Hey everyone,
Just a heads up, I will be taking a few days off this week and sneaking away for a little vacation. The family and I need a change of scenery, so we're heading to the cottage.
The wifi is not very good there, so I have asked Theo (aka AEL_Fox) to guest write a couple of blogs for me this week to help out.
Luckily for me, Theo accepted and double lucky for me (and you), he's put together a couple of really strong blogs; I think you're really going to enjoy his writing and perspective.
Theo, over to you…
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There have been nuggets in the news stream -- recently and over the past year -- about a movement toward youth and innovation within the Blackhawks organization.
Last week, Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times shared how Stan Bowman is waiting until the off season for a "reshaping of the team" yet alluded to a shift away from "supplementing their aging core with equally aging free agents" instead aiming to "innovate and change some things."
( Source: Chicago Sun Times)
Some of this evolution towards youth and innovation could be with the roster and play on the ice but some of this could be with management and off-ice engagement as well.
What does this all mean? Below are some perspectives to consider.
To break things up, I will discuss the players and their on-ice performance in the next blog later in the week. This blog will focus on management and community engagement.
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MANAGEMENT
With the end of the John McDonough era, how much does a younger executive in 43-year old Danny Wirtz factor in? Does he shed the interim tag as team president?
Or are there other options as
Tyler's last blog discussed? Is the presidency split into two roles? Does Wirtz fill one of these roles or slide in somewhere else? Who are other candidates?
Again, Tyler elaborated on possibilities.
There's already a 35-year old behind the bench in Jeremy Colliton who NHL veteran coach
Marc Crawford (59) has in the past remarked as being innovative.
"Jeremy has an extremely bright and innovative mind and I am totally impressed by his presence and enthusiasm," Crawford said during an interview after being hired as an assistant coach.
The other assistant coaches Sheldon Brookbank and Tomas Mitell are in their 30's, albeit each are one year away from the big 4-0.
Save for Jimmy Waite who is 51, a majority of the player development staff are in their 30's and 40's, i.e. Mark Eaton, Yanic Perreault, Derek Plante, Mikael Samuelsson, Peter Aubry, Brian Campbell, and Chris Kunitz.
Going beyond age brackets is how the coaching philosophy is evolving to fit the modus operandi of younger players. In a
recent Hockey News article , Colliton discussed what today's players crave.
"Players want to have input," Colliton said. "The buy-in you get is a direct result of building that relationship of the feeling they have in having a voice and that creates trust in the plan."
Kunitz took that notion a step further using an example of Phil Kessel during their time together on the Penguins.
"He's an elite player," Kunitz said. "But he didn't do well with 'go do this, go do that.' He was a 'why?'guy. He wanted to know why he had to do something. And if you could show it to him and give it to him, he was at his best."
Crawford corroborated Kunitz by admitting to his failure to evolve with the times. He could no longer rely on the "coach says, players do" strategy.
"I didn't recognize those changes until it was too late," Crawford said. "I hadn't adapted."
As you may have guessed, the first part of Crawford's statement was referencing allegations of his physical mistreatment of players in the past.
Despite any transgressions, Crawford took many years to soul search in order to be a better human being. This dedication to self-betterment was a major reason why the Hawks didn't swiftly kick him to the curb.
That devotion to evolve as a person in order to be an effective coach in today's NHL seems to be a good fit for the new direction that the Hawks look to be headed.
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With all of that said, what exactly makes Colliton innovative
Furthermore, does he have any favorable results to show for it?
Or to put it differently, is the direction that he and Bowman are taking the team the right way?
At least based on what I've read on the message boards, it has been a mixed bag on whether the results have been good or bad with the balance tipping more towards the negative side.
At the start of the season, there was much criticism for Colliton putting little stock in line combinations and defense pairs.
Instead, he believes that each player should be able to play with anyone as long as everyone sticks to the systems in place and trust one another to be where they're supposed to be on the ice.
Was this a problem, though? It was arguable whether the players knew the system enough to execute it effectively. Were they thinking too much rather than reacting and playing on instinct?
What about that man-and-a-half defensive strategy? Was it the system that was flawed or did the system not match the players' strengths and weaknesses?
Then there's the question of whether the players trust the process. Colliton is right that having players share their input is crucial in today's game. But that is just part of the equation.
Colliton also stated that giving players a voice cultivates buy-in and trust in the plan. While the younger players may have bought in, it wasn't a walk in the park for the veterans especially the core.
Yet, this doesn't need to be a mutually exclusive scenario either. It is possible for players to be vocal about how they feel about systems while also doing their darndest to play their part to execute.
Innovation is futile without adaptation. No matter the direction the team goes, can the players adapt to the coaches, and can the coaches adapt to the players?
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COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
The pandemic has and will continue to have an impact on the innovation that is now necessary for pro sports leagues and franchises to thrive again as a collective form of entertainment and collective form of employment.
Society is going stir crazy as we thirst for live entertainment to bring back enjoyment and excitement. Simultaneously, jobs are also on the line from players to coaches to executives to arena workers.
Protecting the players and personnel as well as the media and fans from an invisible danger is uncharted territory yet is a literal life-and-death necessity. As that saying goes, though, "Necessity is the mother of invention."
Another critical change to the culture of how the Blackhawks organization -- or any other NHL team for that matter -- operates is making a concerted effort to ensure hockey truly is for everyone as the
NHL's "Hockey is for Everyone" , slogan for diversity and global engagement proclaims.
This slogan has been challenged by not just Black players but also players who were allegedly hazed, bullied, harassed, and assaulted in juniors as the
class-action lawsuit filed by Daniel Carcillo and others" , asserts.
Innovation in this case is more monumental by way of disruptive shifts to do what is right no matter how a player identifies or what they have experienced in their lifetime due to their identities.
Half of the battle is genuine engagement with local communities, especially those with limited access to watch, learn, and play hockey, in addition, to help them feel welcomed and be treated respectfully and compassionately no matter how one engages with the sport.
The other half of the battle is not relying on just the Black players to be the ambassadors or the Daniel Carcillos to be the trailblazers to speak up for those brutalized to silence. Allyship and advocacy comes from everyone from the top down.
This is not an easy task but thinking innovatively can be a significant part of the solution.
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Thanks for reading!
Theo (aka AEL_Fox)
Chicago Blackhawks Blogger • 
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