There are "public-relations missteps and corporate misjudgments, and then there is what the Blackhawks produced in a clumsy 45-minute news conference" to open training camp Thursday amid the ongoing sexual assault investigation involving RW Patrick Kane, according to David Haugh of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE. It was "an exercise in embarrassment for the Hawks, Chicago and the NHL." The most "somber season-opening session ever for an NHL defending champion awkwardly began" with Kane sitting alongside Blackhawks President & CEO John McDonough, GM & VP Stan Bowman and coach Joel Quenneville. He began the press conference by "apologizing for the distraction caused to his family, teammates, fans and the Hawks without mentioning the accuser." He then "proclaimed his innocence." Following Kane's statement, the team "invited questions for Kane but, as he constantly reminded everybody, only about hockey." He "prefaced every inquiry" that was not hockey related "with a respectful, 'I appreciate the question but ...'" After nearly a dozen questions, Kane "left the dais, mercifully." The "tone-deaf, 10-minute farcical Kane portion of the news conference served as Exhibit A why Kane never should have been allowed to practice until the conclusion of the criminal legal process." No sports exec "manages perception better than McDonough," but missing Thursday was the "human element that makes McDonough so effective, a graceful eloquence replaced by stern ambiguity." The Blackhawks on Thursday "resembled everybody else in professional sports; evasive, defensive and occasionally combative in the wake of crisis, cowering to controversy rather than addressing it head-on the way a proud, classy organization should," and the way the Blackhawks "typically have" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 9/18). In Buffalo, Mike Harrington in a front-page piece notes it was a "surreal scene" on the campus of Notre Dame, where the Blackhawks' training camp is taking place. About 100 reporters "sat on four rows of risers with 16 television cameras taping the proceedings at the top of the room." The press conference was "televised live across Canada on TSN, replayed coast-to-coast in the United States on ESPNews and was also shown live in both Chicago and Buffalo" (BUFFALO NEWS, 9/18).
ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE: CBSSPORTS.com's Chris Peters noted Kane "was excused" after taking questions to allow the execs and Quenneville to "proceed with the rest of the press conference." McDonough then "launched into his statement talking about the team's prior success, its excitement for the year ahead and defending their title." He also praised Blackhawks Chair Rocky Wirtz "for the culture he has created within the organization, which seemed like a weird venue for that remark." Kane's name "wasn't said again as the press conference transitioned abruptly and uncomfortably." What the Blackhawks did -- with McDonough's "lengthy statement about being glad the team had a short summer because it meant they won, with Stan Bowman saying how glad he was to be back on campus at his alma mater, with Joel Quenneville wishing the Fighting Irish football team luck Saturday" -- was make things "even more uncomfortable." It "reflected poorly" on the three "highly-respected, smart individuals that have earned their place among the league's best at what they do." It "could have been avoided" (CBSSPORTS.com, 9/17). The BUFFALO NEWS' Harrington notes McDonough was "defiant when asked if he was being tone-deaf to Kane's situation by moving into hockey talk." He replied, "I can assure you that I am anything but tone-deaf" (BUFFALO NEWS, 9/18).
DEFLECTED SHOTS: In Chicago, Steve Rosenbloom writes the Blackhawks "shouldn't have bothered taking questions if they wouldn't be answered." Kane and McDonough "should have read their statements and called it a news conference." If the Blackhawks were "going to bring Kane to camp, then the Hawks were going to lose this press conference." But where the Blackhawks "got routed was following the statements regarding the criminal investigation with the usual pre-camp happy talk of a returning champion." It was "tone deaf for an organization that always seems to play the right notes" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 9/18). SI.com's Allan Muir wrote Thursday's press conference "seems destined to leave a permanent black mark on many reputations." If Kane's prepared remarks were "all he was going to say" about the case -- "and honestly, given the circumstances, no one should have expected anything else -- Kane probably should have been excused from the dais at that point." Instead, an "epic PR disaster" resulted by him taking questions "with the stipulation that they be 'hockey only.'" Kane appeared "clearly shaken by the failed exercise." Then, the three men remaining on the stage "began speaking and turned the event into a total garbage fire" (SI.com, 9/17). SPORTING NEWS' Sean Gentille wrote the team made a "bad situation worse" by inviting Kane to camp. Having him take questions "was tone-deaf, stupid and served no purpose other than to illuminate how tone-deaf and stupid the Blackhawks, at this particular moment, seem to be" (SPORTINGNEWS.com, 9/17). In Chicago, Mark Potash writes the "only real message of the day was an unspoken one: the Hawks aren’t worried about losing the press conference as long as they can still win the Stanley Cup" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 9/18).
WHY BOTHER? In Toronto, Bruce Arthur writes the Blackhawks competitively are a "model organization." Arthur: "But opening a season like this? Trot out Kane, who can’t answer questions about being a distraction because of the legal situation that is providing the distraction, and presto, time to start up the band." The press conference "was an embarrassment not just to the Blackhawks," but to the NHL (TORONTO STAR, 9/18). In Chicago, John Dietz writes the Blackhawks' strategy of "bringing Kane out to field questions, only to say very little, left many media members wondering why the Hawks didn't limit him to a quick statement." Dietz: "Why bring him out to say almost nothing?" (Chicago DAILY HERALD, 9/18). The NATIONAL POST's Scott Stinson writes the press conference was "an utter farce, and displayed exactly why Kane should not be anywhere near training camp at this point." Stinson: "Why offer him up to the media? Why bring him to training camp at all, when this process is not yet completed?" (NATIONAL POST, 9/18).
WHERE HAS BETTMAN BEEN? In Chicago, Barry Rozner writes while McDonough and Bowman "ushered in a new era of Hawks hockey Thursday," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman was "nowhere to be found and the Hawks were left to say, well, nothing." Bettman could have taken the decision of whether Kane should be allowed at training camp "out of their hands and made the call himself, as he clearly has the power to do so, but he left Hawks brass dangling in front of the media and gritting their teeth." Now, the team's Stanley Cup celebration "has turned to disgust." Rozner: "Not exactly how you want to raise the banner." The Blackhawks' brand "has stood for class and excellence" since Wirtz took the helm, but right now all anyone "can think of or talk about" is Kane (Chicago DAILY HERALD, 9/18).
