There's a kind of hush.

All has been quiet with the tribe since the convention. That seems like months ago but it has only been a couple of weeks. Bowman stated that he may not do anything about the cap issue until training camp starts. My speculation has to do with that boot that Oduya was wearing at the convention. Hard to trade a guy healing from a broken foot. Get him on his skates during training camp and show the other teams what they will be getting. So I anticipate a team without Oduya to start the season.

Training camp kicks off at Notre Dame on Sept 19. I have not heard anything about those tickets yet. But I do have my tickets to the training camp festival on September 22. Pre-season starts on the 23rd at home against the Wings and then we travel to the Joe two days later for a rematch. Then there are only two games against the Wings when it counts. The regular season kicks off on October 9th against the Stars and we open up the UC two days later against Kaner's home town.

For the full schedule:
http://blackhawks.nhl.com/club/schedule.htm

The biggest changes, so far, this season are with the coaching staff. I couldn't be happier with the changes especially in light of the exiting assistant.
(See my previous blog http://blackhawksinsights.blogspot.com/2014/07/bye-bye-jamie.html)
I think we now have a premier coaching staff with Q, Kitch, Waite and Dineen. Dinnen is going to be great for the organization. He has a great relationship with Q going back to their Hartford days together. He was a head coach for Florida and he is famous for this goal:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HgTjZlOyvs
Notice how he gets himself open in front of the net. Dineen was a mediocre player which means he had to work for everything he did. That work will help him to understand how to help others. Mediocre payers make good coaches.
Dineen also scored against the Soviets in an NHL vs. Soviets series in 1987.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pV_6AZglQXs
See, again, Dineen getting himself in the open. He knew how to work and will be a great coach in that area.

The core remains in place, no drama about contracts for the dynamic duo, and add Richards. Its going to be a great year.