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[Report] Blackhawks CEO and President relieved of duties

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As reported by just every media outlet in Chicago, President and CEO John McDonough was fired by owner Rocky Wirtz less than an hour ago.

 

Wirtz cited that the Covid19 pandemic has given time to reassess the organizational strategy and decided that now was the best time to move in another direction.

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This came out of nowhere.  McDonough was very important to the resurgence of the Hawks.  He came from the Chicago Cubs, and he brought with him an avalanche of corporate sponsors, advertising deals, and media contacts.  He was extremely instrumental in getting a deal done with WGN (Cubs home network) to televise Hawks games.  

 

 

No idea why he was fired.

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It should be noted that Rocky Wirtz, the owner of the Blackhawks, named Daniel Wirtz, his own son, as McDonough's replacement.

 

McDonough was the former CEO and President of the Cubs. He'll probably have lots of offers from MLB and NHL teams to take over there operations after his run with the Blackhawks. McDonough is a prominent Chicago figure and could just retire too.

 

Interesting move, likely doesn't get much press coverage if not for it being slow in the world of sports nowadays.

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16 minutes ago, drummerboy said:

I don’t like it.   
McDonough knows his stuff and did a lot for the franchise.  
as a hawks fan... I don’t like it 

Just about every sports talk show and their callers don't like it either.

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25 minutes ago, skolozsy2 said:

Daniel Wirtz, heh.  Funny story.

 

 Daniel Wirtz played goalie as a child in his younger, hockey playing days. Blackhawks goalie at the time, Darren Pang, used to bring Daniel out on the ice after Hawks practices and work with Daniel on basic goaltending fundamentals. Rocky let Darren know he appreciated what he was doing and how much Daniel looked up to him.  So for Christmas, Pang gave Daniel as gifts, his game played trapper and blocker.  Rocky said Daniel was so thrilled that he literally had the equipment in his bed with him that night.  Well, ol' Bill Wirtz wasn't thrilled....not only did he charge Pang for the gloves he gave away, but he also made Pang pay for the new pair too.  Bill Wirtz told Pang he didn't care he gave the gloves to Daniel, he had no right to give away Blackhawks property.   

 

That's Bill Wirtz for you.

No matter how bad Canucks ownership has been. They've never been Bill Wirtz/ Harold Ballard level of bad. 

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17 minutes ago, Ghostsof1915 said:

No matter how bad Canucks ownership has been. They've never been Bill Wirtz/ Harold Ballard level of bad. 

You might not remember Thomas Scallen and Lyman Walters, Minnesota-based operators of Medicor and  the Canucks first owners. 

 

On this day in Canucks history: February 22, 1972. Owners Thomas Scallen and Lyman Walters are charged with the theft of $3,000,000 in club funds. Scallen was sent to prison in 1974. The Club was then taken over by Frank Griffiths who was the next largest share holder.

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2 hours ago, Curmudgeon said:

You might not remember Thomas Scallen and Lyman Walters, Minnesota-based operators of Medicor and  the Canucks first owners. 

 

On this day in Canucks history: February 22, 1972. Owners Thomas Scallen and Lyman Walters are charged with the theft of $3,000,000 in club funds. Scallen was sent to prison in 1974. The Club was then taken over by Frank Griffiths who was the next largest share holder.

Still better than "Boots" Del Biaggio. Or John Spano. 

Edited by Ghostsof1915
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7 hours ago, skolozsy2 said:

As reported by just every media outlet in Chicago, President and CEO John McDonough was fired by owner Rocky Wirtz less than an hour ago.

 

Wirtz cited that the Covid19 pandemic has given time to reassess the organizational strategy and decided that now was the best time to move in another direction.

He's been watching the Jordan documentary.

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43 minutes ago, SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME said:

Kinda surprised Stan Bowman wasn’t fired first (although that may still be coming).

Look what winning/losing can have on an impact on ranking of a GM. Not that long ago, he was considered the best GM of this era.

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1 hour ago, SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME said:

Kinda surprised Stan Bowman wasn’t fired first (although that may still be coming).

There are rumors floating around that the new GM's first order of business is to fire Bowman and Colliton...and part the reason McDonough was fired is because he didn't want to do it himself.  Hard to believe that considering McD had no problem firing Quenneville. 

 

Another rumor is that Eddie Olczyk was being recruited by the new Seattle franchise to be their president, and Wirtz fired McDonough to make room for Eddie as the new President.

 

Others are saying it has to do with the Seabrook surgeries.

 

All are just rumors though, no idea how valid they are.

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Wonder if the Hawks go into a rebuild now. They've got enough solid young pieces to do a quick one. 

 

If Kane waived his NMC he'd garner a huge fortune. Probably alone would complete the rebuild. Besides that Saad could get a return as well. I would keep Toews around.

 

 

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