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"Internally, the message has been sent. We've discussed it on a regular basis," Blackhawks president John McDonough said Thursday. "I have faith and confidence in all of these people. We're in the results business, and that's where we are. Expectations from the day I took over are very high."
The Blackhawks last season missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2007-08, raising questions about the job security of coach Joel Quenneville and general manager Stan Bowman.
"This year we tried to turn the page as quickly as we possibly could," McDonough said. "It wasn't fun. When it was in March and it was apparent we weren't going to be making the playoffs, it was painful. We had been dancing on the clouds for nine years and living in a pretty good place. Maybe this was a wakeup call that needed to happen. Maybe this was sobering."
In April, McDonough said Quenneville and Bowman each would remain in his position this season. On June 4, owner Rocky Wirtz told Crain's Chicago Business that changes could occur after the holidays if the Blackhawks weren't doing well. On July 27, Wirtz told the Chicago Sun-Times he believes in Quenneville and Bowman and wasn't sending a message to them with his previous comments.
In late August, right wing Patrick Kane said Blackhawks veterans were training with a chip on their shoulder.
"Every single guy on your roster is part of the core: the 13th forward or the seventh defenseman or the backup goalie or the head coach or the assistant coach," McDonough said. "We're going to need contributions from everybody. So it's easy to point to four or five guys and say they didn't get the job done and we need them to be better. We need everybody to be better. I need to be better, Stan needs to be better, Joel needs to be better."
Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews said the NHL is getting tougher every season but expectations remain high in Chicago.
"There are a lot of challenges because of how good the League is nowadays, and any success we have, we're really going to have to work for," Toews said. "We just want to find a way to get back into the playoffs, and from there let our experience, let our youth mold together and go from there."
