In a bizarre twist that all began with Alex Zhamnov twisting his right ankle on April 13, Louis Kolb, the Blackhawks’ team doctor for the last 19 years, has resigned.
Kolb, who informed team lawyer Gene Gozdecki of his decision during the first period of Sunday’s playoff game against Colorado, said Monday his resignation was based on an unpleasant phone conversation Saturday night with team owner Bill Wirtz.
Hawks management was “upset” with Kolb because he hadn’t told them until Saturday night that the physician who performed arthroscopic surgery Friday on Zhamnov was the Colorado Avalanche’s team doctor, Andy Parker.
Do the Hawks suspect foul play?
“Absolutely not,” said Gozdecki.
Gozdecki says the resignation was a result of Kolb’s lack of communication with the organization. Kolb says it was Wirtz’s phone call. Wirtz couldn’t be reached for comment, but Gozdecki says he, or someone else, was on the conference calls with Kolb.
Who is to be believed given that dealing with the Hawks is like trying to crack the CIA?
Here’s a little background, according to Kolb:
After Zhamnov sprained his ankle in the meaningless season-finale at Dallas, trainer Mike Gapski called Kolb in Chicago to discuss the injury. It was a high ankle sprain similar to the one that knocked Eric Daze out of the first eight games of the season.
With the playoffs coming, the Hawks could ill afford to lose their top center for one game, let alone eight. Kolb says he wanted Zhamnov to return to Chicago, where he could treat him best.
Gozdecki disputes Kolb on this.
“He never communicated that to management,” he said.
Kolb says he was instructed to fly to Denver, where the Hawks went after the Dallas game.
X-rays of Zhamnov’s ankle were negative, and Kolb relieved pressure on the ankle by drawing blood out of it. He says his advice was to ice the ankle, tape it snuggly and wait it out because ankle sprains take time.
Again, at playoff time, there is no time to heal. Kolb said coach Craig Hartsburg said Zhamnov had to skate. Kolb said if Zhamnov did, he could hurt it again.
Zhamnov skated Tuesday and said the ankle felt really good. That night, Gapski got a call from Zhamnov, who was in a lot of pain because the medication had worn off and the blood had reaccumulated in the ankle.
Wednesday morning more blood was drawn from the ankle and Kolb took Zhamnov to the hospital for another X-ray to make sure he hadn’t missed a small bone chip. Kolb also called Parker for a second opinion. Parker stuck another needle in Zhamnov’s ankle, and for the third time the fluid was bloody, which is consistent with a sprain.
When it was decided surgery was necessary Kolb obtained temporary privileges in Colorado, even though he doesn’t have a license there, but Parker did the surgery.
“Mr. Wirtz had every reason to be concerned.” said Gozdecki. “(Parker is) something we should have been told about.”
Kolb and Parker found a bleeding ligament in Zhamnov’s ankle, the cause of the problems.
Saturday afternoon Kolb got a call from Wirtz, who wanted Zhamnov to be seen by Stuart Levin, a prominent infectious disease specialist. Levin agreed with Kolb’s diagnosis.
Then came the call from Wirtz.
“I’m incompetent, me (Wirtz charged), I’m costing him hundreds of thousands of dollars, why the (expletive), and those were his words, not mine, did I call the Colorado doctor?” Kolb recalled from that conversation.
“Who am I supposed to call? I had sworn (Parker) to secrecy. He did not tell his own team anything about this. I have done this with other teams, and other teams have done it with me. Bill Wirtz is saying (I’m) feeding Colorado information, (I) want us to lose.”
Sunday, Kolb told Gozdecki, what the Hawks could do with their job. The Hawks replaced him with Mark Bowen.
General Manager Bob Pulford said Monday Kolb has been a great team doctor and that “no one is going to question his ability with me.”
Later in the day, when Pulford was asked about Kolb resigning, he said he was shocked and “Bill Wirtz was as shocked as I was.”
Shocking stuff indeed, with Game 4 of the best-of-seven Western Conference playoff series slated for Tuesday night at the United Center.
“From our perspective, we resent Dr. Kolb making these accusations going into Game 4 of an important playoff series,” said Gozdecki. “Maybe he felt he had to resign or would be fired.”
Who knows?
