Hawks want things to get started

By Jim den Hollander

Editor, Midwesthockey.info

The downside to playing in the Stanley Cup championship series is the off season must seem short.

Many feel that is a primary reason why there haven’t been a lot of ‘dynasty,’ type teams in recent seasons, although there is some that that three Cups in six seasons has the Chicago Black Hawks on the cusp of that type of identification.

And this off season seems to be getting longer by the day.

Off season moves are one thing. The loss of players like Brandon Saad, Patrick Sharp and Johnny Oduya were rough, but to some extent — other than maybe Saad — expected. The future of the team was a topic of discussion even while the Hawks were marching to the Cup. It was no secret that some tough decisions were going to have to be made.

The Hawks will move past that without as much trouble as some may think. They got some darn good players back in the trades of Saad and Sharp and this could give some of the team’s younger talent its best shot in some seasons to make an impression at training camp this fall. It’s actually a pretty exciting time for the team in that way.

But the team brass can’t be happy with some of the headlines it has seen in recent weeks with names like Patrick Kane and now, Antti Raanta attached to them. In the case of Kane, it seems most of the recent stuff of the possible trade it likely more rumor and writers looking for a headline and Raanta is already gone and the damage is more self inflicted than hurtful to the team, but its still negative press.

The best way to make that kind of stuff go away is to get on with the season I expect. The team is just eight days away from the start of the Prospect tournament in Traverse City and the team’s training camp will likely open right after that. Once those events get underway, the team should have a little more control over the headlines and that is something they are looking forward to  I bet.