I'm struggling with this one. Of all the players in the Hawks organization from Quenville, R. Wirtz, Mcdonough....Dale Talon has had more to do with the on the ice success than any of the above. Seems very odd to me to demote a guy who was the main player in getting your team to where they are today. What do other Hawks fans think?

I'm a diehard Blackhawks fan who attends a lot of games at the UC. Suffice to say it has been the worst kept secret in hockey that team President John McDonough did not like Dale Tallon. Rocky and Jay vested a lot of authority in McDonough. And with Scotty Bowman serving as "special advisor" it was only a matter of time before Stan was going to get the big job.

Tallon was allowed to twist in the wind for months. He definitely could see the handwriting on the wall ever since Dennis Savard was fired four games in last season. I'm upset for the fact that Tallon was treated like **** in this process.

One other thing...Tallon was not demoted, rather he was fired. Tallon was given a hollow title for the mere reason that he has two years left of contract dough that is due.

(07-14-2009 10:45 PM)Nigel Incubator-Jones Wrote:  One other thing...Tallon was not demoted, rather he was fired. Tallon was given a hollow title for the mere reason that he has two years left of contract dough that is due.

umm no, he was actually technically moved over, not demoted or fired. He had 1 year remaining on his contract and with this new position was given a 2 year extension of his contract, replacing next year and adding another year.

you are correct that this was the worst kept secret though, Tallon should have been canned by last thanskgiving but the Hawks went on a run in the early season which saved his job, had they been under 500 at T-day he would have been gone then.

MD: Dale was the GM but he wasn't making the draft/trade decisions on his own, people like Stan were there advising on those decisions, old man wirtz was there until he died, most of the players are from dollar bills time, and he and pully were definitely pushing the buttons then. Dales drafts of kane toews, etc were mostly no brainers, Sharp was a great pick up but was that all dale or was that scouting telling him who to get? As for FA's his track record is awful at best.

His Gaffe with RFA this year will cost the Blackhawks when they have to sign Toews, Kane and Keith.

He has done a good job drafting and player evaluations but managing the club is an F.

(07-16-2009 09:39 AM)klake87 Wrote:  His Gaffe with RFA this year will cost the Blackhawks when they have to sign Toews, Kane and Keith.

He has done a good job drafting and player evaluations but managing the club is an F.

The RFA thing is an issue but there are a ton of rumblings that that was not Talon. They wanted to move talon last year but the Hawks were hot in the 1st half making that impossible. Talon takes the fall for the RFA issue since he's the GM but I don't think it was really his fault. I think it was purposely held back by the hawks as a way to move talon (who needed to be moved) and the cost of the slight extra payment to the RFA's was worth it in their mind.

(07-16-2009 10:19 AM)calvin12 Wrote:  

(07-16-2009 09:39 AM)klake87 Wrote:  His Gaffe with RFA this year will cost the Blackhawks when they have to sign Toews, Kane and Keith.

He has done a good job drafting and player evaluations but managing the club is an F.

The RFA thing is an issue but there are a ton of rumblings that that was not Talon. They wanted to move talon last year but the Hawks were hot in the 1st half making that impossible. Talon takes the fall for the RFA issue since he's the GM but I don't think it was really his fault. I think it was purposely held back by the hawks as a way to move talon (who needed to be moved) and the cost of the slight extra payment to the RFA's was worth it in their mind.

WOW. So the hawks other brain trust would want to lose one of their star or have to trade their talent to move out Tallon. Then who ever did that should be fired because they are overpaying for most of their RFA.

While conspiracy theory Calvin is out of his mind, they did want to get rid of him. They would not hurt their cap flexibility for such a reason though. That's asanine, the extra payment was not slight, it was quite substantial.

They just took advantage of the opportunity that arose from the RFA debacle.
The RFA thing was just an excuse, and he was fired for the reasons talked about above. He was never going to be in the job longterm, once the new guys came in there were a lot of internal issues. They gave him a new position out of respect for the man and his time and work put in, but he was canned. He'll now be golfing for a couple years and hanging out on his couch and he'll be paid for it, quite well I might add. Good for the Blackhawks to do the right thing for a company man, but don't get it confused, the man got fired.

John McDonough has hated Dale Tallon from day one. Again, it was the worst kept secret in hockey that Tallon was going to lose his job at some point. The restricted free agent thing was used as the convenient excuse.

Stan Bowman will go to Daddy for advice, and Daddy's advice will be to trade Patrick Sharp. Expect a move of Sharp shortly. Which does not make me happy, but the argument will be that moving Sharp frees up cap space.

(07-16-2009 10:22 AM)klake87 Wrote:  

(07-16-2009 10:19 AM)calvin12 Wrote:  

(07-16-2009 09:39 AM)klake87 Wrote:  His Gaffe with RFA this year will cost the Blackhawks when they have to sign Toews, Kane and Keith.

He has done a good job drafting and player evaluations but managing the club is an F.

The RFA thing is an issue but there are a ton of rumblings that that was not Talon. They wanted to move talon last year but the Hawks were hot in the 1st half making that impossible. Talon takes the fall for the RFA issue since he's the GM but I don't think it was really his fault. I think it was purposely held back by the hawks as a way to move talon (who needed to be moved) and the cost of the slight extra payment to the RFA's was worth it in their mind.

WOW. So the hawks other brain trust would want to lose one of their star or have to trade their talent to move out Tallon. Then who ever did that should be fired because they are overpaying for most of their RFA.

the only one who got overpaid at all was Versteeg, the rest got no more than they would have under the RFA offers. The "consipracy" isn't my thought, just mentioning things that have been floated out there. I wrote it badly in the OP.

(07-16-2009 12:08 PM)Nigel Incubator-Jones Wrote:  John McDonough has hated Dale Tallon from day one. Again, it was the worst kept secret in hockey that Tallon was going to lose his job at some point. The restricted free agent thing was used as the convenient excuse.

Stan Bowman will go to Daddy for advice, and Daddy's advice will be to trade Patrick Sharp. Expect a move of Sharp shortly. Which does not make me happy, but the argument will be that moving Sharp frees up cap space.

Dale should have been gone long before this. and once Scotty came on board the clock was ticking on Dale. Its not Dale and McD who are necessarily at odds. Its Scotty knowing that Dale isn't good at the job going to McD that got Dale kicked finally (and overdue)

When it comes down to it, Scotty Bowman did not believe that Tallon could make this team a championship calibur team. He sees him as someone that can build the core of a team, but struggles with free agents and putting those final pieces in place. It also doesn't help that he wasn't liked by the his superiors.

(07-16-2009 09:39 AM)klake87 Wrote:  His Gaffe with RFA this year will cost the Blackhawks when they have to sign Toews, Kane and Keith.

He has done a good job drafting and player evaluations but managing the club is an F.

Stan Bowman was Talon's assistant and according to the Sun Times, Bowman would have been responsible re: the RFA issue; it wouldn't have been something that would have been Talon's prime responsibility. Now it clearly is something he organizationally is responsible for, but if the RFA mess is really the cause of this, Stan should have been demoted as well. Seems like a B.S. cover story to me.