John McDonough's run with Blackhawks: ‘Party's over, let's move on'

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"Party’s over.. let's move on.”  

That was the email John McDonough sent to his Blackhawks employees, just three days after the 2010 Stanley Cup parade.

In a way, it’s a phrase that speaks to McDonough’s old school, no nonsense approach, while also suggesting he wasn’t satisfied with reaching the top of the mountain on just one occasion.

McDonough has stood at the summit of the hockey world three times and his chances for a fourth came to an abrupt end this week.

The Blackhawks are pivoting like McDonough did back in 2007 when he made the stunning decision to leave his post as President of the Chicago Cubs to take over the sports world’s version of the Titanic.

“I didn’t tell him it was going to be easy," chairman Rocky Wirtz told me on an episode of "Inside Look" in 2012. "The bleaker the picture I painted, the more he wanted to come over." 

McDonough was flattered by Rocky’s pursuit and accepted the challenge. There were big items on his to do list like “getting out of the grudge business."

He hit the recruiting trail and made several in-person visits to mend fences with Pat Foley and Bobby Hull.  

McDonough also had to handle mundane tasks like signing invoices for hockey equipment. The Blackhawks did not have a receptionist to answer the phone. A trip to Human Resources should fix that, but they didn’t have an HR department either.

“The first couple weeks," McDonough told me in 2012, "I would be driving home on the Eisenhower and be saying to myself, 'I think I made a mistake.'"

Putting the Blackhawks home games on TV was a no brainer. Getting the seats filled at the United Center and making the team relevant again was a greater challenge.  

"This was a much more daunting ordeal than I had ever anticipated, but not insurmountable," McDonough said. "I told the staff the expectations are going to be higher, the pace is going to be swifter and you are going to need to be on board. And as I looked out at this group, I could see in their eyes that a good number of them weren’t on board.”

McDonough barely kept any employees from the previous regime. He applied his mentor, Jim Finks, sage advice to hire great people and stay out of their way.

McDonough didn’t stay out of the way of NHL commissioner Gary Bettman when it came to the 2009 Winter Classic. The rumor was the outdoor game would be played at Yankee Stadium, but McDonough’s relentless phone calls to Bettman paid off and McDonough’s marketing dream came true. The Blackhawks played their hated rival from Detroit at Wrigley Field on New Year’s Day, an event that converted thousands of fans to season-ticket holders.

Organizational change doesn’t occur without stepping on toes and cutting ties with popular team figures, like McDonough did with Denis Savard, Dale Tallon and Joel Quenneville.

Sports perfect storm occurred in 2010 when a young, talented hockey team became the toast of Chicago. McDonough’s marketing plan collided with a great product on the ice.

Mix in Jim Cornelison’s anthem, Chelsea Dagger and a few Wirtz beverages and all that was missing was the Stanley Cup.

"I remember driving down to the parade and I remember having this moment saying, 'I really thought this would be with the Cubs,'" McDonough said. "I needed to savor that moment. I never wanted that parade ride to end, I wanted it to go on forever." 

The memo McDonough sent three days later was similar to the one Rocky Wirtz released this week: “Party’s over.. let’s move on.”

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