from Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times,

In a league in which coaches, general managers and executives are recycled from team to team faster than an aluminum can in a green bin, Blackhawks interim president Danny Wirtz — the son of team chairman Rocky Wirtz — is a wild card.

He has an immediately recognizable surname, but in terms of hockey experience, his résumé is limited — the Hawks’ website describes him as “active advisor . . . for the past decade,” but if so, he has advised in a very behind-the-scenes way.

And in regard to the “old hockey man” description that alarmingly fits so many who hold similar positions around the NHL, Wirtz doesn’t match at all. He’s a mere 43-year-old whose career to date was largely spent in the Wirtz family’s liquor business, not with its hockey franchise.

Yet the Danny Wirtz era of the Hawks has clearly arrived, just as clearly as the John McDonough era has passed.

That much was evident in the comments from general manager Stan Bowman and coach Jeremy Colliton — two who are quite familiar with what has gone down during the Hawks’ highly shrouded spring restructuring — during a Zoom call Thursday.

“I look at this, for me, as an opportunity to learn from Danny — very bright guy, very energetic, he’s got a lot of ideas,” Bowman said. “He’s included me on a lot of things over the last few weeks, and I’m looking forward to collaborating with him.”

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