Surprise! Dale Tallon Out as Blackhawks GM

By Glen Miller

It was announced this morning that the Chicago Blackhawks have relieved Dale Tallon of his duties as General Manager of the team. This is somewhat of a surprising move if only because of the timing. The Hawks are coming off of their first Stanley Cup Playoff berth since 2002 and advanced as far as the Western Conference Finals before succumbing to a more playoff tested Detroit Red Wings team. Additionally, the club waited until after the draft and opening weeks of free agency before making this move. Stan Bowman, the son of legendary former Canadiens and Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman, will be promoted from his position as Assistant General Manager to the role of GM.

Some of Tallon’s more notable moves as GM include drafting Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane; trading for Kris Versteeg and Patrick Sharp; and signing Marian Hossa, Christobal Huet and Brian Campbell as UFA’s.

Tallon had taken a lot of heat in hockey circles for the failure of the Hawks to deliver tender notices to their RFA’s in the manner described in the CBA. How much that situation actually played in his dismissal is debatable but it was certainly an embarrassment to the organization that had so much going right.

My personal feel is that this boils down to Hawks President John McDonough finally deciding to pull the trigger and “bring in his own guy.” The RFA mess may have been the straw that broke the camel’s proverbial back. Tallon was a hire of the previous regime and McDonough has already shown that he is not shy about changing things up. There had already been rumors of discord in the Hawks management when McDonough brought in Scotty Bowman as a front office consultant. That move couldn’t have made Tallon feel particularly safe in his position.

Another possible factor that may have led to the change is the cap situation the Hawks are facing. With the Hawks already at or above this year’s cap ceiling and a number of cumbersome long term deals in place, the Hawks were going to have difficulty signing their key RFA’s next off-season. Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith and Andrew Ladd will all be RFA’s next season and will all be looking for raises for which the Hawks probably won’t have the cap space to give out. Tallon is presumably responsible for having awarded long term, big-money deals to Brian Campbell and Christobal Huet while also having his hand forced by the RFA gaffe and probably awarding an extra $3 million in cap space to Kris Versteeg and Cam Barker for each of the next 3 seasons.

With the potential cap problems staring the Hawks in the face next off-season, McDonough has turned to Bowman who in his role as Assistant GM handled CBA issues, free agency and contract negotiations for the Hawks. As a numbers guy, Bowman may provide McDonough with the right guy to guide the franchise through next off-season’s rough waters.

Dale Tallon was widely loved by his players. Who can forget that when Dale’s father passed away last year, many of the players took to the buses on an off-day to make it to the funeral to offer their support for their GM. Tallon was loyal almost to a fault.

There is no way the Tallon stays unemployed for long if he doesn’t want to. Florida, who has the only vacancy in the NHL at the GM position, should give this guy a call this morning to see if he would be interested in the gig. As good a job as interim GM Randy Sexton has done this summer in Florida, to be able to bring in a noted builder like Tallon is a no-brainer for Bill Torrey in Florida. As most of us know, Torrey is the man credited with building those great Islanders teams of the early ‘80’s and is now heading up the search for a permanent GM for the Panthers after Jacques Martin bolted to take the head coaching gig in Montreal.

If he doesn’t get offered the GM spot in Florida, I could see any number of struggling franchises bring him in as an Assistant GM to help their re-building efforts. I could see him as a fit with the Islanders to lend Garth Snow an experienced hand. What if Atlanta starts off slowly and finally decides to relieve Don Waddell of the GM duties there; would Tallon be up to re-uniting with his former Hawks Assistant GM, Rick Dudley?

Tallon has proven himself to be both a great hockey guy and a great guy period. He has a lot to be proud of during his tenure with the Hawks. If and when the Hawks win the Cup, you can bet Tallon will feel pride in the role that he has played to get the team where they are.