Blackhawks, Havlat prepare to meet again: will it be wild and crazy?

But we all have our little faults, so if sucking up to fans at all hours is his thing and delaying teammates from meeting their own social obligations, so be it. They could always spend the time Twittering in Havlat's view.

I would like to know exactly who decided to leak that odd bit of parking-lot info to the Star Tribune reporter as one example of Havlat's fan-friendly nature. It seems a little excessive in delineating his good points.

Since his agent, Allan Walsh, and former Hawks assistant GM Rick Dudley are quoted in the story in lush praise of Havlat, I guess that we'd finger them for these fulsome character assessments that put Marty just shy of snow-cone sainthood on and off ice.

"We put together a highlight video for training camp and there are a couple Havlat goals on there that are just incredible," Wild GM Chuck Fletcher gushed. "He's a natural goal scorer and playmaker. The way he can lean on defenders down low or win a 1-on-1 battle on the wall or just outskill you is dynamic."

Does that make you lonesone to have Havlat back in the fold, Hawk fans?

When the Blackhawks and Havlat meet again Sunday in Minnesota for an exhibition game, what emotions should Chicago fans direct toward their lost love?

I would guess that it's a full range that would run from A to Z. So let's plow through the alphabet.

Annoyance toward him for turning the Blackhawks breakup into a messy Twittering divorce that raised questions about the club philosophy and competency this season?
Congratulations for awakening us to impending disaster?

Gratitude toward him for all the great times he left us to remember him by, including 29 goals (77 points) in 81 regular-season games last season and 5 goals (15 points) in 16 playoff games?

Comic relief for saying he and some teammates considered team president John McDonough a phony and discussed that among themselves from time to time?

Respect for playing hurt in the playoffs? (Although McDonough noting that as a plus in his postseason assessment of Havlat didn't convince him to re-sign him at any cost).

"I'm healthy and the shoulder injuries are behind me," Havlat said to the Star-Tribune.
Relief that we won't have to worry about Havlat missing big chunks of time with injuries, despite his assurances?

"The question has never been whether he was a good player or not," Dudley said. "It's only 'could he stay healthy?' "

Concern that without Havlat the Hawks won't be as good?

According to Dudley, Dave Bolland and Andrew Ladd were pretty much lower-tier players until Havlat happened along to play with them last season.

Do the Hawks still have enough players that make other players better?

"He's willing to do anything for you if it means the team's got a better chance of winning," Dudley told the Star Tribune. "You don't look at (Bolland and Ladd) as of yet as top-tier offensive players, so if Marty's playing with somebody like (Mikko) Koivu, could he conceivably get more goals and points and be a true star? No question."

I'm not sure how Bolland and Ladd will read that analysis. But somehow I don't see it as a compliment. Sounds to me like a question there about what Bolland and Ladd will become now that Havlat isn't with them.

It would be comforting going up against the Wild Sunday with Marian Hossa in the house. But irony of ironies, Hossa's rehabbing shoulder will keep him sidelined for a while after the Hawks decided to sign him long term as a free agent instead of Havlat, in part because of Havlat's troubled injury history.

Yeah, Marty, I know, it is pretty funny. I'll give you that.

No one will know any time soon how the Hossa/Havlat decision in July will impact the Hawks this season. Havlat can draw first blood on Sunday, however, and again Sept. 25 at the UC when the Wild comes to Chicago.

Nonetheless, first blood or not, Hossa is considered to be the better player in general consensus and likely to have the last laugh. Although it would not surprise me if Havlat totally disagrees.

Not openly, you understand. But with his knowing wink.

He hardly mentioned the Hawks in the Star Tribune article and nothing in a negative fashion. The closest Havlat came to being assertive was when asked how he'd compare himself to former Wild star Marian Gaborik.

"He had great years here and he's a tremendous player," Havlat said. "But I think I'm a different player than him. I play a different style of hockey than him."

Different in what way? The reporter said that Havlat smiled, winked and added: "I think everybody who watches hockey, they know if I'm the same or not."

Oh, I see, different means better to Havlat. A better hockey player than Gaborik. Winks are meant to convey such secret knowledge. Winks aren't bulletin-board material.

Havlat probably thinks the Hawks are going to be a different team without him. Wink! But, this time, different won't mean better to him. Just worse.

And who can blame him if he holds a grudge toward the Hawks hierarchy now that his buddy, former GM Dale Tallon, has been bounced along with him from a power position. He gave the team a lot, and if he wants to be hacked off, he has every right.

Havlat imagined he would be part of great things in Chicago. He was for one special year. Now, in his own unqiue way on and off ice, he will try to dismantle what was built in Chicago and talk repeatedly about how Minnesota is the place for him..

He even is planning to branch out from Twitter and start a fan page on Facebook. If the story goes his way, the Blackhawks will take a beating on the internet, as well. And his Wild teammates will be held up exiting the parking lot while Havlat snaps fan photos in a snowstorm--and Minnesota has plenty of those.

The fall gushing might turn into a winter flood that swamps Minneapolis, the little burg that wants to be big, which could make it the world's biggest ice rink this winter while Chicago burns.

Or--Hossa could be great, Bolland and Ladd might be better than ever, and Havlat will be nothing but an afterthought when the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup.
It's personal battles such as this that make a season interesting. Wink!