Blackhawks reluctant to call team a 'dynasty'

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The third Stanley Cup win in six years is prompting some to call the Blackhawks organization a "dynasty," but the team is reluctant to agree with that description.

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"I'd say you have a dynasty," said NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman.

"We're gonna have a parade worthy of a dynasty," said Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

The new Sports Illustrated cover says "Modern Dynasty," and fans also endorse the word.

"Three championships in six years is pretty much a dynasty," said Hawks fan Chris Wolff.

Webster's defines dynasty as "a powerful group or family that maintains its position for a considerable time." Well, the Hawks are family, and they have maintained a position for a considerable time.

But the leaders of this organization are keeping their distance from the word.

"A lot of times dynasties have the same players and you're able to maintain it. With a hard salary cap, it's Stan Bowman reinventing the team every year, so it's a different team now than it was in '13 and '10," Rocky Wirtz said.

The salary cap means that some of the faces who helped win the 2015 Stanley Cup will be gone.

"It's impressive to win three Stanley Cups in six years, but you're not gonna hear the dynasty word in our place," said John McDonough, Blackhawks president.

Words have power, meaning, and consequence. You can dine with the glorious Cup at the Table, but if you start calling yourself a dynasty, it just might cause future indigestion. The team President says the word dynasty is a little self-absorbed.

"We've got a task at hand. We're gonna try to win again next year. We've got a lot at stake. So for the media and Gary Bettman and others to say that, that's wonderful, but we're not gonna go there," McDonough said.

So this family, as it currently exists, may choose to avoid the dynasty label, but that they are champions is indisputable by every definition.

"We'll all be talking about where we were 20 years from now. Yeah, for sure," said Blackhawks fan Kimberly Reed.

The salary cap reality is that change is coming, and soon - much as it did five years ago right after the Stanley Cup. For players and fans, some of it was painful.

But three years later the Hawks won again. So if fans wish to shout the word "dynasty", it is their right, and perhaps also an expectation. You just won't hear that word spoken in the Hawks' front office.