The Old Man And The "See Ya"

Tommie Lee
Jun 18, 2014
3 min read

(picture by me at last year's Training Camp)

Zeus hath fallen.

I’m a little bummed, because I liked him.

It was announced at the beginning of the week that veteran center Michael Handzus, 37, will not be skating for Chicago next season when they go out on the ice to get our Stanley Cup back.

It wasn’t exactly a surprise. ‘Zus (age 47) had a lackluster and shortened season, which was reflected in his stats. He spent much of the year recovering from the war wounds he sustained in the ’13 Cup run. His knee wasn’t 100% and it showed on the ice in pretty much all 59 of the games he suited up for. His wrist also wasn’t 100%, and it showed in most of his passes and shots.

Still, he’s a tough guy and it was always fun to watch him skate for us at the Madhouse. There’s no denying his power on the penalty kill, and what he was able to on that second line with Kaner this year. We also certainly appreciated that epic overtime goal in Game 5 of the Kings series. He looked pretty good in training camp, where I snapped the photo you see above.

Handzus (57) has acknowledged his own disappointment in his performance this year compared to last, but the same is true of the team as a whole. Despite his struggles, he remained an important voice of experience in the locker room that our population of younger players could learn from. After all, Clinton was still in office when he first suited up for St. Louis 15 seasons ago. Gas was $1.03 a gallon. Titanic won Best Picture. Those annoying blond kids that sang Mmm Bop were still popular. People still thought Y2K was going to be a thing. I had hair.

Handzus (67) intends to put in a summer of serious conditioning to try and get himself in shape to play somewhere next year. I wish the big Slovak well. I will miss him, but in all candor I’ll really be missing 2013’s Handzus. Like I did this season.

That leaves us to wonder: who might fill his spot in the lineup? At least on an interim basis it would make sense for Joel Quenneville to move Shaw to the second line. Kruger would be an interesting choice but I think the flow of the team prefers that he stay where he. Q enjoys having Kruger’s fresh legs on the PK, so my vote (not that I have one) would be Shaw. I like Smith to take Zus’ spot on the Kill.

In saying his goodbyes, Handzus (77) said he has nothing but fond memories of his second tenure with the Blackhawks, where he finally managed to skate the Cup that would soon have his name on it. He was a class act and hopefully he’ll have the chance to make an impact on another young team somewhere next season.

One more thing before I go: Vegas has released the odds for the 2015 Cup winner. The Blackhawks sit atop the list at 15-2. Boston is an 8-1 favorite, with the Pens at 9-1. The odds have the Kings with a 10-1 at repeating, the Blues also at 10-1, and the Ducks and Sharks both sitting at 14-1. The Avs, who were easily the biggest surprise of the season, sit at 18-1 odds with the Wild. Those odds are courtesy of Bovada. They will not affect my life at all because I’m too poor to gamble. Additionally, I was born in Vegas, and my gambler’s luck was sucked out of me at birth and shot across town to a craps table at The Sands, where it answered a prayer and helped some poor schmuck from Topeka not have to hitchhike home.

Go Hawks.