Between the Circles

Former Hawk Marty Havlat continues to talk more than he ever did in Chicago, this time ripping team president John McDonough to TSN.ca
"My negotiation with Chicago was not between Dale and my agent, it was between Dale and McDonough," Havlat said "Why? Because McDonough couldn't stand that Dale was so successful and getting the credit for building the Hawks from a last place team to making the Conference Final in three short years. Remember, we were also the youngest team in the NHL last year.
"I was too closely identified with Dale. McDonough knew long ago he was going to fire Dale. He wanted someone he could claim as his own He wanted to stand up at the convention and claim credit for signing this guy or that guy."

So the Blackhawks have a new GM today in Stan Bowman. I’m not so sure what Dale Tallon did wrong to get demoted, but president John McDonough and chairman Rocky Wirtz obviously have their reasons.
Was it the mistake made in sending out those qualifying offers late to the restricted free agents? How could it be? In the press release sent out by the Hawks announcing Bowman’s promotion, it touted the 36-year-old as the guy in charge of all collective bargaining matters and contracts.
Wouldn’t that put Bowman in charge of making sure the offers went out on time? You would think so.

Comcast SportsNet's Josh Mora reported late Monday night the Blackhawks have fired Dale Tallon as general manager and will name Stan Bowman his replacement on Tuesday.
Shocked? Yes and no.
Tallon didn't help himself with the mistake prior to July 1 when he was late to qualify his restricted free agents. The goof cost the team money in re-signing Kris Versteeg and Cam Barker.
I thought Tallon had built up enough good will to survive, but it was no secret that neither chairman Rocky Wirtz nor president John McDonough considered him "their" guy.
Can Stan Bowman do the job? We'll see. Guess we now know how much power dad Scotty really has with the team.

Blackhawks GM Dale Tallon admitted Wednesday the team made a mistake getting qualifying contract offers to his restricted free agents on time but claimed the goof did not force them to overpay for Kris Versteeg and Cam Barker.
Versteeg and Barker signed three-year, $9.25 million contract extensions after earning $984,000 and $490,000 last season, respectively.
"I think that we got them at fair market value," Tallon said. "When you compare the comparables, looking at the point production of Barker and Versteeg and all the other players, those numbers are right in line with what they possibly would have gotten in arbitration. We're happy to get them long term."
Tallon said the Hawks are under the NHL's $56.8 million salary cap.

A source confirmed the Hawks and restricted free agent winger Kris Versteeg have finalized a three-year deal worth more than $9 million.
The contract could be announced officially by the team on Wednesday.
Signing Versteeg for roughly $3 million puts the Hawks just about at the $56.8 million salary cap. A $3 million cap hit for Versteeg would put the Hawks' payroll at approximately $55.578 million, not counting the salary for the backup goalie.
It's looking more and more that a trade will need to be made to move out some salary, possibly Versteeg or Cam Barker or even Patrick Sharp.
Versteeg was the final restricted free agent the Hawks planned to sign.

The Hawks have confirmed they have signed restricted free agent defenseman Cam Barker to a three-year, $9.25 million contract extension.
The signing was a quick response to the announcement made earlier Monday by the NHL Players Association that it had filed a grievance against the Hawks over the way their restricted free agents were notified of their qualifying contract offers.
It meant the Hawks could have lost Kris Versteeg and Barker should they be declared unrestricted free agents by the impartial arbitrator that now will hear the case.
Barker made $984,000 so it's likely the mistake by the Hawks cost them more money in the end to re-sign the defenseman who had 6 goals and 34 assists last season.

Sources have told TSN Canada that the NHL and the NHL Players Association are investigating the Blackhawks over whether general manager Dale Tallon offered his restricted free agents qualifying offers properly.
According to TSN, the Hawks tendered qualifying offers to Kris Versteeg, Cam Barker, Ben Eager, Colin Fraser, Aaron Johnson and Troy Brouwer, and the investigation underway is to determine whether the qualifying offers were filed correctly.
If not, there is the remote possibility the qualifying offers could be ruled
invalid and the players could be deemed unrestricted free agents.
One source said the players involved didn't receive the necessary notification of the offers.
The NHL is determining whether the situation was remedied in time.

This is Hawks GM Dale Tallon talking Thursday afternoon: “We’re looking for the right guy, maybe on the back end. We have a lot of assets we can trade.”
This is how I believe the Hawks are going to find that big, physical defenseman they are lacking, via a trade, and Tallon came about as close as he could to confirming it.
The Hawks have a lot of forwards to offer around the league. I wouldn’t be shocked if it was a scorer such as Patrick Sharp or Kris Versteeg that the Hawks at least explore dealing for that “right guy.”

Hawks GM Dale Tallon said earlier on Wednesday after signing Marian Hossa and Tomas Kopecky that be wasn't done and, sure enough, a few hours later he picked by checking center John Madden.
Madden is a nice addition, and a more than able replacement for Sammy Pahlsson, whose persistent abdominal problems were a concern. He is Columbus' worry now.
Madden is a gamer, a top penalty-killer, solid on faceoffs and can score short-handed goals. He also won the 2001 Selke Trophy with the Devils.
After adding three forwards on Wednesday, don't be surprised if there's a trade in the Hawks' future. The Hawks have a lot of good forwards to use as assets to offer in a deal for a defenseman, if that's the way Tallon wants to go.

For the second year in a row, the Hawks have made headlines on the first day of free agency by signing Marian Hossa away from the Detroit Red Wings.
According to TSN Canada, Hossa has agreed to a 12-year deal with the Hawks with an average cap hit of $5.2 million.
By signing Hossa, the Hawks have parted ways with Martin Havlat after three seasons. Havlat had 29 goals last season, but Hossa scored 40.
Finding the money to sign Hossa could mean Hawks GM Dale Tallon believes he can trade goalie Cristobal Huet. The Colorado Avalanche was one team that the Hawks thought might be interested in Huet, but the Avs signed free agent goalie Craig Anderson on Wednesday morning.