Blackhawks can’t afford to ever be too patient
A week ago today, the public clamor was for everybody associated with the Blackhawks to be fired.
OK, by public clamor I mean the rattle inside my head.
Be gone with them all!
Reassign general manager Stan Bowman. Dismiss head coach Joel Quenneville. Trade half the roster to the North Pole for a slew of seals.
John McDonough? If he doesn’t do something fast, designate him to be the former Hawks president. Rocky Wirtz? If the failures continue, shame him into selling the club to Mark Cuban.
Nothing of the sort happened, of course, and a week later the Hawks have turned a nine-game losing streak into a three-game winning streak.
Sunday, back in the United Center for the first time in nearly a month, the Hawks rallied to beat the Blues 3-1.
“Obviously,” Blues captain David Backes said, “they’ve come off that skid and are playing pretty good hockey.”
Indeed the Hawks are. This was a gutty, gritty victory over statistically the NHL’s best defensive team.
A lucky break helped, the kind the Hawks didn’t get during their losing streak. Overall the word “ugly” was attached to rebound victory No. 3, but the winners weren’t complaining about cosmetics.
“Eventually they gotta go in our favor,” Quenneville said of the breaks balancing out.
The Blues believed they as much lost the game as the Hawks won it. Maybe, but the Hawks could have said that about a few outcomes during their hard times.
All that matters is that suddenly the sentiment around here is, nine-game losing streak? What nine-game losing streak?
“It beats the alternative,” Quenneville said of the 3 straight victories. He added about how the Hawks are playing now, “I like the trend.”
Inaction never is as sexy as action, but the Hawks came out of their downward spiral without drastic personnel moves.
It would be interesting to hear a source inside the Hawks’ organization leak how close Wirtz and McDonough were to panicking last week.
A few more losses and Quenneville would have been wondering what the fallout would be, and when.
A long losing streak is a great study in human behavior and revelation of a boss’ patience threshold.
Wirtz and McDonough can consider the recent bad times as preparation for when a slump extends into double digits and beyond … because next time it might.
Bears ownership and management can ignore fan dissatisfaction because the waiting list for tickets remains lengthy.
The Blackhawks? Well, for all their success the past few years, they still rank last among Chicago’s five major pro sports franchises and the NHL still ranks last among the four major pro leagues.
Wirtz and McDonough rebuilt the Hawks by being responsive to their fan base, which abandoned the team once and just might again.
If a nine-game losing streak ever regresses into an 11-gamer, and then into a 15-of-17er, and then into missing the playoffs …
The Hawks can’t let that happen without at least appearing to feel as much urgency as the folks buying tickets feel.
Everyone in the organization is expendable when the choice is losing employees who helped win a Stanley Cup two years ago or alienating fans paying championship prices for a championship contender two years later.
Last week Wirtz and McDonough had a chance to ponder those options before the next time the Hawks have a lengthy losing streak.
Patience isn’t always a virtue.
mimrem@dailyherald.com