Link: Tallon had "no plan" for Blackhawks' future (other than that under-the-radar Cup thing)
by Donny Rivette on Aug 28, 2010 10:57 PM EDT
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The "one Cup is not enough" train rolls on, this time from the Daily Herald's Barry Rozner (via Kukla):
Dale Tallon should get all the credit for finding and drafting the talent that brought a Cup to Chicago, and for that we should be grateful.
But the dismantling of the team also is on the shoulders of Tallon, who was incapable of looking into the future and seeing what he was doing to the payroll, when it was so painfully obvious to the rest of the league.
And only those slurping Kool-Aid by the tanker-full during the Tallon era didn't see the incompetence, unwilling to admit there was no plan in place.
At least they "should be grateful". Much more angst directed at the first-term NHL general manager at the link above, including this bit of Tao logic:
With years of careful planning and spending, perhaps the Hawks could have won it and kept more of their players.
Perhaps they could, Lois. Perhaps they could.
Wow...that just flat sucks for the Cats; if we're to read this correctly, had Dale done his job - as hindsight evidently demands in Big Bad Chicago, where crowds like this were standard MO prior to Tallon's makeover - the Blackhawks would be staring down an obvious and unquestionable second Stanley Cup win ten months from now (sheath your swords, Sharks and Wings!). So, duh, all the in-your-face hoopla this summer means nothing unless it can be repeated a year later. Gotcha.
Better send this raving madman to the US-1 curb quickly before he wreaks similar results with the Panthers. Hate to have only a single Stanley Cup to argue cap space issues over several hours-days-weeks-months later. What a tremendous jones.
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Rozner????
Everyone in Chicago knows Barry Rozner’s an idiot, he has a “thing” about Tallon and Havlat-its almost personal with him-maybe they slept with his wife, who knows
Spare Us
Rozner, not LBC :)
Anyone in Chitown who is upset with the way the team has been handled can just hand in there Fan-card and renounce their claim to the cup.
Yeah they lost Byufglien, Ladd, Niemi, etc. But they still have a ridiculously solid corps to build around. Maybe ol’ Dale didn’t have a “plan” past winning the cup, but pretty sure if you can win the Cup and keep a chunk of the guys you had from that team, you are going to be competitive unless you are utterly incompetent and get rid of your most important players. Last I checked they still had Toews, Kane, Duncan “No Teeth” Keith, Seabs, etc. and they are going to pack the house probably every night with fans and celebs like Vince Vaughn and Michael Jordan.
Long story short, Cats fans have little to worry about and much to hope for in this new Tallon era.
Both the Tallon apologists and the Tallon bashers are missing the point: It’s not about one Cup v. many. It’s that Tallon threw far too much money over far too many years to far too many players in such a short window. Throw in the RFA offer sheet business, and you have a GM who needed to be replaced.
None of that is to say he is a terrible GM, he’s just really bad at one aspect of it. Look no further than Brian Campbell and Cristobal Huet.
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by Geoff Detweiler on Aug 30, 2010 5:17 PM EDT reply actions
Campbell was necessary to help the kids learn how to play defense. That’s a good veteran player to hav e on your team. You can not have a team full of 19 year old kids and expect to make it to the playoffs.
Campbell was also a great player at the time. Huet was the top goalie at the time of his signing. Also, Hossa was too. You can not fault the Hawks when Pens and other teams were after both two years ago. People have short memories.
I completely agree Geoff. Huet’s contract was the first thing I thought of when I only read the headline. While many in Florida are loving what he has done so far, he’s made some solid moves, but nothing yet to say he’s the man to right the ship. I’m a firm believer that Chicago was done as a three man team with Bowman, Dudley, and Tallon all having equal influence over how things happened. All Tallon has done so far is trade away two players, and drafted players based on the scouting team already in place in Florida and signed Higgins. I find the Peters signing suspect, when there were better options and more pressing needs out there. But four months on the job doesn’t build a legacy, unless your name is Barack Obama.
Ahh last time I checked, the assistant GM was in charge of player contracts. Let look at the bigger picture… Bowman was the problem while Tallon was GM. This year Bowman signed two of their players during the season giving them huge Performance BONUSES for that year that count against the cap aka Toews and Kane. Remeber too that Tallon left the team in such good condition that no MAJOR changes were necessary at midseason.
What really are the mistakes in Chicago? Letting Tallon go and not putting his name on the cup.
Many would say that the problem lies in the Huet and Hossa deal. Let’s not forget that every NHL club was after these two just two years ago. Penguins were offering a monster deal to HOssa along with other clubs. Huet had put on a spectacular playoff run for the Caps. They were both in high demand.
I think that Chicago fans forgot that they still have Towes, Kane, Seabrook, Keith, Hossa, etc.
If anyone is going to ruin Chicago’s Hawks, it will be Bowman who does not know what he is doing.
Re: Hossa/Huet – at least 5 other GMs would have paid $1 less than what they received from CHI to sign them that summer. High demand.
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by Donny Rivette on Aug 31, 2010 4:58 PM EDT up reply actions
When you see how many different teams have won the cup over the last twenty years-it proves one thing. There is no magic formula to keep on top every year. Tallon may have been shortsighted in the long term picture, but, they will still be very competitive for the next while. Looking into the Panther picture—I think Tallon has two problems (1) He will be under budget restraint—(2) Convincing decent players to come to the organization. The team needs to win to fill the seats and you decent players to win. He needs to be smart, but probably most of all lucky.
I still don’t see how Tallon can be perceived by some even as “shortsighted”. The GM’s job is to win a league championship with the tools given to him from ownership. Period. If he can do it twice, terrific.
Litter Box Cats - Your Panthers Colossus. Twitter me up @LitterBoxCats.
by Donny Rivette on Aug 31, 2010 5:01 PM EDT up reply actions
Let’s not forget the Penguins. Everyone thought that they might repeat this year. Yet, they did not make it to the final. Or the collapse of the CAPS. No one booted their GMs out of town! I think McPhee should be booted out of town after that awful collapse along with Boudreau. Something is wrong with the CAPS, when they can not make it far in the playoffs two years in a row despite winning their division….
Back to the point though, The Hawks make it to the conference finals in 2009 losing to the red wings, and Tallon is booted out that summer. No major changes made during the season, means Tallon name should be on the cup instead of Bowman’s. Alas sports are never fair. Talloon will just have to work some magic in Florida somehow…. with limited budget and fans. It will be a difficult climb upward.
The internal budget will grow along with on-ice success.
Litter Box Cats - Your Panthers Colossus. Twitter me up @LitterBoxCats.
by Donny Rivette on Aug 31, 2010 10:18 PM EDT up reply actions
Sorry Donny—you can go your way of thinking I’ll go mine.. If I’m a fan of a team I want my team to be competitive every year with a chance of going a long way in the playoffs AKA Red Wings type… I’m still unsure why you have thrown your allegience to Tallon without having done nothing for this franchise yet. If he was that well thought of around the league—you would think other teams would have lined up to get him also. So far he has picked up a lot of borderline players….I want him to succeed, because I care for the Panther team—we just have different ideas on how to get there.
Agreeing to disagree is never a problem ;)
If I’m a fan of a team I want my team to be competitive every year with a chance of going a long way in the playoffs AKA Red Wings type
We all want the Cats to become precisely that. I just can’t fathom how it’s done overnight in a salary-capped league.
As for my views on Tallon, he has a short but proven, successful record as a GM; that’s something not seen in South Florida since…well can you name one? Because I can’t. Hence my excitement. He – under the direction of ownership – is guiding the club through a long-overdue rebuild, which will take time. Sucks for fans because we’ve invested nothing but time over the past decade.
His actions so far have resulted in a smashing draft class, a few minor patch signings in order to keep the team competitive (if little else) in 2010-11, and drastically improved the organization’s depth. Still, none of that will translate into a 20-point rise in the standings come April, but many of those signees are on one-year deals, meaning their spots will be available for potentially 1) superior talent down the road or 2) the rise of Florida’s youth. You don’t really think he was banking the future of the franchise on Chris Higgins and Marty Reasoner (good men that they are)? He’s now got control of the club’s future.
And no one was calling the Huet, Campbell, and Hossa signings “risky” (either performance-wise or financially) at the time they were completed. Some deals work, others don’t.
Didn’t mean to get off on a manifesto of sorts.
How would you go about changing the culture in a short time frame while replicating the success of a Detroit (who has arguably the best GM in hockey, if not North American sport)? If I misunderstood your statement, please call me out.
Litter Box Cats - Your Panthers Colossus. Twitter me up @LitterBoxCats.
by Donny Rivette on Aug 31, 2010 10:15 PM EDT up reply actions
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