Rocky Wirtz inherited the Blackhawks soon after the death of his father, William "Dollar Bill"
Bill Wirtz, in 2007, becoming only the fifth principal owner in the franchise's 81-year history. His grandfather,
Arthur Wirtz, bought a stake in the Blackhawks in 1950, acquiring outright ownership in 1966 and selling a stake to Bill, who inherited full ownership upon Arthur's death in 1983. Rocky's younger brother, Peter, served as Blackhawks executive vice president and supported many of Bill's long-standing policies, so many viewed him as Bill's heir apparent, while Rocky had no prior direct involvement with the team. Peter was immediately named principal owner upon Bill's passing. However, Peter was uninterested in taking the Blackhawks through a rebuild, and he decided to resign as vice president and instead allowed Rocky to assume control of the team, in return for Peter taking over another Wirtz Corp. business which was Bismarck Enterprises. The Blackhawks franchise faced both financial challenges and on-ice struggles. Over the decade preceding Rocky Wirtz's leadership, the team incurred losses approaching $191 million and managed to qualify for the playoffs only once during that span. This period saw
ESPN dubbing the Blackhawks as the worst franchise in professional sports. Wirtz recalls a dire financial predicament where the team found itself unable to cover its own payroll obligations prior to the
2007–08 NHL season. He was forced to borrow money from other companies within the
Wirtz Corporation to keep the franchise afloat. Wirtz hired John McDonough, who was presently serving as
Chicago Cubs team president, to become the new president of the Blackhawks. Wirtz also retained
Dale Tallon as Blackhawks
general manager and
Denis Savard as
head coach, while Blackhawks senior vice president
Bob Pulford was soon reassigned to Blackhawks liaison on NHL affairs. (Savard would be fired as head coach just four games into the 2008–09 season and replaced by
Joel Quenneville.) On October 22, 2007, Wirtz announced the team negotiated with Comcast SportsNet Chicago (now known as
NBC Sports Chicago, of which he was part-owner) to televise home games. This was another break from his father's management style, where games were previously unavailable on television unless they were nationally televised. That season, they began to show seven home games, with Wirtz citing pre-existing agreements Comcast had with other programming as a reason why the remaining 2007–08 home schedule could not air locally. Former star players
Bobby Hull and
Stan Mikita, who were not on good terms with the elder Wirtz, returned to the team in the role of "ambassadors". A big step showing this reconciliation was when the Blackhawks celebrated Hull and Mikita together at the United Center on March 7, 2008. Another bold change by Wirtz was lessening the use of the United Center's
organ in favor of more prerecorded current music to attract new, younger fans. The break in tradition was initially met with skepticism but soon proved successful, as the team's new goal song, "
Chelsea Dagger", became a song other teams loved to hate. The Blackhawks enjoyed an immediate resurgence under the younger Wirtz's stewardship, thanks to McDonough's leadership in marketing, along with the young talent on the roster (drafted by general manager Tallon), which boosted the team's on-ice performance and reversed a long drought in popularity. This became evident when the team ranked 1st in the NHL for attendance in 2008–09 The team also hosted the
Detroit Red Wings in the
2009 NHL Winter Classic at
Wrigley Field that season. After missing the playoffs for six straight seasons (and seven of the last eight), the team's competitiveness improved dramatically in 2008-09. Having built the team around a core of
Patrick Kane,
Patrick Sharp,
Jonathan Toews,
Duncan Keith and
Brent Seabrook, the Blackhawks recorded their first 100-point season in 16 years. They defeated the
Calgary Flames and the
Vancouver Canucks in the first two rounds before bowing out to the defending
Stanley Cup champion Red Wings in the Western Conference final. In the
2010 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Blackhawks defeated the
Nashville Predators,
Vancouver Canucks and
San Jose Sharks to advance to their first
Stanley Cup Final since
1992. They faced the
Philadelphia Flyers in the Stanley Cup Final and won the
Stanley Cup in six games on June 9, 2010. This was the first Stanley Cup for the Blackhawks since 1961, thus ending the second longest Stanley Cup drought in the history of the NHL. in 2013. In the
2013 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Blackhawks eliminated the
Minnesota Wild, Detroit Red Wings, and 2012 Stanley Cup champion
Los Angeles Kings to reach the Final. There they defeated the 2011 Stanley Cup Champion
Boston Bruins in six games, giving the Blackhawks a second championship in four seasons. This marked the first game between Western and Eastern Conference teams all season due to the
2012–13 NHL lockout-shortened season. This also marked the first time since
1979 for an all
Original Six Cup Final. Shortly after this championship, Wirtz and John McDonough, president and CEO of the Blackhawks, took out a full-page ad in the
Boston Globe thanking the city of Boston for respect and sportsmanship during the Cup Final and praising their recovery from the
Boston Marathon bombing. In the
2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Blackhawks eliminated the Nashville Predators, Minnesota Wild, and
Anaheim Ducks to reach the Final. There, they defeated the
Tampa Bay Lightning in six games, giving the Blackhawks a third championship in six seasons. It also allowed them to win the Cup on home ice for the first time since 1938. Prior to the
2021–22 NHL season, former prospect
Kyle Beach alleged he was sexually assaulted by a member of the Blackhawks' coaching staff in
2010. The Blackhawks conducted an internal investigation. Multiple executives and coaches on the team, including
Stan Bowman, Joel Quenneville, and
Al MacIsaac were aware of Beach's allegations in 2010, but failed to properly report the issue to the police. ==Personal life and death==