SHOW ME THE MONEY You’d think for a man who just inked a $22.4-million contract, netminder Cristobal Huet (left, with Hawks GM Dale Tallon) could muster a bigger smile.

When we last checked in with our sweater-wearing heroes, the Blackhawks had lost to the hated Detroit Red Wings 4-1 to close out the season, narrowly missing a trip to the Stanley Cup playoffs, a promised land they haven’t seen since 2002.

Since then, the Hawks have made more improvements in just one off-season than their fans had come to expect during the entire “Dollar Bill” Wirtz era. Rocky Wirtz, who took on the ownership role after his father died, has been hellbent on getting the Hawks back on the track to respectability, and it looks as if it’s working.

During that 2007–08 campaign, the team reversed course on a long-standing Bill Wirtz decree that banned televising most home games, thanks in no small part to the addition of marketing whiz John McDonough, the former Cubs president who came on board in November ’07 . This season, not only will fans have the chance to see all 82 regular-season games on the boob tube (a first), the team will also skate onto the airwaves of superstation WGN-TV for up to 20 games, while left-winger Patrick Sharp’s slap shots will be heard across the Midwest thanks to a partnership with WGN Radio.

And who’s that back in the booth? Hell’s bells, it’s Chicago Sports Hall of Famer Pat Foley getting a hero’s welcome after calling TV games for the Chicago Wolves, the city’s American Hockey League franchise. It’s a good thing fans will have a plan B when it comes to “committing to the Indian” this year; McDonough says season-ticket sales have jumped 300 percent.

We’re betting much of that can be attributed to the mojo created during the first (and übersuccessful) Blackhawks Convention. McDonough brought the idea of a fan convention over from his days with the Cubs, and more than 8,000 fans showered the Hawks with love over three days in mid-July at the Chicago Hilton.

That meteoric rise in ticket sales might also have to do with the NHL’s announcement that historic Wrigley Field will play host to the annual Winter Classic, the now-annual affair that showcases the sport in, get this, the great outdoors. Start teaching Junior that “De-troit sucks!” chant now so you’ll be pitch-perfect when the reviled Red Wings visit on New Year’s Day. While ticket prices and on-sale dates have yet to be announced, season-ticket holders are sure to get first crack at what’s already being talked about as one of the hottest tickets in all of Chicago’s sporting life (we can even imagine the rooftop decks getting shoveled out to accommodate all the hockey nuts).

But that’s all smoke and mirrors if the organization doesn’t deliver on the ice. Luckily, there’s great news on that front, too. Two of the team’s youngest and best players, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, are earning accolades aplenty: Kane had to make room in his display case for the Calder Trophy last year (for his Rookie of the Year performance), and 20-year-old Toews was named team captain in July, making him the third-youngest kid in NHL history to earn that honor. In addition to bringing on Scotty Bowman (a man who coached his teams to a record nine Stanley Cup victories) for a front-office position, the team laid out almost $80 million to land two of the biggest names on the free-agent market: defenseman Brian Campbell and goalie Cristobal Huet.

All this begs the question: Is there any more room on the Blackhawks bandwagon? “That bandwagon will never be big enough for me,” McDonough says. “You can never win enough games; you can never have enough fans. We have to have that insatiable desire to succeed.”

For a team that was all but left for dead on the Chicago sports scene, the Blackhawks and their fans are surely glad to see that drive is more than just marketing speak.

The Blackhawks begin the 2008–09 campaign with an exhibition against the Columbus Blue Jackets Sept 23 at 7:30pm. The puck drops for the home opener Oct 13 at 7:30pm when the Nashville Predators come calling. Visit blackhawks.nhl.com or call 312-455-7000 for tickets.

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