"I don't see him permanently being in that position," Wirtz said on the Mully & Haugh Show on Monday morning. "Only because he's involved in all the other (family) businesses, and I would hate to see him not contribute to other business and just be with the Hawks."
While Danny isn't in line to run the Blackhawks for the long haul, he has been tasked with revitalizing the organization in the present. That task fell to him in late April, when he was installed in his position after Wirtz surprisingly fired longtime president John McDonough, a move that Wirtz spoke to Monday.
"John had done a terrific job with the Hawks," Wirtz said. "So take nothing away from what he did. But after sitting back and working out of my home (amid the pandemic), I had time to reflect and think back and realize that we have to embrace change. Change is happening so quickly around us. And the question I asked was, 'Is our organization set up to do that?' And I just thought it was time to get in a different direction, and there's no one better to embrace change that I've worked with very closely than my son Danny. Danny's 43, he's a perfect age, he has worked with the Hawks virtually -- you might not have seen him, but he's been there, he's been at the United Center, in the community aspect. So he's worked with the Hawks, but you haven't seen him front and center. So I thought it would be good to put him in there in the interim role and put him in charge. Let's give him the support he needs. Let's get him out and around that organization, set up a set of values of what we want for this next president and then let him head up the search.
"And I think that that's the thing -- you want to put people in position to succeed and not to micro-manage them. So he's firmly in that cockpit. I give him all the support, and I'm looking forward to working closely with him in the future.
"I have complete trust in him."
Wirtz left the immediate future of general manager Stan Bowman up to Danny, who has already said he's "extremely confident" in Bowman, who has helped lead the Blackhawks to three Stanley Cup titles.
"That was really Danny's call," Wirtz said. "I've been here to support Danny. His hands are on the steering wheel. And as I said, you don't run businesses by micro-managing and doing other people's job. You put them in position to do their job. If they don't do their job, you find people that will.
"I don't think people realize, when many times when people criticize Stan Bowman in the past, after (the championships in) '10, after '13, after '15, we had because of the hard salary cap, we had to trade half our team and rebuild it again. Granted, there's a couple years where we weren't in the playoffs, but that's (a case of) 'you don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.'"
Wirtz was then questioned if the new president -- whenever he's installed -- will then determine the future of Bowman and coach Jeremy Colliton.
"That's all to be determined, how you want to set up the organization, what it's going to like, what kind of person you're going to put in that position," Wirtz said. "But I promise you one thing, whoever the next person is, it's not just going to be a hockey retread."
As the elder Wirtz sees it, the Blackhawks aren't in a "transitional" phase. His intention is for the Blackhawks to avoid "peaks and valleys" in their competitive window and get to the playoffs each season, giving themselves a chance from there.
With a big assist from the league office, that's what the Blackhawks have done this year. The Blackhawks' playoff hopes were on life support when the coronavirus pandemic halted play in March, but they were included in the expanded 24-team restart. Chicago then upset Edmonton in their qualifying-round series to reach the usual 16-team playoffs.
The Blackhawks now trail 3-1 against the Vegas Golden Knights in their first-round series. Game 5 is Tuesday at 9:30 p.m. CT.
"I would characterize it as, what does this organization want to look like coming out of this pandemic?" Wirtz said. "I don't think it's transitional. We're headed in the right direction. Danny is keeping the train on the tracks, and I think the next person we bring in is going to have to follow these same kind of values that have been developed and see how he or she fits into that position. I don't see it as transitional as some people might look at it."