Panicking about the Blackhawks? That's Great!

Patrick Kane is not panicking about the Blackhawks 0-3 start, despite the team's losses to Washington, New York and Nashville. He probably isn't reading the headlines about the team not matching their marketing, or assurances that the team can hopefully recover. The youngster, who will turn 20 in November, is probably unaware that Chicagoans panicking about the losses is a good thing for the team. It shows that the fans actually care.

For most of the 21st century, hockey fans were disgusted with the Blackhawks. The antics of Bill Wirtz, which included raising ticket prices beyond the means of average people and keeping the team off television, alienated many fans. Worse than that, the team was bad. They have not been in the playoffs since 2002, and even when they were, they were knocked out in the first round. Fans started to look elsewhere for their hockey, or even worse, they turned away from hockey altogether.

That seemed to change this year. The young players spent the summer on a marketing blitz, reminding anyone who would listen that the Blackhawks of old were back. The young team, new management and other crazy marketing strategies like actually televising games got people talking about the team and buying tickets to the games. Eight games have been sold out already and tickets for some games are selling for more than $1500 on StubHub. With high expectations on such a young group, the 0-2-1 start is a bit scary. (To those who do want to jump off the bandwagon after three measly losses, I remind you that the Capitals were in last place at the beginning of the seasons, and they came back to win their division.)  What would be much worse for the Blackhawks is if fans would not have jumped on the bandwagon at all.

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