You know the Hawks have made it when....

You can get a national, or at least big-time hockey publication to print absolute nonsense about you:

http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/17428-Campbells-Cuts-Expect-Bowman-to-get-more-power-in-Chicago.html

If you'll allow me a www.firejoemorgan.com like rant here (a site every baseball fan should read, by the way) let's dissect this piece by piece.

"It is well-known new Hawks president John McDonough is not a big fan of either Tallon or Savard and that McDonough was the driving force behind the signings of unrestricted free agents Cristobal Huet and Brian Campbell."

Well known to who, exactly? Your friends at the bar, Ken? The mice in your apartment? Who? What is a well known fact is that Tallon had been batting his eyes at Cambpell like an out of work actress at a Hollywood producer for over a year. This included making a run at him during the deadline last season. Was McDonough dictating what prospects to give up? To think this could be the case is laughable. McDonough is simply to bright a guy to think he can interfere with hockey decisions.

"The Atlanta Thrashers had the inside track on Campbell in the first hours of free agency. He was reportedly about to accept Atlanta’s offer when McDonough apparently ordered Tallon to improve the Chicago’s offer to Campbell, who ended up signing with the Blackhawks for $56.8 million over eight years."

Sure, it had nothing to do with Campbell wanting to play in a surging hockey market for a possible contender for the next 8 years. Actually, Campbell was just heartbroken The Gold Club was no longer in existence. There are just as many rumors that Atlanta still offered more money than the Hawks did.

"It was much the same with Huet. The night before free agency opened, the Capitals thought they had a deal done with Huet for $15 million over three seasons. But again, apparently at McDonough’s insistence, the Hawks sweetened their offer, adding another year and $565,000 per season."

If the Caps really thought they had a deal with Huet the night BEFORE free agency, why then would Huet bother to test the open market? And how does Huet sign affect marketing in any way? Though he's a good goalie, this isn't Patrick Roy and Dominik Hasek's lovechild coming to town. (Boy, there's an image.) Even more-than-casual fans couldn't tell you everything about Huet. And most Hawk fans know they already have one overpaid goalie, so why McDonough would order this signing beggars belief.

"After all, why would Bowman leave the Red Wings for the Blackhawks, aside from the chance to work with his son Stan, who is an assistant GM in Chicago and is currently fighting Hodgkin’s lymphoma?"

Just a hunch, but I'm willing to wager that Ken Campbell hates his father. Must not have batted him 4th in Little League, or something.

"With McDonough at the helm, the Blackhawks are being driven as much by marketing forces these days as they are by hockey decisions, so hiring a recognizable and successful figure such as Bowman makes a lot of sense."

If Campbell knew anything about McDonough, he'd know that McDonough considers winning and marketing the same thing, and you need only to look at his one year as president of the Cubs to see so. As that was the year DeRosa, Lilly, and Soriano were brought in and McDonough made clear only winning the World Series was acceptable, and winning it again and again. He said the exact same thing when taking over the Hawks, that Stanley Cups are the best marketer. But that's ok, journalism doesn't require research or even the least bit of common sense these days.

Honestly, no one will be that shocked if Bowman eventually is installed as GM or coach. And the idea that he's overseeing the GM post while his son waits for the throne is something out of Shakespeare. But as said yesterday, both McDonough and Rocky Wirtz wanted actual hockey eyes looking over everything, not making their best guess. We can all feel safe that Tallon's the one making decisions, because if he wasn't, I'm pretty sure Khabby would have been elsewhere before the Huet signing. That would have made more sense.