From the news conference:

McDonough: It's obviously a day with mixed emotions on my departure from the Chicago Cubs, which is a world-class organization. But it's also a great opportunity to join the Chicago Blackhawks, who I think are headed for some great things.

I met Rocky 10 days ago, and it came together quickly.

[i]I look at this as a challenge, the right opportunity for me at the right time.

I followed the Blackhawks my entire career. It's one of the great brands in all of professional sports. I have great confidence that we are going to restore and reinvigorate this great franchise.

To all of you Blackhawks fans out there, it's time to come back. You're going to be very proud of the direction we're headed. I'm thrilled to be part of it. It's time to be enthusiastic and energetic about the Chicago Blackhawks.

[A change of Cubs ownership]played a role, but this was the right opportunity at the right time. Tribune Co. has been great to me. It's a great organization. But my contract with the Blackhawks is a multiyear deal, and certainly it's long enough to get the job done on and off the ice.

To all Cubs fans, this guarantees by my leaving that you will win the World Series next year.

[How his role will be similar to his role with the Cubs] I think it's going to be fairly similar.

I understand the Cubs ownership situation right now. The Cubs were terrific to me from the top to bottom. That's been a big part of my life for 24-plus years. But the opportunity Rocky had presented to me came together rather quickly.

I'm really excited to be here.

Hockey is a great sport. It's exciting.

The biggest challenge is to win, and winning is the greatest marketing idea of all time. I want to fill that building on a regular basis. The ultimate goal is to win the Stanley Cup. I think you can sell the excitement of coming to a Blackhawks hockey game.

I want to get something clear. It never has been about the job I had done with the Chicago Cubs in filling Wrigley Field. It took an entire front office to do that. I want the Cubs to win the World Series. I left there and it was a difficult thing to do. I am just proud of our fan base. Our fans were so incredibly loyal to that brand and those fans deserve a World Series. They are going to achieve that in the near future.

I can understand someone wanting some stability in their employment, so I don't blame McDonough for leaving at all. All-in-all, you'd have to say his one year reign was a good one.

I just hope Piniella, his coaching staff and Wilken survive.

Eh, I really don't care if the new ownership wants to push Piniella and the coaches aside, too. I wasn't unhappy with Piniella this season, and was in fact pleasantly surprised in some ways. But he's obviously not part of a long term plan.