The end of one of the greatest eras in Chicago sports history has ended. Longtime Chicago Blackhawks owner and chairman Rocky Wirtz passed away a few days ago at 70 years old, severing the final active piece of the 2010’s dynasty.
This is a very sad day for Chicago sports.
As the sole remaining figurehead of the 2010’s Chicago Blackhawks dynasty still left on the team, the unfortunate and sad death of Blackhawks owner and chairman Rocky Wirtz has officially ended the greatest dynasty NHL dynasty of the 2010’s. And, even though the 2010’s Blackhawks brought a lot of misery to my favorite team, I can’t help but feel sad for the end of that great era.
Now, I really can’t say what was the exact cause of the legendary Rocky Wirtz’s death beyond it being a “short battle with an illness” (as that’s the official statement), but what I can say is that the Wirtz name will go down in Chicago sports history.
The Wirtz family name was already extremely famous (and reviled to some) in the city of Chicago for Rocky Wirtz’s father, Bill Wirtz, not only owned one of the largest liquor distributors (Judge & Dolph Ltd. and being a huge real estate investor in the area, but his 41-year ownership of the franchise has gone done as one of the most polarizing in NHL history.
On the one hand, Bill Wirtz was famed for serving as the Chairman of the Board of Governors for the NHL for 18 years, helping the NHL and WHA merge into a single league in 1979 to finally bring an end to the league’s “ratings war”, and was known to be a very loyal and generous man to his players and personal. And he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame for it in 1976 and the US Hockey Hall of Fame in 1985.
However, on the other hand, Wirtz was widely viewed by the fans as being one of the greediest and incompetent owners in professional sports for not only disallowing all Blackhawks home games to be broadcasted on T.V., but also losing on franchise superstars, such as Bobby Hull, Dominik Hasek, Ed Belfour, Jeremy Roenick, Denis Savard, Phil Esposito, and Chris Chelios, to other organizations that saw the Blackhawks be named the “worst franchise in sports” by ESPN in 2004.
Oh, and he also oversaw 41/48 years of the longest Stanley Cup drought (1962-2010) in Blackhawks history and the 3rd longest in NHL history while being in charge. So, it’s clear his legacy is rather checked…which cannot be said for his son.
Once Bill Wirtz passed away in 2007, his son Rocky took no time in building a cup contender through players like Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, Marian Hossa, Patick Sharpe, Corey Crawford, Brent Seabrook, Niklas Hjalmarson, Brandon Saad, and Andrew Shaw that would not only go on to win a Stanely Cup in 2010, but would also win 3 of the next 6 (2010, 2013, and 2015) to be the first and only NHL dynasty of the 2010’s decade.
And this is an even more impressive achievement when you consider how poorly Chicago sports franchises had been run since the 1990’s Chicago Bulls broke up after their 1998 NBA championship.
In fact, apart from the 2010 Stanley Cup victory, the city of Chicago had only seen a single championship from their 6 major sports teams (Cubs, Bears, Bulls, Blackhawks, White Sox, and Fire) in the 2005 White Sox World Series win from the end of the Jordan Bulls dynasty to the start of the Kane-Toews dynasty.
Moreover, he was more than willing to shell out big bucks to his players as he signed Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews to then-NHL records 10-year, $100M deals, Duncan Keith to a 13-year, $72M deal, Marian Hossa to a 12-year, $63M deal, Patrick Sharp to a 5-year, $29.5M deal, Brent Seabrook to an 8-year, $55M deal, Corey Crawford to a 6-year, $36M deal, and would always allow GM Stan Bowman to spend big on trades and free agents.
Wirtz’s willingness to pay his players and take risks on trades turned the Blackhawks from “the worst run franchise in sports” to the best team in the 2010’s decade, and it’s incredibly sad to see him pass away so young at only the age of 70.
Rest in peace, Rocky Wirtz, you have more than earned it.
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