When Alpo Suhonen looks at the Blackhawks and contemplates the upcoming season, the new coach sees a lot of parallels to when he was producing and directing such theatrical works as “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” back in his native Finland.
“It’s the same kind of process,” said Suhonen. “You put the team of performers together. You get a good atmosphere and good balance.
“The script is not the play; the system is not the players.
“The actors make the play; the players make the game.
“Though they are very different, there are a lot of similarities [between the theater and the game of hockey].”
The team that Suhonen has taken over has been panned by the critics for three consecutive years because of its inability to make the playoffs.
The cast is not much different than the one that finished last season a distant third in the Central Division and 11th among the 13 teams in the Western Conference. Anaheim, the bottom team in the Pacific Division, had five more points.
This season’s addition of expansion franchises from Columbus in the Central Division and Minnesota in the Northwest Division provide a window of opportunity for the Hawks to significantly increase their point total. If they do, they have a chance of squeezing into the playoffs.
General Manager Mike Smith, who handpicked Suhonen to bring good theater back to Chicago hockey lovers, says it can be done. He also knows it won’t be easy in 2000-2001.
“Parity is a reality,” Smith said. “You’re always working short term and long term. Short term, you’ve got to be concerned about putting a good product on the ice. Long term, you’ve got to be concerned with the product down the way.
“We need to get better and bigger. Take two tight ends who are equal in ability–if one is 6 feet 2 inches and 225 pounds and the other is 6-6 and 250, you’ll take the guy who is 6-6 and 250.
“But I think it would be a mistake to get bigger first and then try to get better.
“It’s important for us to have a good year. Over the course of this season our team will be quicker with a puck-possession style.
“Goaltending is important–we need a good year from Jocelyn Thibault. We also need good years from (right wing) Tony Amonte, (center) Alex Zhamnov and (defenseman) Boris Mironov. We’re trying to put together three lines that can score and an effective fourth line in terms of having a role on the team.”
Amonte is the only one of the Hawks’ marquee performers on the top 50 list of National Hockey League players compiled by one of the game’s most astute observers, Bob McKenzie, associate editor of The Hockey News.
Smith’s long-range goal is to build a talent base through the amateur draft, and this year he appears to have laid a strong foundation. But with the possible exception of Reto Von Arx, a winger from Switzerland, none of the 2000 draftees will be part of the mix this season.
Will Smith take the trade route in an attempt to help get the Hawks to the playoffs this season?
“Oh yeah,” he answered. “We’re optimistic [about making trades].”
However, Smith genuinely wishes there were another way to go.
“I have a funny feeling about trades,” he explained. “I don’t like to be involved in trades. You take somebody away from your team, which is contrary to what you’re trying to do. I don’t talk about trades unless we really want to make a trade.
“On the other hand, trades are part of building a team, and people expect them, including the players. It’s part of what we do–to me it’s a very distasteful part.”
Since joining the Hawks on Dec. 10 as manager of hockey operations, Smith has made three significant trades.
In February, he acquired defenseman Kevin Dean from Dallas (with since-released center Derek Plante) for defensemen Sylvain Cote and Dave Manson. He got left wing Michal Grosek in March for center Doug Gilmour and right wing Jean-Pierre Dumont. On Monday, he acquired defenseman Alexander Karpovtsev and a fourth-round draft choice next year from Toronto for defenseman Bryan McCabe.
This summer Smith added two free agents–left wing Valeri Zelepukin, who’d been with Philadelphia, and goaltender Robbie Tallas, who came from Boston. Zelepukin is getting a shot at playing on the line with Zhamnov and Amonte, while Tallas’ role will be to back up Thibault.
Smith came to Chicago 10 days after GM Bob Murray was fired as GM and coach Lorne Molleken was demoted to associate coach. Although executive vice-president Bob Pulford was named general manager and head coach at the time, the understanding was that Smith would have most of the responsibilities of GM and would be given the title before this season.
“It was important for Pully to go in and assess some deep-rooted problems,” Hawks vice president Peter Wirtz said. “He saw firsthand what some of those problems were and he worked with Mike to shore up these areas.
“Besides my duties with the team and the business side of the organization, I’m a fan. And, as a fan, it has been frustrating. We’ve had three disappointing years.
“We want to see progress. We want to see things turned around. It’s kind of the unfortunate part of the game where, if a team is not going well, people wind up blaming the coach and making changes. Many times it’s not the coach’s fault.
“We made the change to bring in a gentleman with a lot of experience, who has worked closely with Mike in the past (in Winnipeg and Toronto). We felt Alpo had all the qualities that we were looking for.”
Neither Smith nor Suhonen consider the Hawks’ 2-4-2 record in exhibition play to be an indicator of what fans can expect this season.
“Exhibition games are not to see how good you are but what you need to do to get good and what you need as a team,” Smith said. “They are to refresh your memory on what you had the year before, the path you need to go and how far you have to go.”
