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Blackhawks fire Denis Savard; where’s Scotty Bowman?

By Helene Elliott
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This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

If you had Andy Murray in a pool for first NHL coach to be fired this season, you lose!

The Chicago Blackhawks fired Denis Savard Thursday, one day after the team recorded its first victory of the season.

Savard was in over his head, and the Blackhawks have pressure to win for the first time in more than a decade. They also didn’t want a slow start to drive off the fans they’ve been luring back.

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My Tribune corporate cousin, Steve Rosenbloom, has a sharp analysis of the move on his blog.

You really have to wonder how big a part was played by Scotty Bowman, the Blackhawks’ recently hired senior advisor and father of Blackhawks assistant General Manager Stan Bowman. And it’s worth considering how much (or little) job security General Manager Dale Tallon has now.

-- Helene Elliott

Sports Now
Helene Elliott

Helene Elliott was with the Los Angeles Times’ Sports department from 1989 to 2024, first as a staff writer and then, starting in 2006, as a columnist. She became the first female journalist to be honored with a plaque in the Hall of Fame of a major professional sport as the 2005 winner of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Elmer Ferguson Award, awarded to writers “who have brought honor to journalism and to hockey.” A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she has covered 18 Olympics.

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