Denis Savard's luck ran out, Kid Coyotes and Palin's quest

On Tuesday, outside his office at the Blackhawks' practice facility in suburban Chicago, coach Denis Savard lobbied an old acquaintance about a job he knew he was hanging onto by his fingertips.

"I believe in my ability as a coach," Savard told SI.com. "I'm a good, good coach. I teach real well. Those kids -- 10 rookies in the lineup last year -- from where they started to where they finished up, how much they grew ... that's why I look at myself and say I did a helluva job. I have lots of confidence in my ability. I believe I'm a perfect fit for this young team here ... I know we're judged by wins and loses, no doubt about it, but I would like to think that how much these kids have grown, how much better players they are, counts for something.

"I've been a little more firm than I was last year. There's a little more accountability because the expectations are higher. I use the same approach --we did this [wrong], now let's look at it [on tape] -- but I'm a little harder on guys."

Less than 48 hours later, the Blackhawks were hard on Savard. They fired him and replaced him with Joel Quenneville, the former Colorado coach who had joined the organization during the off-season ostensibly to scout part-time around Denver, not necessarily as the heir apparent. Savard, in the last year of his contract, knew that he had been working without a net since the summer when his request for an extension was rebuffed by general manager Dale Tallon and Blackhawks president John McDonough, who explained the decision by saying the team hadn't made the playoffs last season despite a strong late-season run.

As Tallon put it this week after Chicago dropped its home opener to Nashville and slipped to 0-2-1, "This is a competitive business, all about wins and losses."

The Blackhawks finished three points out of the playoffs last spring, victimized by an indifferent power play and a goals-against average that ranked 20th in the NHL. The only team in the bottom third of the league in goals-against to make the playoffs was Ottawa, which was No. 2 in scoring. Chicago allowed four goals in each of its first two games this season and lost a shootout to Nashville before beating Phoenix, 4-1, on Wednesday behind superb goaltending from Nikolai Khabibulin. As a smiling Savard strode towards his postgame press conference, he called out to his acquaintance of nearly three decades -- the man's mother-in-law used to be a waitress in the restaurant near Montreal that Savard's family owned -- "Come back anytime. You're my good luck charm."

Twelve hours later, with his talisman on an airplane, Savard wasn't so lucky. Given the carnival atmosphere surrounding the Blackhawks, a buzz-killing start killed Savard's chances of staying behind the bench with the franchise he adores. Even though he won his only Stanley Cup with the Canadiens in 1993, he is a Hawk, one of five Chicago players to have had his jersey retired. (Bonus points if you knew the others were Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita, Glenn Hall and Tony Esposito.)

On Tuesday, Savard was asked if he's prepared to decide if he is a career Blackhawk or a career coach. In other words, would he stick around in some capacity with the organization -- surely McDonough, who helped repatriate Hull and Mikita, will want the popular Savard to continue his association with the team -- or coach elsewhere, likely as an assistant?

"I don't know," Savard said. "I bleed for this logo. I'd have to really think about it."

Young Coyotes cutting their teeth

Before the Tampa Bay Lightning drafted Steven Stamkos with the first overall pick this year, the team bought billboards in the area asking the question, "Seen Stamkos?"

The short answer is, absolutely. He's the guy picking splinters from his butt on the bench.

Presumably Tampa Bay's mercurial ownership will put a bug in coach Barry Melrose's ear to give Stamkos, averaging 9:27 through three games -- including a mere 6:05 cameo against Carolina last weekend -- a little more ice time, although vice-president of hockey operations Brian Lawton cautioned prior to the start of the season that Stamkos would not be rushed. The situation stands in contrast to how the Phoenix Coyotes use their talented rookie forwards, Mikkel Boedker and Kyle Turris. Through three games, Boedker is averaging 16:14 while the lanky Turris has played an average of 11:28. Turris is tied for the team lead with four points (one goal, three assists) while Boedker has a goal. Stamkos has no points and is a minus-1.

"Wayne is really great with young players," Phoenix GM Don Maloney said of coach Wayne Gretzky. "It might be 11 minutes for these guys, but it could be 18 minutes. He'll get them power-play minutes and the right matchups for them at this point."

In Phoenix's first two games, Gretzky tried to keep Turris away from Anaheim's Ryan Getzlaf -- "He's not ready for that," Gretzky said with a smile -- and Rick Nash's line when the Coyotes played Columbus.

Boedker might be slightly ahead of Turris at the moment because the Dane manages the puck better and has a more mature two-way game, in part because of his apprenticeship in Kitchener of the Ontario Hockey League for current Florida Panthers coach Peter DeBoer.

"The good thing is we don't have to force feed them," Maloney said. "We have veterans like (captain Shane) Doan and a motivated Olli Jokinen to carry the load. Wayne's been giving them important ice time, like at the end of periods; I'm not sure I would do it, but that's how guys get better. Sometimes young guys end up turning pucks over. All those plays you can get away with in junior and college -- on the rush, pulling up inside the blueline -- won't work here because guys in the NHL are on you so quick. Fortunately Wayne understands that, hey, it's a young guy who made the mistake. You talk to them, and then you get them back out there. But in a lot of places if you're a coach who's bent on winning games for survival only, after a turnover you're back on the bench."

Last season, two of the rookies the freshly-fired Savard helped develop in Chicago, Patrick Kane and the preternaturally mature Jonathan Toews, finished 1-3 in Calder Trophy voting. Don't be shocked if this Phoenix pair does the same thing.

The truth about Sarah Palin

A final word on Sarah Palin dropping the puck in Philadelphia at the Flyers' home opener: The Republican vice-presidential candidate did it not because she was courting the Hockey Mom vote in a swing state, but because she thought she could field dress Moose Dupont.