Hard Hawk Hockey

Tallon Fired!

We could see the handwriting on the wall ever since last July when the Chicago Blackhawks hired Scotty Bowman as a consultant for the organization. We all knew that Dale Tallon’s days as Hawk GM were numbered and as soon as the mistakes, or bad decisions which in all honesty there weren’t too many of, reached the boiling point, we knew he would be fired.

Well that day is here. It is being reported all over that the Blackhawks will make the announcement this morning that current GM Dale Tallon will be fired and replaced by assisant GM Stan Bowman.
Tallon has filled many roles during his time with the Hawks. From player, to color analyst, to director of player personnel to finally General Manager. One thing is certain however, that he is one of the last of the Bill Wirtz era (head Scout Michel Dumas the other), and for that he may be paying a price as the new regime seems to be cleaning house of all things associated with that era.

We will all argue of the timing of this, and was he made a scapegoat of the free agency offers that were allegedly not delivered on time, and the fat contracts (i.e. over payments) to Bryan Campbell and Cristobal Huet, and now to Marion Hossa, and possibly even John Madden. Dale is and was not perfect. No general manager is, except maybe the guy in Detroit. That being said, Dale Tallon has built or should I say rebuilt this Hawks roster from the scrapheap and made it a true contender. He has been part of the regime that has brought back repectability, and the passion that was part of the Hawks for so long. Now he will not be able to enjoy the fruits of his labors, which that alone is sad.

I am not saying that I agree or disagree with this move yet. Being here in Florida, I need some more time to read and investigate the story and see what additional info I can find, and also let it sink in alittle bit as well before I comment on it further. There is a lot going on in this front office, there are alot of opinions and so called experts attempting to bring Lord Stanley to the Windy City. The recently departed Rick Dudley commented that “The front office is pretty crowded”. That speaks volumnes of the situation in that maybe there were too many chiefs and not enough indians. Parden the pun.

Tallon was loved by his players. As we are able to confirm with the players decision last season to all attend the funeral of Dale’s father during a road trip. That story alone is all you need to know to see how his players felt about him. While the firing of Denis Savard last season after four games was brutal, the players got over it. I am sure that they will get over this as well, but what is the message that the Hawks brass is sending about these abrupt firings?

In the picture at the beginning of this blog, both Tallon and Scotty are smiling. But something tells me that the thoughts going through their heads went something like this:

Tallon: Welcome aboard Scotty. It’s great to have one of the smartest guys in hockey as part of our organization. Please let me stay here until we win the Cup.

Scotty: Dale, don’t know why your smiling. The first mistake you make will probably get you fired. My son was named after the Stanley Cup. If you think I’m not going to let him be the one to take the credit for that, your sadly mistaken.

More to follow.

Thanks for reading