“Wherever he is, Bill Wirtz is sputtering and checking with his lawyers to see if it’s too late to write Rocky out of the will. I can see him now wondering between big puffs on the cig (you can smoke again in the afterlife) and a slug of Dewar’s and water, what the hell got into the damn kid. Check the DNA.

Rocky hasn’t just set a different course than his father took with the team. He has redrawn the map of the Wirtz world and rocketed into unknown territory, scaring the hell out of the NHL and a few of its teams.”

Bwahahahahaha! I can’t comment on the Dollar Bill Wirtz years because I wasn’t here, but I can testify to the fact that Rocky is scaring the hell out of not only the NHL and some of its teams, but some of the Hawks’ fans, yours truly included. Don’t get me wrong. I love Dunc. Who doesn’t? But keeping him until he’s 39 or 40 makes me reaaaaaally nervous. A lot can happen in 13 years. Keeping Hossa when he’s coming off a severe injury until he’s 42 is insane! So, yeah, Rocky scares the hell out of me and I’m sure lots of other fans. But I admire his guts. With big risks come big payoffs…sometimes.