Blackhawks Are Much Ado About Nothing

Never has a team done less with more resources than the Chicago Blackhawks in the last few seasons.

They have a wealthy owner in Bill Wirtz, a cavernous arena with lots of revenue-producing luxury suites in the United Center, and one of the NHL’s best defensemen in Chris Chelios. But years of mismanagement have left them fewer than 10,000 season-ticket holders, a creaky defense and little offensive punch--and will probably end their 28-year playoff streak, the longest in the NHL.

“That’s in the back of everybody’s mind,” forward Steve Dubinsky said of the streak, which began in 1969-70. “It puts a little fear in the guys and makes us work harder. It could push us a little harder.”

Or it could push them in the wrong direction.

Inept enough last season to compile their first sub-.500 home record since 1957-58, the Blackhawks squeezed into the playoffs on the final weekend of the season. They don’t figure to be as lucky this time, thanks to an 0-7 start, their failure to put together a significant winning streak and another losing home record.

The Blackhawks trail San Jose for the final Western berth by three points, and each team has three games left. San Jose has two against the golf course-bound Calgary Flames and one against Colorado, which will go into the playoffs as the second-seeded team in the West. Chicago has Toronto, New Jersey and Dallas, no easy road.

Asked how his team had sunk to this point, Coach Craig Hartsburg grimaced.

“I don’t have enough time to discuss it at length,” he said. “We had the bad start, but we got ourselves back in it. The biggest problem has been a lack of goals. . . . Everybody talks about character and heart. All of that is just talk. Now, we’re going to find out.

“We’ve had some guys underachieve all year, some of our better players. I’ll take some responsibility for that. When you get off to such a horrible start, it seems like a desperate situation. Maybe I should have sat those guys out and not played them.

“We made mistakes ourselves of being desperate as coaches. We’d think that next power play would turn it around, that we had to score. We were desperate because we were 0-7, but we were 0-7 because we didn’t play well. Sometimes our better players made mistakes at crucial times. That’s the only thing the coaching staff would second-guess about this year.”

Hartsburg might not get a third guess. Former Blackhawk Denis Savard--a Wirtz favorite--was recently brought in as an assistant coach and he’s the logical choice to step in if Hartsburg is fired.

Too bad. It’s not Hartsburg’s fault Alexei Zhamnov is soft and hasn’t come close to replacing Jeremy Roenick. Or that the Blackhawks, who have scored only 10 goals in losing six of their last seven games, have no depth up the middle since they lost Bernie Nicholls and got nothing for him. Or that free agent-to-be Gary Suter is aging fast and that former general manager Bob Pulford, now a senior vice president, blocked a deal that would have sent Suter to Philadelphia. Now, the Blackhawks will get nothing for him.

Which is fitting, because nothing is what they’ve been giving their fans.

REVENGE IS . . . WELL, YOU KNOW

Phoenix center Roenick savored scoring the game-winner against his former Chicago teammates Sunday, clinching a playoff spot for the Coyotes and essentially knocking the Blackhawks out of the West race.

“It was fantastic for me,” he said after the Coyotes’ 2-1 victory. “I really wanted this game bad and so did everyone in the locker room. I didn’t care who scored the goal. It could have been [goalie] Nikolai Khabibulin, for all I cared.

“We feel very, very good about ourselves. We’ve been battling through so much adversity. We’re very proud of ourselves.”

They have dealt with a staggering number of injuries, but they’re making up for them with heart. That’s more than the Blackhawks can say.

AVALANCHE OF LOSSES

When a coach says he’s pleased with his team’s effort in a loss, it really means he has run out of meaningful things to say.

Coach Marc Crawford, to his credit, didn’t take refuge in coach-speak after Colorado’s loss to the Kings on Saturday, its sixth in a row and seventh in eight games.

“We’ve played better, but we’ve got to try to win these games,” said Crawford, whose team tied the Mighty Ducks, 2-2, Monday. “We’ve got to have discipline, a good power play, and the penalty killing has to be sharp all the time.”

Nor is good effort much consolation to Claude Lemieux, who is frustrated by the team’s offensive failings. Colorado has been outscored, 26-14, in its 1-7-1 slump.

“We’ve played a lot of good games and ended up with no points,” Lemieux said. “If it’s not one thing going wrong, it’s another. . . . I’m concerned about the team. Your power play has to win you games.”

GET ‘EM IN THE ALLEY

Tampa Bay forward Andrei Nazarov claimed he was confronted by six Flyers last week in the parking lot outside Tampa’s Ice Palace.

The players had taken exception to Nazarov’s sucker-punching Flyer forward Daniel Lacroix during the game and made sure Nazarov knew they were unhappy. Eric Lindros was supposedly the leader of the vigilante group.

“There were six of them and I thought they might try to jump me,” Nazarov told the Tampa Tribune. “They could have. It would have been one against six. I told them to save it for the ice.”

That’s bad enough, but Flyer General Manager Bob Clarke approved Lindros’ supposed action.

“If he did it, I think it’s great,” Clarke said.

Apparently, once a Broad Street Bully, always a bully.

The Flyers can console themselves with a Golden Gloves title after they lose in the playoffs--and their goaltending will sink them again. Coach Roger Neilson is alternating Ron Hextall and Sean Burke and will choose one to start in the playoffs, but that’s not much of a choice. Hextall couldn’t keep his job in last season’s playoffs. Burke hasn’t played in an NHL playoff game since 1990 and hasn’t won one since 1988.

SLAP SHOTS

Colorado forward Valeri Kamensky and Detroit defenseman Viacheslav Fetisov, identified in an article in Details magazine as allegedly having helped the Russian Mafia operate in North America, denied the charge. The NHL looked into the Russian Mafia after players complained of extortion threats, and it remains in contact with FBI officials in an effort to keep mobsters away. . . . The uneasy peace between Jaromir Jagr and Pittsburgh Penguin Coach Kevin Constantine broke when Constantine moved his $38-million right wing to the third line. More important, center Ron Francis, whose productivity and happiness are keys to the team’s playoff hopes, didn’t seem happy about the change. None of which bodes well for the Penguins with less than a week left in the season.

Boston’s Sergei Samsonov will get a $1-million bonus for scoring 20 goals. He leads NHL rookies in goals with 21, and in points with 46. . . . Wayne Gretzky will get a $500,000 bonus for finishing among the top 10 scorers. He will have more time to spend it after declining to play for Canada in the World Championships. Mark Messier will also skip the tournament because of an elbow injury. . . . We’ve seen hockey players endorse cars, computer games and jeans, but Colorado forward Adam Deadmarsh may be the first to endorse pickles. Deadmarsh Deli Dills are available at markets in Denver.

Dallas quickly wrapped up contract talks with center Mike Modano, giving him a six-year, $43.5-million deal. He had signed a one-year, $3.5-million deal last fall, anticipating he would have a good enough season to ask for more than Dallas’ initial six-year, $26-million offer. At 27, he’s young enough to build around if the Stars win the Stanley Cup, or to rebuild around if they don’t. . . . Colorado right wing Jari Kurri, who will retire after the season, plans to get away from hockey. “I’m going to go back to Finland and live like a retired person,” he said.

Montreal Canadien chairman Ron Corey will ask the Board of Governors to create a Rocket Richard trophy, to be given annually to the top goal scorer. It’s a fine idea. . . . The New Jersey Devils were smart to rest goalie Martin Brodeur instead of letting him chase Bernie Parent’s single-season record of 47 victories. . . . Carolina had better goaltending lately but Ottawa will get the last East playoff spot. The Hurricanes started their playoff push too late.