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head coach: Craig Hartsburg

roster: C - Steve Dubinsky, Greg Johnson, Chad Kilger, Jeff Shantz, Brent Sutter, Alexei Zhamnov. LW - James Black, Eric Daze, Jean-Yves Leroux, Kevin Miller, Ethan Moreau, Bob Probert, Reid Simpson. RW - Tony Amonte, Sergei Krivokrasov, Ryan VandenBussche. D - Chris Chelios, Christian LaFlamme, Jayson More, Cam Russell, Gary Suter, Michal Sykora, Eric Weinrich, Trent Yawney. G - Jeff Hackett, Chris Terreri, Andrei Trefilov.

standings:

Western Conference - Central Division
Team         GP   W   L   T   PTS   GF   GA   
p-Dallas     82  49  22  11   109  242  167  
x-Detroit    82  44  23  15   103  250  196  
x-St Louis   82  45  29   8    98  256  204  
x-Phoenix    82  35  35  12    82  224  227  
Chicago      82  30  39  13    73  192  199  
Toronto      82  30  43   9    69  194  237  

x - Clinched playoff spot
p - Clinched President's Trophy

team news:

by Tom Crawford, Chicago Correspondent

1997-98: A Season to Forget

Well, it was bound to happen one of these years. Since the thrilling playoff run of 1992 which ended in a trip to the Finals, the Blackhawks have been slowly but steadily sliding from the upper echelon of the NHL to the neighborhood of April tee times.

So it was no real surprise when the Hawks failed to qualify for postseason play this past year. Oh, it took some effort. It's not easy to slip behind a team like San Jose -- an even less impressive collection of aging vets and unproven kids than Chicago's -- or play less consistently than Phoenix, or be shakier on the blue line than the Oilers.

But Hawk fans weren't shocked when the end of the season found their idols not among the top 16 in the league, just disappointed. Disappointed in the players, the coaches, and especially in the organization that has yet to display a commitment to winning or a notion of how to operate in the NHL of the late 20th century.

This is an organization that looks for one thing from its employees: loyalty to the organization. Toe the company line, don't make noise about your contract, and you'll be rewarded with the kind of long-term deal that Chris Chelios and Bob Probert now enjoy. Criticize management, hire a strong- willed agent, and you're off to Phoenix.

This is an organization that has not only not embraced free agency, it's not exactly sure what the term means. This is evidenced by the string of botched attempts to acquire players like Keith Tkachuk and Chris Gratton.

ESPN's Bill Clement puts it this way: "It would help Chicago to get NHL-caliber players." At present, the Hawks are essentially the Buffalo Sabres with Jeff Hackett in net. Don't get me wrong, Hackett is a good guy and an above-average goalie, but he's not going to take a talent-starved team deep into the playoffs. (Imagine the Czech Olympic team with Hackett in goal -- get my point?)

The Hawks need more talent at almost every position. Their forward corps lacks a first-line center, a physical winger who can score, and a veteran center to replace the retired Brent Sutter and Denis Savard. Their once- vaunted group of defensemen has been hit hard by age, injury, and trades. Only the goaltending situation seems solid, with Hackett being ably backed up by veteran Chris Terreri.

It is this chronic talent shortage, not a lack of effort from players or the coaching staff, that is to blame for the 0-7-0 start and 0-6-1 finish that bookended an unremarkably mediocre season.

Nor did the Hawks have the injury excuse to fall back on this year. No, they put the best the organization had to offer out there night after night, usually resulting in a home loss to Anaheim or Toronto, or a rousing tie in the Saddledome. And eventually resulting in the first spring in Chicago without playoff hockey in almost 30 years.

Ah, it felt good to get that off the old chest. Now we can move on to the postseason hardware and some thoughts on what has already become a busy summer for this hockey team.

TEAM MVP: This is a tough call, not only because a team that can't qualify for the NHL playoffs obviously has precious few valuable players. An obvious choice would be Hackett, who had another great year statistically. His .917 was the sixth best save percentage in the league last year, and only three netminders had more than his eight shutouts.

However, when Hackett went down with an injury early in the year, Terreri performed almost as well as Hackett would later in the year, actually posting a better won-lost record. So it's not obvious that the Hawks would have suffered greatly with Terreri as their No. 1 goaltender instead of Hackett.

Tony Amonte by Meredith Martini

It's this line of reasoning that argues for choosing Tony Amonte as the 1997-98 team MVP. Without Amonte, the 97-98 Hawks would have been battling not for a playoff spot, but for the rights to select Vincent Lecavalier in last week's draft.

On too many occasions this past year, Amonte was not only the only offensive threat on the ice for the Hawks, but also the only player busting his ass on every shift. "Tony shows up and works his butt off every night," former coach Craig Hartsburg said. "I wish everyone had his effort and played with his passion."

Needless to say, Amonte led the team in scoring, but he also posted the best plus-minus mark on the team, weighing in at a plus-22. And though this is purely subjective, he seemed to score many more clutch goals this year than before. (If you're curious about official game-winning goals, Eric Daze led the team with seven. Amonte had five.)

SURPRISES: For a short time, Dmitri Nabokov had a stone-cold Steve Austin lock on this baby. He was called up December 18 and had four goals in his first four games in the bigs. However, teams soon figured out that Dmitri didn't like his 6'2'', 209 lb. frame to absorb much contact, and he was held to three goals over the rest of the season and has since been traded.

So the honor goes to the less flashy, but very deserving young defenseman Christian Laflamme. Laflamme refused to join the parade of Hawk defenders leaving their assignments and jumping into the play when the offense was struggling. As a result, the rookie was often the best defenseman on the ice, especially compared to his blue line partner Gary Suter.

In junior hockey, Laflamme displayed skills that may enable him to develop into the type of offensive threat that earns berths in the All-Star game, praise from ESPN announcers, and Norris Ttrophy consideration. But right now the Hawks need this promising young defenseman to keep playing defense.

DISAPPOINTMENTS: For this award we also look to the blue line and select perennial Norris Trophy candidate Chris Chelios. Statistics can tell part of the story, as Cheli had his first minus year as a Blackhawk and scored fewer goals than any time in his career as an NHL starter.

Chris Chelios by Meredith Martini

But the real measure of Chelios's season can only be taken by fans who watched or listened to a majority of the Hawks' 82 games. More than ever before, fans saw Chelios out of position, caught in the offensive zone, or otherwise making decisions that hurt his team.

One criticism of Cheli has always been that he tries to do too much, that if the team can't score, he'll try to force the issue, often finding himself 100 feet away from a developing counter-attack.

But in years past, the reward seemed to justify the risk. More often than not, Chelios would score that big goal, and if he didn't he could often use his speed and skill to break up the rush at the other end.

Last year Chelios pinched in more than ever, yet only came away with three goals. And the consequences of his risk-taking were, more than ever, disastrous.

Another disturbing trend in Chelios's play last year was the reappearance of his legendary but recently well-controlled temper. A spate of misconducts and unsportsmanlike penalties late in the season landed Cheli in the box or the locker room for parts of numerous key games. While Chelios plays best with an edge, no Hawk fan wants to see a return to the type of outbursts that led my Dad to remark sometime in the early 90s: "We've got to get rid of that guy before he kills somebody."

OFF-SEASON CHANGES: Hmmm, I'm looking in my crystal ball, and it's telling me that the Hawks are going to fire their coach, hire an ex-Hawk as a replacement, and acquire a former Norris-trophy winning defenseman this off-season.

All right, you caught me, all that stuff has already happened. But hey, when your off-season starts in April, you can get a lot done by the end of the playoffs.

Whether the Hawks have accomplished anything with these moves is another question. There were certainly compelling reasons to change coaches -- the Hawks may actually have underachieved, even with their talent-poor lineup -- but is the move from Hartsburg to Dirk Graham a step up?

The optimistic view is that Graham could become the Hawks' Mike Ditka, a hard-nosed, throwback player who immediately commanded his team's respect and became a supreme motivator as a coach.

But compared to the pool of proven, high-profile coaches available this year, Graham unfortunately looks like a yes-man Bill Wirtz could get on the cheap. Numbers were not available, but you can be sure Graham's salary will not rival the $800,000 that ex-Avalanche coach Marc Crawford is rumored to be asking for.

Hawks GM Bob Murray also balked at the compensation that would be due the Avalanche if the Hawks signed Crawford. "I intend to be among the top 12 teams and get past the first round of the playoffs," Murray said, "So we would then owe Colorado a first-round pick and $600,000."

Funny, that degree of improvement sounds well worth $600,000 and a draft pick, but I'm sure Bob knows best.

Salary considerations also eliminated candidates Terry Murray -- who has since taken the Florida Panthers job -- and Barry Melrose, who appears happy to do studio work for another year. Tough guy Pat Quinn signed on with the Maple Leafs, and the Hawks are left with their third straight rookie coach.

The other big move this past week -- the acquisition of Paul Coffey from Philadelphia in exchange for a fifth-round draft pick -- also raises as many questions as it does answers.

The Hawks hope Coffey can help their moribund power play, among the worst in the NHL last season. But Coffey only produced 29 points all last year and rode the bench for the majority of Philadelphia's short playoff run.

There has to be a reason that Flyers' GM Bobby Clarke has given up on this future Hall-of-Famer, trading him for almost nothing while also eating a million dollars of his salary over the next two years. But the Hawks see this as a no-lose proposition, especially if they can sign Coffey for a few dollars more than Clarke owes him.

"He's great with kids," Bob Murray said. "Wherever he's been, the kids have come along in a big way."

Paul Coffey as babysitter? Well, we'll see.

Other anticipated moves include the pursuit of free agents Brett Hull and Doug Gilmour. Oh, but we've heard that one before.

So much conventional wisdom argues against Hull ending up with the Hawks. He owns the town in St. Louis. Bill Wirtz would never pay him what he wants. He skates along side one of the premier playmaking centers in the game, Pierre Turgeon, and who would get him the puck in Chicago?

In fact, signing Hull without acquiring a centerman worthy of him would be cruel to Hull and cruel to the fans, akin to handing them a Winchester 30.06 with no ammunition.

My crystal ball foresees a perfunctory attempt at signing Hull, with Gilmour serving as a consolation prize. And hey, Dougie's better than what we've got now, but he won't put fannies in those 4,000 empty seats in the United Center.

At the very least there will be some new faces to watch next year, and one or two more moves could stir some interest in the 1998-99 Hawks.

And it can't possibly be worse than last year, right?

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