John Scott: Blackhawks' rebuilding letter was embarrassing
John Scott believes members of the Chicago Blackhawks' front office should be ashamed of themselves for the message they conveyed to fans earlier this week.
"The fact that they are just giving in to their fan base and having to write that letter is embarrassing," the former Blackhawks agitator said on his "Dropping the Gloves" podcast Thursday.
On Tuesday, the Blackhawks shared a letter in which they committed to rebuilding their roster.
Chicago parted with two pieces of the core from their championship years, allowing goaltender Corey Crawford to sign with the New Jersey Devils on the first day of free agency and trading Brandon Saad to the Colorado Avalanche in a deal that netted them defenseman Nikita Zadorov one day later.
A day after the trade, Blackhawks players aired their frustration, as other core veterans were reportedly "pissed" about the moves and said to have "had enough." Captain Jonathan Toews said "a lot of this comes as a shock because it's a completely different direction than we expected."
"I would be upset if I were Toews or (Patrick) Kane, I would be embarrassed if I was the organization, and if I was a fan, I'd be like, 'Great, I complained and they answered me, so guess what? I'm going to complain some more and they better answer me again or else I'm going to be super upset,'" Scott said.
"You shouldn't have to explain your moves to Twitter trolls just because you made a couple trades," he continued. "It just looks weak. It looks soft. I don't like it."
Scott also mentioned he believes the club wouldn't have written the letter had former team president John McDonough still been with the organization. The Blackhawks fired McDonough in April and replaced him with Danny Wirtz, the son of owner Rocky Wirtz.
McDonough was widely credited with resurrecting the franchise and helping it win three titles in six years.
Scott played parts of two of his eight NHL seasons with Chicago. He retired in 2016.
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