Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Blackhawks fire Dale Tallon


July 14, 2009

Have to say I did not see this coming. Tallon’s been GM since June 2005 and the team has gone from crap to playing well against the Stanley Cup Champs in the playoffs. Yes, he screwed up the contracts but what else? And they got signed anyway without any problems.

From Chicago Breaking News CHRIS KUC:

But he [Tallon] came under fire last week for sending qualifying offers to restricted free agents late, causing them to be delivered after the deadline set by the NHL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The eight players, including Kris Versteeg and Cam Barker, were all signed to contracts, and the NHL Players’ Association withdrew its grievance.

Tallon was in the final year of his contract and last Wednesday, in his first comments after the filing snafu, said he had not asked for a contract extension.

When asked if he planned to ask for an extension, Tallon said: “I have a contract. I’m not worried about it. I’ve been here for 32 years. I don’t see any reason to have to do that. That will take care of itself.”

I guess I don’t know enough of the history. What’s John McDonough think when he’s been trying to get the old Hawks back into the picture?

Stan Bowman – son of legendary Scotty Bowman – will be the new GM. Maybe it was part of Bowman Sr’s initial deal.

Bowman, the son of legendary NHL coach and current senior advisor for hockey operations Scotty Bowman, has been with the Hawks organization for eight seasons, including assistant general manager for the past two.

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