New Hawks Brunette and Carcillo Introduced

Over a month after signing deals, Andrew Brunette and Dan Carcillo made their way to Chicago to meet the ever-so-handsome pack of humanity that is the Chicago press. These things always follow the same formula, probably having something to do with hockey players not being so good at -- well, talking. So they thank the GM who just handed them a fat check, the owner who will be signing that check, and talk about how excited they are to be in whatever town they just happened to sign in, if they can remember.

Because this is in Chicago, they generally also have to offer up something about the National Anthem, and wearing the best jersey in sports (which it is). Throw in a couple quotes about the recent Cup win, the young core, and voila! It's a press conference. Cut to players holding up their new jerseys, smiling awkwardly with Stan Bowman, and then it's off to the bar, I assume.

Still, after listening to Andrew Brunette, he seemed genuinely excited to be here. Brunette in his long career has only made one trip as far as a conference final, so it's pretty obvious he's jonesing for the chance to go that far or farther. He knows he's running out of time and that this very well might be the last chance he ever gets. And he's here to make the most of it. People should get used to this sort of thing. With the Hawks set to be contenders for a stretch, there will be many veterans who come here for their one shot.

Carcillo was a little more goofy, which is to be expected. There was the lip service about mixing it up with the Canucks, which seemed a bit pandering to Hawks fans. But that's ok, Carcillo seems to know he's got a faction to win over, and confident that he will. And he will, because that faction of Hawks fans slobber over guys like Car Bomb who rile up their opponents.

But Carcillo admitted he topples over the edge sometimes with his antics. But he seems genuinely interested in working on it, and keeping it in the red without overheating. As he gets older he will, but he'll also have to deal with the rest of the league accustomed to his antics. Can he still contribute then? What does Sean Avery do now? We'll have to find out.

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