Hawks Can Savard After Four Games; Hire Quenneville

Well, that didn't take very long. Just four games into the season, the Blackhawks fired head coach Denis Savard. After starting the season with two losses, a shootout loss, and a win last night, apparently GM Dale Tallon thought he had seen enough and made a change.

Joel Quenneville brings a lot of experience and a history of success to Chicago. He had a lot of great years in St. Louis and a few solid years in Colorado. He had been working as a scout for the Blackhawks this season. It is a good hire for the Hawks, but was it time?

Savard didn't have a great record with Chicago, at 65-66-16 over parts of three seasons. If Chicago goes on to win the Stanley Cup that management promised, it should be Savard who is remembered for developing the young talent. This was his team to groom and he did a great job. You can see the potential, you can see the progress, and I think this firing was a bad choice.

I'm not saying that Quenneville is going to do a bad job, but why fire Savard when there is nothing wrong? Sure, it wasn't the best start, but the season is four games old! The guy poured his heart and effort into this team and just when he is about to turn the corner you dump him? The Blackhawks are officially the guy that dates a girl with a job and has her support him through grad school, then dumps her when he gets a job. Plus, they hired Quenneville as a "scout" before the season? They were screwing some other girl the whole time!

Blackhawks fans should be mad about this. Maybe it's the unfortunate move that had to be made to get this team to the next level, but do it before the season. You don't know anything more after four games. In fact, there is a good chance you just don't know anything.