Ok that wasn't that difficult. Let me know what you think on this. The biggest thing is how accurate is this guy?
Daily Herald
Can Sutter survive latest round of infighting Blackhawks battles?
Posted January 28, 2004
By Barry Rozner
Hockey politics, not to mention potential unemployment, make for strange bedfellows.
That would explain why blustery Brian Sutter and Baghdad Bob Pulford have once again formed a coalition of the shrilling.
Their target last season was former general manager Mike Smith, and in typical Pulford style, they backstabbed and backroomed Smith until the groundwork was in place for a regime change.
Like Mike Keenan and Bob Murray before him, Smith never knew what hit him.
Now, Sutter and Pulford, who would have no use for each other under normal circumstances, are teaming up to try to displace Dale Tallon, the current understudy and future GM.
They also might be targeting Norfolk coach Trent Yawney, whom Tallon probably would like to see on the big club as the next head coach.
Tallon is extremely close with Peter Wirtz, and Wirtz already has gone to bat against Pulford, who was quiet for a while but has been slowly building up forces and dropping special ops in theater.
With both Pulford and Sutter facing possible dismissal after this season, they have carefully tried to make life miserable for Tallon and Yawney, in hopes of saving their own hides.
Sounding remarkably like Saddam Hussein crawling out of a rat hole, still claiming to be in charge and hoping to negotiate his way out of it, Pulford is still trying to make an impact and make trades.
And he has made some - until Tallon finds out about them and nixes the deals. This isn't making the Hawks very popular among GMs around the league, but then that's nothing new, either.
As for Yawney, Sutter has gone to pre-emptive strikes, trying to play on Bill Wirtz's emotions and his love for the Sutter clan.
How far that will take Sutter is debatable, and even Bill Wirtz seems to realize now what is understood throughout the NHL and what Mike Smith preached: Sutter hates coaching young players and is jeopardizing the future of the franchise with every bad coaching decision.
Sutter also is trying to ensure that Yawney doesn't make the playoffs by calling up players at the worst possible times and leaving Norfolk short-handed, only to have those "vital'' call-ups scratched or buried in the lineup.
Sutter seems to take personal delight in sabotaging the confidence of every player Yawney sends to Chicago, as if to say, "See, Yawney says this kid is ready and he's obviously not.''
This is so transparent, and Tallon and Peter Wirtz see right through it. Sutter is ruining player after player, the latest of which is Mike Leighton.
The young goaltender was surviving, though not thriving, when Sutter went ballistic on him during a TV timeout. For the entire break, all Sutter did was scream at Leighton, and the kid has never been the same.
For his part, Smith drafted a lot of these players, and he's right in the middle of the current mess, too.
One theory on why the Hawks haven't fired Sutter already is that as they try to keep Smith from collecting the money he's owed, they can't very well fire Sutter.
The argument the Hawks are making to NHL boss Gary Bettman is that Smith undermined Sutter and that hurt the Hawks organization, so therefore Smith shouldn't be paid.
Well, they can't turn around and fire Sutter in the middle of blaming it all on Smith, or their case suddenly falls apart.
In the old NHL, the commish would have been afraid to cross Bill Wirtz, especially right before a huge labor negotiation.
But if Bettman is more than just a puppet, he will tell the Hawks to knock off this nonsense and pay Smith his money. He was guilty of being a bad GM, but he had a contract and should be paid.
Wait, Smith was undermining Sutter? Hold on, lemme stop laughing. No, really, give me a minute.
Undermine? That's all anyone does around there. You start by undermining the guy you're shaking hands with that moment. It's a skill you have to learn your first day on the job.
Of course Smith undermined Sutter, just like Sutter undermined Smith and Pulford, who undermined Smith and Sutter and Tallon and Yawney. And on and on and on it goes, with the scattered bodies of Lorne Molleken, Dirk Graham, Craig Hartsburg, Bill Gardner, Bob Murray, Theo Fleury, Bob Probert and dozens of others left to rot on the side of the road.
Everyone undermines everyone until they need someone on their side to help undermine someone else.
Some days, there aren't enough knives to fill all the backs.
This time, you'd have to think the edge belongs to Tallon and Yawney, who have the backing of Peter Wirtz, but as long as Pulford has a breath to breathe, he is dangerous and potentially lethal.
Many people have written him off before, and they've all wound up road kill.
Meanwhile, somewhere on Martha's Vineyard, Mike Smith is sipping a fine glass of wine, relaxing and laughing at the idiots in Chicago, knowing what's going to happen long before it does, having lived through it himself.
After all, the only happy Hawks employee is an ex-Hawks employee.
