"There's a lot of things that he'll bring up that you can discuss and look at or consider. I just think he makes the approach here a little bit more on an even keel when you have Scotty around before games, during games and after games."
Thinking about it: Once in a while, Joel Quenneville will bring up the idea of moving Dustin Byfuglien back to defense, his natural position.
If Quenneville is at least thinking about it, then it certainly would seem to be an option for the future.
"Everybody values a big player, initially a big defenseman that can move like him," Quenneville said. "We were still entertaining this year that option of putting him on the back end, and who knows what's going to happen going forward. There's still a long way for him to reach his max."