You’ve got to hand it to Stan Bowman if you’re a fan of a veteran presence.

After rolling through a disappointing season with an extremely young roster, Bowman added Jamal Mayers (36), Sean O’Donnell (39) and Andrew Brunette (37) to go along with Steve Montador (31).

It’s quite obvious the Blackhawks are trying to balance out the locker room by adding tough, no-nonsense veterans to a roster which didn’t seem to understand the magnitude of their failures last season.

While Duncan Keith admitted packing it in and most others continued with their versions of, “We’ll be fine,” the team pretty much fell apart and nearly missed the playoffs, which would have given Chicago an increased suicide rate.

Now, with a locker room full of guys who likely won’t take much shit, there aren’t many excuses.

The Mayers signing didn’t exactly kick off with a bang.

The NHL on TSN crew tried to get Mayers on the phone to talk about the appeal of Chicago and what led to his signing, and he got cut off.

They finally got him on the phone, and here’s what he had to say:

“Obviously I have a relationship with Joel Quenneville, played for him in St. Louis … I haven’t talked to Joel yet, but if I haven’t figured out my role yet, I’m in big trouble … Hopefully I can provide some energy, kill penalties, knock some bodies around and chi in here and there.”

“With a leader like Toews, and Kane, they have an unbelievable core. Obviously last year was a disappointment for them, but I think they can get back to where they should be.”

Mayers has had back-to-back 14-point seasons, doing it last year with San Jose. He’s tough, which is good. He had 124 penalty minutes last season, 131 the year before. At one year and $550k, I guess you’re not giving up too much for a fourth-liner which may or may not get in the lineup.

I just don’t understand where the upside is on this one, given that Bowman has the cap space to go sign Chris Drury. Even Ryan Johnson, who seems to be out in the eyes of the Blackhawks, seems a better fit. More depth for what seems to be a rotating press box.

The team age of the ‘Hawks continued to rise with the signing of Philadelphia Flyers defenseman O’Donnell though this acquisition is one I’m getting behind. Big body coming in for quite cheap – and someone else to keep John Scott out of my life. He also won a Cup with Anaheim.

Bowman did well to bring in Montador and O’Donnell to add veterans  to a young defensive corpse, especially since Nick Leddy needs more tutelage – and not from Keith if he’s going to keep losing focus.

We wondered where the veteran voice would come from after the Brian Campbell trade, and Bowman went out and acquired guys like Montador and O’Donnell to fill that void.

Brunette is coming off a 46-point season in Minnesota, down 15 points from the 61 he tallied in 2009-10. He wore the ‘A’ with the Wild and decided to put off retirement to sign in Chicago. Right now, it looks like Brunette will be with Marian Hossa and Dave Bolland on the second line, which could be a hell of a threesome with Bolland’s set-up abilities and Brunette’s ability to finish. And Hossa is, well, Hossa.

We’ll have more on these signings as the day goes on. Keep up with us on Twitter at @CheerTheAnthem