In a major move to bolster their front office, the Blackhawks have signed legendary coach and Hockey Hall of Famer Scotty Bowman as senior adviser of hockey operations.

A press conference has been called at 2 p.m. today at the United Center to introduce Bowman, 74, to the Chicago media. Blackhawks president John McDonough and general manager Dale Tallon will make the introduction. Stan Bowman, the team's assistant general manager of hockey operations, also will be on hand.

The decision to add Bowman is a key move in that it provides McDonough with a strong figure to run the "hockey side" of the business with Tallon as McDonough focuses on the overall operation and brand of the franchise. With GM Dale Tallon having one year left on his contract, it also gives McDonough a solid perspective to evaluate Tallon's performance, and weakens Detroit's front office.

Bowman has spent the last three seasons as a consultant for the Detroit Red Wings, a team he coached for nine seasons and led to three Stanley Cup championships. As a consultant, he was involved in player personnel decisions and he also did some scouting for the defending Stanley Cup champions.

Bowman coached 30 years in the NHL and joined the Red Wings in 1994 and guided the Wings to their 10th Stanley Cup Championship in 2002. His record is legendary with 11 Stanley Cup titles overall, including nine as a head coach and one with Pittsburgh's front office in 1991 and one with Detroit last season. Bowman has coached four different teams (St. Louis, Montreal, Pittsburgh and Detroit) to 13 Stanley Cup Finals, accumulating a 9-4 record. In a total of 58 Stanley Cup Finals games, Bowman has won 36 and lost 22.

He is the only coach in NHL history to lead three different teams to Stanley Cup glory: Montreal (5 times), Pittsburgh (1 time) and Detroit (3 times). When he retired from coaching, he was the all-time NHL coaching leader in regular season victories (1,244) as well as playoff wins (223) with an combined career win total of 1,467 NHL games, all records not likely to be broken.

Tim Sassone, Mike Spellman and Barry Rozner will have more on the Blackhawks and Scotty Bowman later today.

For those who haven't been following closely, the Kings bought about Cloutier's contract but Cloutier filed a grievance, basically alleging that he's injured and therefore should have the buyout voided. According to the Kings, the league has agreed that Cloutier's buyout should stand. Officially, Cloutier is considered bought out. His $1.033 million for this season will count against the salary cap.