Tallon Replaced as Hawks GM by Stan Bowman--UPDATED

rooneypoo wrote:
Not sure where you're taking that from.

Hockey'sFuture.com.

rooneypoo wrote:By all accounts, tho', Crawford is CHI's goalie of the future.

And Elliott was ours, until we dealt away a slick center with great face off skills for #1 with injury history.

wprager wrote:

rooneypoo wrote:
Not sure where you're taking that from.

Hockey'sFuture.com.

rooneypoo wrote:By all accounts, tho', Crawford is CHI's goalie of the future.

And Elliott was ours, until we dealt away a slick center with great face off skills for #1 with injury history.

Elliott is still heir to the throne, tho'. If Leclaire faulters or gets injured, Elliott is the go-to guy moving forward. In fact, if Leclaire is anything other than a good, dependable, healthy goalie in the next two seasons, he won't get extended after 2010-11. It's only a 2-year contract, after all.

Anyway, lots of organizational momentum behind Crawford. He was the guy who got the call to back up Huet after Khabby went down in the playoffs this year. There is a reason why some guys succeed where others don't: how much faith the organization has in you as a player. The Bobby Ryans and Jack Johnsons of the hockey world have a lot more lives than most other prospects.

Here's the NHL's story based on official information from the Chicago Blackhawks.

BOWMAN REPLACES TALLON AS CHICAGO GM
Dan Rosen, NHL.com, July 14, 2009

From the time he was named general manager of the Blackhawks in the summer of 2005, Dale Tallon had worked tirelessly to put together a young and talented core of players that are supposed to bring the Stanley Cup back to Chicago.

Now it will be up to his former assistant to see it through.

The Hawks announced Tuesday that Tallon has been reassigned to Senior Advisor, Hockey Operations and replaced in the GM's chair by Stan Bowman, the son of legendary coach Scotty Bowman and an assistant GM for the past two seasons.

Stan Bowman, who has a finance background, has been with the Blackhawks for the last eight seasons. He spent four as the special assistant to the GM, two as director of hockey operations and the last two as an assistant GM.

Scotty Bowman remains on the Hawks' payroll, also as Senior Advisor, Hockey Operations.

"I would say that any time you make a change there is not a right time to make any of these decisions," Blackhawks President John McDonough said. "We now are about six weeks out from the end of the season, and we take a look at every single aspect of our business operation. Some of the areas that I think we need to improve on are the decision-making areas. How decisions are made, who is involved, timetables that are involved, just the process. I think we will improve that."

Tallon has been with the organization for more than 30 years. On Tuesday McDonough praised him for his role in helping reshape the Hawks into a Stanley Cup contender.

However, Tallon recently came under fire for sending qualifying offers late to eight restricted free agents. McDonough said that had that snafu not happened, Tallon likely still would be the GM.

"Probably not," McDonough said when he was asked if Tallon would have been reassigned had the offers had gone out in time. He said he was not thinking about reassigning Tallon prior to July 1.

Tallon insisted the offers were sent out prior to the June 30 deadline, but the eight RFAs -- Cam Barker, Kris Versteeg, Corey Crawford, Ben Eager, Colin Fraser, Troy Brouwer, Aaron Johnson and Bryan Bickell -- received them after the deadline. They were mailed, but the Blackhawks had a two-week window to send out the offers.

The NHL Players Association filed a grievance, but the Hawks signed all eight players to new contracts. Barker and Versteeg, a Calder Trophy finalist, received three-year deals reportedly worth roughly $9 million; Tallon said both were "fair-market value" deals, though both were far more than the players made in 2008-09.

Tallon initially took the blame for the tardiness of the qualifying offers, but on Tuesday McDonough threw himself on the sword, saying that as president of the organization, ultimately the mistake lies with him.

Nevertheless, he believes the Blackhawks' front-office staff needs to do a better job of communicating.

"I just think we should be better at doing our business," McDonough said. "This should be something that should have been solved. Ultimately that's my mistake. I believe that the timeframe on this is June 15 to June 30, and I believe we could have done a better job."

While saying the mistake of sending the qualifying offers out too late played a role in his decision to re-assign Tallon and promote Bowman, McDonough threw cold water on the idea that he and Tallon had a frigid relationship.

Tallon was the lone front-office staffer from the regime of late owner Bill Wirtz to have the same job.

"People have been talking the last year about some friction between Dale and I, and I would say there have been some style differences," McDonough said. "I might be characterized as aggressive, assertive and at the same time calculated. Dale's (style) was every bit (as) effective, but just a different approach. Ultimately the president of the organization is accountable and I need information.

"I think that within a period of time, Dale and I worked very, very effectively together. There were certainly times I would have liked to see smoother and better communications."

McDonough and Bowman insisted Tallon still is very much in the front-office picture. He had his contract, which would have expired at the end of the 2009-10 season, extended another two years.

Bowman said he will use Tallon as a guide and mentor. McDonough said Tallon is needed to make the transition go smoothly.

Tallon, who was not present at the news conference, said in a statement released by the team that "although my position has changed, my goals have not. In my new role as Senior Advisor, Hockey Operations, I will continue in any way that will help make this a better product on the ice. I've seen Stan come up through our ranks and I'm confident he is the right person to step in. This is what is best for the Chicago Blackhawks."

Bowman's job won't be easy. While Tallon put together the roster, Bowman will be tasked with trying to keep the Blackhawks' young core together in a salary-cap world.

With hefty contracts already doled out to Marian Hossa, Brian Campbell, Cristobal Huet and Patrick Sharp, plus the prospect of the salary cap going down next summer, there are serious questions as to how the Hawks will be able to keep everyone they want to keep.

Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith will be due new contracts after the 2009-10 season. Brent Seabrook and Dustin Byfuglien are up for new deals after 2010-11.

"A lot is going to happen between now and then," Bowman said. "We don't know what the salary cap is going to be and what our team makeup will be a year from now. There are a number of variables, so it's hard to speculate. Our desire through all this is to keep our core together. We want to build an elite franchise here by building with our core players."

Contact Dan Rosen at drosen@nhl.com

---
The two video clips of the press conference announcing Stan Bowman's appointment as GM by John McDonough can be seen here:
http://blackhawks.nhl.tv/team/console.jsp?catid=690&id=44958
http://blackhawks.nhl.tv/team/console.jsp?catid=690&id=44966

rooneypoo wrote:

wprager wrote:Crawford is rated as 7.0 C. The 7.0 means a "journeyman #1", and C means "may reach potential, could drop to ratings". A drop to 5 would be "depth goalie".

Not sure where you're taking that from. By all accounts, tho', Crawford is CHI's goalie of the future.

Reports from Chicago last season indicated that Scotty Bowman was very strong on Finnish G Antti Niemi.

i like how McDonough took some of the blame for the RFA screw up and that tallon wasnt fired and apparently is going to be relied upon to mentor and guide bowman if he has any problems although chances are he may ask scotty before tallon

Hockeyhero22000 wrote:i like how McDonough took some of the blame for the RFA screw up and that tallon wasnt fired and apparently is going to be relied upon to mentor and guide bowman if he has any problems although chances are he may ask scotty before tallon

I would think that having Scotty Bowman as your father, you wouldn't need much mentoring about hockey.

This just seems to me like they were looking for a reason to replace Tallon and put Scotty Stan in there. This RFA snafu was the opportunity they were looking for. At least they are keeping Tallon on, after all, he's served 3 decades with the team.

Zoolander wrote:

Hockeyhero22000 wrote:i like how McDonough took some of the blame for the RFA screw up and that tallon wasnt fired and apparently is going to be relied upon to mentor and guide bowman if he has any problems although chances are he may ask scotty before tallon

I would think that having Scotty Bowman as your father, you wouldn't need much mentoring about hockey.

This just seems to me like they were looking for a reason to replace Tallon and put Scotty Stan in there. This RFA snafu was the opportunity they were looking for. At least they are keeping Tallon on, after all, he's served 3 decades with the team.

Zooly> watching McDonough and Bowman's press conference is IMHO very instructive.

http://blackhawks.nhl.tv/team/console.jsp?catid=690&id=44958

It's pretty clear these two men are hard nosed business executives who run an important division of multi-billion-dollar conglomerate.

I have dealt with many of these executives in my career; I believe, therefore, I understand what took place...as McDonough said, it was a question of 'style'.

That 'style' is a way of doing things that is familiar to, and accepted by, people at very high levels of business...it is less familiar to lifelong hockey men like Tallon, whose rough edges would have logically created friction in a McDonough-led environment.

McDonough made his case very clearly: he wants what he calls 'better communication' and a much more rigorous process going forward.

He was careful not to place blame on Tallon, and cited Tallon's accomplishments as being essential to the progress of the team. He did say the handling of the RFA situation was a factor, though not the only factor in the decision.

Stan Bowman, having worked at many levels of the Blackhawks organization since 2001, is not a 'rookie' by any means. He is both a numbers guy and a hockey guy, and yes, he's Scotty Bowman's son--and in megabusiness, pedigree DOES matter.

And hockey is a megabusiness.

Tallon is being moved, as they say in corporate speak, 'laterally' into a role that McDonough says will leverage Dale's skills more effectively.

This is not, by the way, an argument for how this move was made...just a viewpoint that stems from my own long-time experience in the upper deck of the corporate world.

The Chicago Blackhawks are very much part of the corporate world...in this case, the massive Wirtz empire that encompasses a staggering array of assets and operations, from real estate to insurance to banking to liquor distribution.

Hence, the 'suits' rule.

davetherave wrote:

Zoolander wrote:

Hockeyhero22000 wrote:i like how McDonough took some of the blame for the RFA screw up and that tallon wasnt fired and apparently is going to be relied upon to mentor and guide bowman if he has any problems although chances are he may ask scotty before tallon

I would think that having Scotty Bowman as your father, you wouldn't need much mentoring about hockey.

This just seems to me like they were looking for a reason to replace Tallon and put Scotty Stan in there. This RFA snafu was the opportunity they were looking for. At least they are keeping Tallon on, after all, he's served 3 decades with the team.

Zooly> watching McDonough and Bowman's press conference is IMHO very instructive.

http://blackhawks.nhl.tv/team/console.jsp?catid=690&id=44958

It's pretty clear these two men are hard nosed business executives who run an important division of multi-billion-dollar conglomerate.

I have dealt with many of these executives in my career; I believe, therefore, I understand what took place...as McDonough said, it was a question of 'style'.

That 'style' is a way of doing things that is familiar to, and accepted by, people at very high levels of business...it is less familiar to lifelong hockey men like Tallon, whose rough edges would have logically created friction in a McDonough-led environment.

McDonough made his case very clearly: he wants what he calls 'better communication' and a much more rigorous process going forward.

He was careful not to place blame on Tallon, and cited Tallon's accomplishments as being essential to the progress of the team. He did say the handling of the RFA situation was a factor, though not the only factor in the decision.

Stan Bowman, having worked at many levels of the Blackhawks organization since 2001, is not a 'rookie' by any means. He is both a numbers guy and a hockey guy, and yes, he's Scotty Bowman's son--and in megabusiness, pedigree DOES matter.

And hockey is a megabusiness.

Tallon is being moved, as they say in corporate speak, 'laterally' into a role that McDonough says will leverage Dale's skills more effectively.

This is not, by the way, an argument for how this move was made...just a viewpoint that stems from my own long-time experience in the upper deck of the corporate world.

The Chicago Blackhawks are very much part of the corporate world...in this case, the massive Wirtz empire that encompasses a staggering array of assets and operations, from real estate to insurance to banking to liquor distribution.

Hence, the 'suits' rule.

I respect that POV, however to me, the timing is just fishy. McDonough was asked about the timing and he came out with some fluff like "well there's never a good time to make a change like this". It certainly would have seemed less dodgy if they'd waited until the RFA snafus were n't fresh in peoples minds.

Liquor distribution you say? In Chicago no less... call Elliott Ness!

Zoolander wrote:I respect that POV, however to me, the timing is just fishy. McDonough was asked about the timing and he came out with some fluff like "well there's never a good time to make a change like this". It certainly would have seemed less dodgy if they'd waited until the RFA snafus were n't fresh in peoples minds.

Liquor distribution you say? In Chicago no less... call Elliott Ness!

Ha ha...Arthur Wirtz started his liquor distribution business back in the 1920s...where did you think all that money came from?

Lots of interesting stories about the origins of ownership of NHL teams...going back to the early days.

IMHO re McDonough...you can see by his face, and body language in the video, that this is a guy who is, basically, ruthless. He probably decided, "OK, let's do this now and get it over with." Chicago-style.

davetherave wrote:

Zoolander wrote:I respect that POV, however to me, the timing is just fishy. McDonough was asked about the timing and he came out with some fluff like "well there's never a good time to make a change like this". It certainly would have seemed less dodgy if they'd waited until the RFA snafus were n't fresh in peoples minds.

Liquor distribution you say? In Chicago no less... call Elliott Ness!

Ha ha...Arthur Wirtz started his liquor distribution business back in the 1920s...where did you think all that money came from?

Lots of interesting stories about the origins of ownership of NHL teams...going back to the early days.

IMHO re McDonough...you can see by his face, and body language in the video, that this is a guy who is, basically, ruthless. He probably decided, "OK, let's do this now and get it over with." Chicago-style.

not bad, it was done "Chicago style" and there were no corpses, oh wait, different kind of business there

davetherave wrote:IMHO re McDonough...you can see by his face, and body language in the video, that this is a guy who is, basically, ruthless. He probably decided, "OK, let's do this now and get it over with." Chicago-style.

Meh... I have a feeling this decision was made a while ago and the fall-out from the RFA goof presented a good time to make the change.

Tallon sounded very supportive of the move... almost too supportive if you ask me...

SensFan71 wrote:

davetherave wrote:

Zoolander wrote:I respect that POV, however to me, the timing is just fishy. McDonough was asked about the timing and he came out with some fluff like "well there's never a good time to make a change like this". It certainly would have seemed less dodgy if they'd waited until the RFA snafus were n't fresh in peoples minds.

Liquor distribution you say? In Chicago no less... call Elliott Ness!

Ha ha...Arthur Wirtz started his liquor distribution business back in the 1920s...where did you think all that money came from?

Lots of interesting stories about the origins of ownership of NHL teams...going back to the early days.

IMHO re McDonough...you can see by his face, and body language in the video, that this is a guy who is, basically, ruthless. He probably decided, "OK, let's do this now and get it over with." Chicago-style.

not bad, it was done "Chicago style" and there were no corpses, oh wait, different kind of business there

Reminds me of P.J. Stock's show where he has audio clips from severl movies and then inserts "P.J. Stock" in them. This one clip had me wondering where I'd heard it. I knew it was from a mob-related movie, but I could not remember which one. Then last week I was watching Chuck and they had a parody of it. I finally had to look it up and it was from the Untouchables, where Malone (Connery) is telling Ness how to get Capone:

They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. *That's* the *Chicago* way!

And for comparison, here's the "Chuck" version:

It ain't the Buy More way.
You know the rules. They cut their prices by 10%, we cut ours 15.
They give away toasters, we give away microwaves.
They put their hands on one of ours, we find their
assistant manager and...You get the picture, don't you?

I guess the legacy of taking over ready-made teams continues in the Bowman family. :^^^^:

wprager wrote:

SensFan71 wrote:

davetherave wrote:

Zoolander wrote:I respect that POV, however to me, the timing is just fishy. McDonough was asked about the timing and he came out with some fluff like "well there's never a good time to make a change like this". It certainly would have seemed less dodgy if they'd waited until the RFA snafus were n't fresh in peoples minds.

Liquor distribution you say? In Chicago no less... call Elliott Ness!

Ha ha...Arthur Wirtz started his liquor distribution business back in the 1920s...where did you think all that money came from?

Lots of interesting stories about the origins of ownership of NHL teams...going back to the early days.

IMHO re McDonough...you can see by his face, and body language in the video, that this is a guy who is, basically, ruthless. He probably decided, "OK, let's do this now and get it over with." Chicago-style.

not bad, it was done "Chicago style" and there were no corpses, oh wait, different kind of business there

Reminds me of P.J. Stock's show where he has audio clips from severl movies and then inserts "P.J. Stock" in them. This one clip had me wondering where I'd heard it. I knew it was from a mob-related movie, but I could not remember which one. Then last week I was watching Chuck and they had a parody of it. I finally had to look it up and it was from the Untouchables, where Malone (Connery) is telling Ness how to get Capone:

They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. *That's* the *Chicago* way!

And for comparison, here's the "Chuck" version:

It ain't the Buy More way.
You know the rules. They cut their prices by 10%, we cut ours 15.
They give away toasters, we give away microwaves.
They put their hands on one of ours, we find their
assistant manager and...You get the picture, don't you?

now that is what I am talking about, poor assistant manager though lol

shabbs wrote:

davetherave wrote:IMHO re McDonough...you can see by his face, and body language in the video, that this is a guy who is, basically, ruthless. He probably decided, "OK, let's do this now and get it over with." Chicago-style.

Meh... I have a feeling this decision was made a while ago and the fall-out from the RFA goof presented a good time to make the change.

Tallon sounded very supportive of the move... almost too supportive if you ask me...

Tallon is a loyal Blackhawk, and he handled his re-assignment with class. He's got a new two year deal so he's in the organization for the next three years.

There are no 'smoking guns' here...this situation happens in big business all the time.

A General Manager, or similarly empowered executive, re-launches an organization and while making some good decisions, and makes some questionable ones...the organization reaches a certain level of success and the Big Bosses decide a change is needed to go to the 'next level'.

Nothing new.

I'm fond of quoting Bobby Hull's line from his book "Hockey Is My Game": 'People kept forgetting that hockey is also a big business.' That was about him deciding to go to the WHA because the Hawks wouldn't pay him what he thought he was worth. Sentiment aside, it was the business decision he felt he had to make.

We all know how business works. It's not about sentiment...or fairness. It's about how the show is run, and who runs it.

McDonough was basically saying, "I'm the guy who runs things, this is how I want things run." Dale--as a hockey guy, and a risk taker--pushed the envelope.

This may have well included being 'too close' to players--like Martin Havlat, who said he considered Dale "like a father"--and that, clouding the business realities.

Maybe in the end, Tallon was too much 'a player's GM'--a soft touch? Too ready to hand out a sweet deal?

We can talk about Stan Bowman being involved in the decisions, but Tallon was the decision maker...who may have overruled Stan's fiscal recommendations. We'll never know.

IMHO McD decided he wanted Stan in the GM chair because he feels Stan does things the way McD expects them to done, with a tougher stance regarding the bottom line...with all the t's crossed and the i's dotted.

It's just business.

Will the cap planning have to perfect going forward?

It has to be.

Will the Blackhawks be better on the ice?

They have to be.

It's interesting reading your comments DTR. You seem to soft touch the issues that Tallon created in terms of cap concerns and simply say it's business and this happens all the time. Not too long ago when members were discussing the cap situation in Chicago your response was that Tallon isn't worried and you don't worry about the Cap now just spend what you have to spend and things will work themselves out. Now you seem to touch on the issue suggesting maybe there were contract signings that weren't great and the new GM, former capoligist, wasn't to blame.

You then suggest this was a long time coming and post a blog suggesting there was possibly some in-fighting going on. Does this turmoil now suddenly stop even though Tallon is still a part of upper managament?

Is the Cap still nothing to worry about? Is this all just going to work itself out? Should the Hawks continue, as you mentioned, to just spend what you need to now and worry about the Cap later?

davetherave wrote:
Will the cap planning have to perfect going forward?

It has to be.

Will the Blackhawks be better on the ice?

They have to be.

Not necessarily. If either of these goes awry, Tallon can be blamed. If all goes swimmingly, Bowman gets the credit. It's foolproof, the fans won't catch on.

davetherave wrote:There are no 'smoking guns' here...this situation happens in big business all the time.

A General Manager, or similarly empowered executive, re-launches an organization and while making some good decisions, and makes some questionable ones...the organization reaches a certain level of success and the Big Bosses decide a change is needed to go to the 'next level'.

Nothing new.

Next level? Didn't Tallon take the team to the best showing they've had in a LONG LONG time? Didn't he bring them to the next level already? I'm not sold on this being a "next level" move, more of a "next step" move.

I agree, this happens in business and it's clear McD wants to surround himself with "his guys" and Tallon was on the outside. It's nepotism at it's finest, and certainly is the way it goes in the NHL and elsewhere.