Blackhawks soar into All-Star Game as NHL's go-to glamour team
COLUMBUS — Brent Seabrook came with his family Thursday night. The rest of the Chicago Blackhawks’ contingent came Friday morning – not on a private jet, not in first class.
Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith and Corey Crawford crammed into a United commuter plane at O’Hare. They stuffed bags into tiny overhead compartments. They were asked to move around the cabin for weight balance. They were supposed to take off at 8:10 a.m. (CT) but sat through about an hour’s delay.
No part of them wished they were headed to Cabo or Cancun for vacation – thanks to, say, a sudden lower-body injury – instead of Columbus for the NHL All-Star Game?
“Aw, come on,” Toews said as he sat at a microphone for Media Day not long after he landed. “You want me to answer that straight up?”
He smiled.
“I’m kidding,” he said.
OK, maybe part of them did wish they were somewhere warm. But Toews was kidding for the most part. Seriously.
The Blackhawks have become the NHL’s go-to glamour team. They hosted the second Winter Classic in 2009. They hosted a Stadium Series game last season. They had cameras follow them around for an all-access TV series in December and played in another Winter Classic on New Year’s Day.
Now they have five players in this All-Star Game, more than any other team. Toews is the captain of one all-star team. Kane is the alternate captain of the other. They’re reportedly going to play in another Stadium Series game next season. They will have played in four stadium games at that point – again, more than any other team.
Not every team would want to do all that. Take the Los Angeles Kings, who have won two Stanley Cups in the salary-cap era, same as the Blackhawks, but don’t have the same profile. They have two all-stars here. They will play in their second stadium game in February.
“We’d rather be sitting behind the Blackhawks, giving them all the attention, and then when the playoffs come around and we face them, then that’s our opportunity to beat them,” said Kings defenseman Drew Doughty. “As players, we don’t mind that. We’re fine with standing in their shadow. It doesn’t bother us.”
Not every individual would want to do all that. The NHL season is a grind mentally and physically, and lots of players would rather enjoy the all-star break than the All-Star Game, especially on top of everything else.
“It’s just like, ‘Oh, here we go again,’ ” said Minnesota Wild defenseman Ryan Suter. “But those guys, they’re so good at managing all the stuff they do, whether it’s marketing stuff or media stuff. To be able to flip the switch and go play the way they play, and then hop back to that, and their families, it’s pretty impressive how they do handle that. That’s a lot of stuff that they’re dealing with. It probably does take a toll on you after a while.”
The Blackhawks embrace it.
“I don’t really look at it like any of that’s work,” Keith said. “I’ve been on the other side of the ledger where there’s been no attention and been nothing.”
It’s easy to forget now, but Blackhawks were one of the worst teams – and worst-marketed teams – in the NHL not long ago. As recently as 2006-07, they had so little fan support that they ranked second-to-last in attendance, averaging only 12,727 at the United Center. They couldn’t fill their arena, let alone stadiums and all-star ballot boxes.
They drafted Kane first overall in June 2007. He wasn’t in the lineup for a preseason game a few months later, so he sat in the stands with his family and a few thousand loyal customers. No one recognized the No. 1 pick. No one.
“If you did that now, you’d probably get mobbed by a lot of different fans,” Kane said with a laugh. “It’s definitely grown. It’s amazing with how the turnaround’s happened so quickly.”
Rocky Wirtz succeeded his late father, Bill, as chairman. He hired a president who knew something about marketing a perennial loser, luring John McDonough from the Chicago Cubs. The Blackhawks finally put home games on television and reconnected with former stars like Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita, and they developed a core of new stars.
They started winning again. Season-ticket sales surged. The United Center sold out. The Winter Classic came to Wrigley Field and raised the brand to a new level. Then the longest Cup drought in the league ended at 49 years in 2010. Even though the ’Hawks had to rebuild half the roster because of a salary-cap purge, they didn’t lose much momentum. They won the Cup again in 2013 and went to Game 7 of the Western Conference final last season.
Now the Blackhawks have so much support that they snagged five of the six spots in the fan vote. Kane and Toews were second and third among forwards, behind only the Buffalo Sabres’ Zemgus Girgensons, whose Latvian fans blew everyone away. Keith and Seabrook were first and second among defensemen. Crawford was first among goaltenders. All received more than 1 million votes.
“It’s really amazing that five of six can get voted in,” Kane said. “But at the same time, it’s not like it’s a big surprise to us with our fan base.”
It’s really amazing who didn’t get voted in, too.
“They have so many guys that get lost in the shuffle,” said St. Louis Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk. “You think of Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp and all these guys who have a tremendous amount of skill and could easily be here in their place.”
The NHL’s hockey operations department picked the captains for the All-Star Game. It picked Toews for much the same reason the league picked the Blackhawks to host a Stadium Series game at Soldier Field last season, visit the Washington Capitals in the Winter Classic this season and visit Minnesota in the Stadium Series next season. Star power. TV ratings. Merchandise sales.
Toews enjoys center stage more than he used to.
“Everyone kind of had the ‘Captain Serious’ name for him for a long time,” Kane said. “He’s definitely not that anymore. … He feels like he’s an important part of the NHL and a face of the NHL, which he is. I think he relishes the role.”
He should. They all should.
“At the end of the day, it’s an honor,” Toews said. “I think a lot of these guys here will admit that they grew up looking up to certain stars that were in this position and probably dreamed of being here someday, and here we are. You’ve just got to be appreciative of those moments. You’re only going to get so many opportunities to do it.
“So yeah, a bunch of guys are probably in Mexico or wherever the heck they are right now. But we’re here in Columbus at the All-Star Game and couldn’t be better.”
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