It was just a few weeks ago when the Chicago Bulls announced big moves to their front office with the hiring of Arturas Karnisovas as executive vice president of basketball operations and the firing of general manager Gar Forman. Now it’s Chicago’s fellow United Center suitors that are starting to make some changes as well.
Blackhawks chairman Rocky Wirtz announced on Monday that the team has released John McDonough from his role as President and CEO of the organization. The move comes as the NHL has suspended their 2019-20 season in which they are 32-30-8 and were likely going to miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the third-straight season.
The Blackhawks released this statement regarding the move on Monday:
“Thirteen years ago, I recruited John to the Blackhawks because of his leadership, direction and vision. John brought all of that to the table and more. His contributions went well beyond leading the team to three Stanley Cup Championships. He rebuilt the front office and helped guide the organization toward a winning vision,” said Wirtz. “As difficult as this is, we believe it was the right decision for the future of the organization and its fans,” Wirtz added.
Team ownership is committed to ensuring strong executive leadership and will immediately begin a search to fill the role of President. In the interim, Daniel Wirtz, 43, currently Vice President of the Chicago Blackhawks and alternate Governor to the NHL, will serve as the team’s President. Danny Wirtz has been an active advisor with the Blackhawks for the past decade, serves as the Chicago Blackhawks Foundation Vice Chairman and is a representative for the team with the United Center Joint Venture.
“I cannot adequately express my family’s appreciation to John for his contributions to the turnaround of the Chicago Blackhawks organization. I take this interim role with the utmost responsibility to the team and will focus on resetting the framework for the next generation of the Chicago Blackhawks,” said Danny Wirtz. “I look forward to working with Rocky to identify our next leader.”
This could be the first domino to fall in the Front Office as Stan Bowman could be on the hot seat as well. This is a story we will continue to monitor over the coming weeks.
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