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'Hawks fire Tallon


MadDog2020

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Maybe Triumph can tackle this on his blog, but was Tallon that instrumental in the rebuilding of the Blackhawks? I see a GM that drafted two obvious stars in Kane and Toews. I don't think anyone else would not take Kane #1 overall and Toews 3rd overall.

But Tallon made a ton of blunders in his time as GM. In his first draft, he swung and and missed by taking Jack Skille with the 7th pick. He followed the draft up by signing a few players to ridiculous contracts. He gave Khabibulin a 4-year $27 million contract, which at the time of a $39 million cap was dumb. It is still a very crazy contract nowadays, but even more so at the time. Tallon then added Lapointe and Aucoin to 4 and 3-year deals respectively to round off an unimpressive first off-season. Lapointe's deal was worth $7.2 million.

He gave Christobal Huet an absolute awful deal (4 years at $5.635 a season) Gave Brian Campbell a cap crippling contract worth $56.8 million over 8 years. Although he made a very nice trade to get Patrick Sharp, he undoubtedly overpaid to keep him with a 4-year contract worth just a few hairs under $16 million.

Now Tallon did do some great work getting Havlat for practically nothing. And made possibly an even better move getting Kris Versteeg for nothing. But for every good move he made, he seemed to balance it out with a sh!tty contract.

Keep in mind that the draft picks of Barker, Bolland, Seabrook, Byfuglien, and Duncan Keith were all made before he was named GM. Although he was part of the organization at the time, who knows how much he had to do with any of those draft picks. Probably not much with scouting wizard Marshall Johnston on the staff.

The "clerical error" with the RFAs had to be the final straw for a GM that has left the Blackhawks in a very messy situation next year. Stan Bowman has a lot of work cut out for him.

Edited by devilsrule33
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Maybe Triumph can tackle this on his blog, but was Tallon that instrumental in the rebuilding of the Blackhawks? I see a GM that drafted two obvious stars in Kane and Toews. I don't think anyone else would not take Kane #1 overall and Toews 3rd overall.

But Tallon made a ton of blunders in his time as GM. In his first draft, he swung and and missed by taking Jack Skille with the 7th pick. He followed the draft up by signing a few players to ridiculous contracts. He gave Khabibulin a 4-year $27 million contract, which at the time of a $39 million cap was dumb. It is still a very crazy contract nowadays, but even more so at the time. Tallon then added Lapointe and Aucoin to 4 and 3-year deals respectively to round off an unimpressive first off-season. Lapointe's deal was worth $7.2 million.

the aucoin contract is a fine one - it went terribly wrong for chicago right away, but it wasn't the end of the world. people forget just how good aucoin was for the islanders - he was playing 29 minutes a game. the lapointe one is a disaster but that should have been expected. was there any player in the nhl more overrated than martin lapointe? skille, meh. he was expected to be picked around there - teams were passing on anze kopitar because they didn't know how a slovenian would adapt to the nhl (learning no doubt from the michel riesen debacle).

He gave Christobal Huet an absolute awful deal (4 years at $5.635 a season. Gave Brian Campbell a cap crippling contract worth $56.8 million over 8 years. Although he made a very nice trade to get Patrick Sharp, he undoubtedly overpaid to keep him with a 4-year contract worth just a few hairs under $16 million.

i disagree with a lot of this. huet is still 3rd all time in save percentage. he needs to have a chance to rebound this season - perhaps the pressure of the deal got to him, maybe having khabibulin over his shoulder was no good. whatever the case, huet's signing is not nearly as awful as most goalie signings. the campbell contract - well, it's funny how things change after the fact, isn't it? around here, campbell was paul coffey with better defensive ability, and now everyone acknowledges he has serious turnover problems. campbell was a signing of the sort that the hawks could afford to make. and the patrick sharp contract is terrific - sharp is a sometime C/RW who will get traded for something valuable.

Now Tallon did do some great work to get Havlat for practically nothing. And made possibly an even better move getting Kris Versteeg for nothing. But for every good move he made, he seemed to balance it out with a sh!tty contract.

these are both great moves.

Keep in mind that the draft picks of Barker, Bolland, Seabrook, Byfuglien, and Duncan Keith were all made before he was named GM. Although he was part of the organization at the time, who knows how much he had to do with any of those draft picks. Probably not much with scouting wizard Marshall Johnston on the staff.

fair enough.

The "clerical error" with the RFAs had to be the final straw for a GM that has left the Blackhawks in a very messy situation next year. Stan Bowman has a lot of work cut out for him.

what no one seems to be realizing is that the hawks would've been in a mess anyway, and that they clearly want to be in that mess. it's not like they are loaded to the brim with awful and untradable contracts. and versteeg and barker were both arb eligible next year and would've probably gotten around what tallon was forced to give them, so in a sense it makes their bind even clearer. even so, the hawks can easily trade their way out of this and get assets in return. excise sharp, versteeg, and byfuglien. or get rid of barker, sopel, sharp, and byfuglien. and i think it's still possible for them to trade brian campbell somewhere. and they may not even want to keep patrick kane - he might get dealt regardless.

it's worth noting that tallon was not fired - he is still working in the hawks organization, as senior adviser of hockey operations - next he'll be food and beverage chairman, i think.

Edited by Triumph
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next he'll be food and beverage chairman, i think.

look how many blueberries yours has and how many mine have. jesus if you want anything right around here, you have to do it yourself!

was hoping someone would catch that; it was on HBO last night, couldn't help myself.

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next he'll be food and beverage chairman, i think.

look how many blueberries yours has and how many mine have. jesus if you want anything right around here, you have to do it yourself!

was hoping someone would catch that; it was on HBO last night, couldn't help myself.

Great movie.

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According to this article from last year, Tallon wasn't responsible for those horrible contracts to Huet and Campbell. It was the new president McDonough, who also seems to have it out for Tallon.

http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/17428-Campbells-Cuts-Expect-Bowman-to-get-more-power-in-Chicago.html?media=videos

I think Tallon did a good job because if you take out those 2 contracts, the Hawks would be sitting pretty right now.

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