Blackhawks Success Dale Tallon's Legacy

[DewsSox79]

from CI

Blackhawks Continued Success is Dale Tallon’s Lasting Legacy
Posted on December 27, 2010 by Tab Bamford


Since the beginning of the 2009-10 season, the Blackhawks have enjoyed one of the most successful stretches of hockey in the history of the franchise. While he is no longer part of the organization, the fingerprints of Dale Tallon continue to help the Blackhawks compete at a high level.

Tallon’s tenure as General Manager of the Blackhawks has received mixed reviews, largely from individuals who only remember the contracts given to Brian Campbell and Cristobal Huet. But the work Tallon did to build the franchise into a winner, and the lasting impact his work continues to have on the roster, should stay in the mind of Hawks fans.

Tallon took over as the GM in Chicago on June 21, 2005 and his work building the team is still astounding. When he departed, we chronicled his work building the team. Perhaps the highlight of his tenure was one of his first moves, dealing Matt Ellison anda 3rd round pick to Philadelphia for Eric Meloche and Patrick Sharp. But he did more than just draft and acquire championship pieces in building last year’s team.

Even after all of the changes made by current GM Stan Bowman this past summer, Tallon’s imprint is strong on the current roster. Look at these current players that were added to the organization while Tallon was either the Director of Player Personnel or General Manager:

■Corey Crawford: 2003 draft – 2nd round (54th overall)
■Bryan Bickell: 2004 draft - 2nd round (41st overall)
■Jake Dowell: 2004 draft – 5th round (140th overall)
■Jack Skille: 2005 draft – 1st round (7th overall)

All four of those players have been key components to this year, yet the value of the 2004 Draft (in which Troy Brouwer was selected in the 7th round) will always be overshadowed by the Skille selection in 2005; in the world where hindsight rules, selecting Skille four picks in front of the Kings taking Anze Kopitar will never be accepted.

And while fans second guess Tallon’s spending in free agency, another reality is that the Blackhawks wouldn’t be able to afford this year’s team if he hadn’t done such a great job retaining in-house talent. Consider these contracts:

■Duncan Keith: four years, $5.9M ($1.475M cap number) – signed before 2006-07
■Patrick Sharp: four years, $15.6M ($3.9M cap number) – signed before 2008-09
■Brent Seabrook: three years, $10.5M ($3.5M cap number) – signed before 2008-09
■Troy Brouwer: two years, $2.05M ($1.025M cap number) – signed before 2009-10
■Dave Bolland: five years, $16.875M (3.375M cap number) – signed before 2009-10
When you place these respective deals into the context when they were signed, each is a very good value.

Sharp signed for a deal that was, even in 2008, below market value for a versatile center/wing that was coming off a 36-goal, 62-point season in 2007-08. Today, with Sharp ranking third in the NHL with 20 goals, his cap number makes him one of the best bargains in the entire league. The average cap number of the top 20 scorers in the NHL right now is $5.875M; if you remove Steven Stamkos and Matt Duchene – both playing on entry-level deals still – the average jumps to $6.143M.

Seabrook and Duncan Keith were quietly establishing themselves as one of the elite defensive pairs in the league when Tallon gave Seabrook a respectable three-year deal. He had scored nine goals in 2007-08, but was the physical force next to Keith’s scoring and speed. The two continue to be great together, and were both selected to represent Canada in last year’s Olympics. While Keith was extended last year by Bowman, Seabrook will be looking for an extension as a restricted free agent this coming summer.

Brouwer showed some of his potential, scoring 10 goals in 69 games, in his first real shot in in the NHL in 2008-09, and signed for a relative bargain at the time. He became one of the more productive forwards on the roster last year, scoring 22 goals and ranking among the team leaders in hits while not racking up many penalty minutes. This year he continues to be a great asset to the team, continuing to be a physical power forward who can score while making very little impact on the cap. Brouwer will be a restricted free agent next summer.

Bolland, who put up 130 points (57 goals, 73 assists) in only 59 games with the London Knights in 2005-06, burst onto the scene with 19 goals in 2008-09, and looked like a lock to be a building-block center. While his back injuries have impacted his scoring output, he continues to play outstanding defense in Chicago and showed flashes of an offensive threat in the 2010 postseason.

And yet fans more likely remember the fiasco surrounding the extensions of Kris Versteeg and Cam Barker.

The future of the Blackhawksis in the hands of Bowman, who has made quality moves with pieces brought in by Tallon. He has loaded up the organization’s depth by trading players like Barker (for Kim Johnsson and Nick Leddy), Dustin Byfuglien (in a package for a couple picks and Jeremy Morin) and Versteeg (for Viktor Stalberg and two prospects), but continues to enjoy the spoils of Tallon’s hard work.

Tallon is also responsible for drafting some prospects that we’ve seen already in Chicago this year, like Brandon Pirri (2009 – 2nd round), Ben Smith (2008 – 6th round) and Evan Brophey(2005 – 3rd round). So when we see names like Pirri, Smith, Brophey, Dylan Olsen, Marcus Kruger, Kyle Beach, Shawn Lalonde and Igor Makarov bouncing around in the future, remember the man that selected them in the draft.

The fact is, Tallon had to make take some dramatic chances to get free agents to consider Chicago as a legitimate hockey market. Not only did he succeed in making the Hawks legitimate, but he built a champion.

 

[DewsSox79]

I did the best i could. it was blocking the title for some reason

 

[icehogfan08]

I thought this was a very interesting read, and wanted to see others views on it. I thought Tallon was definately a good GM, but like the article stated, some bad contracts hurt him. The Hawks still have some core pieces of his on the team, or in our system for the future. With all that said, heres to Dale Tallon on building the Hawks to what they are today :clap:

Dale Tallon's Blackhawks Transactions:

~Jonathan Toews: drafted 3rd overall in 2006.
~Patrick Kane: drafted 1st overall in 2007.
~Duncan Keith: drafted 54th overall (second round) in 2002.
~Adam Burish: drafted 282nd overall (ninth round) in 2002.
~Brent Seabrook: drafted 14th overall (first round) in 2003.
~Dustin Byfuglien: drafted 245th overall (eighth round) in 2003.
~David Bolland: drafted 32nd overall (second round) in 2004.
~Troy Brouwer: drafted 214th overall (seventh round) in 2004.
~Niklas Hjalmarsson: drafted 108th overall (fourth round) in 2005.
~Antti Niemi: signed as a free agent rookie on May 5, 2008.
~Patrick Sharp: acquired from Philadelphia on Dec. 5, 2005 with Eric Meloche for Matt Ellison and a 2006 3rd round pick (Ryan White)
~Corey Crawford: 2003 draft – 2nd round (54th overall)
~Bryan Bickell: 2004 draft - 2nd round (41st overall)
~Jake Dowell: 2004 draft – 5th round (140th overall)
~Jack Skille: 2005 draft – 1st round (7th overall)
~Kris Versteeg: acquired from Boston on Feb. 3, 2007 for Brandon Bochenski.
~Ben Eager: acquired from Philadelphia on De. 18, 2007 for Jim Vandermeer.
~Andrew Ladd: acquired from Carolina on Feb. 26, 2008 for Tuomo Ruutu.
~Marian Hossa: signed as a free agent on July 1, 2009.
~Tomas Kopecky: signed as a free agent on July 1, 2009.
~John Madden: signed as a free agent on July 2, 2009.
~Brian Campbell: signed as a free agent July 1, 2008.
~Cristobal Huet: signed as a free agent on July 1, 2008.
~Brent Sopel: signed as a free agent on Sept. 28, 2007.
~Jordan Hendry: signed as a free agent on March 18, 2006.

 

[DewsSox79]

Tallon is the man. no doubt

 

[DewsSox79]

one bad move.

skille over kopitar.

 

[Captain Iago]

Not only did bad contracts hurt his tenure here, but also one must also take in consideration Dollar Bill croaking.

I think I'll take a pass on delving into this as I've done in the past, though.

 

[tbo41fan]

Nice article. Tab bamford is awesome


Tallon was a good GM imo....too bad that meatball fans view him as terrible because of the contracts. Bottom line is that he got us a cup, and im glad for it

 

[Capt. Serious]

Thankful for the Cup but he can go **** himself.

He cost us valuable players.

 

[ClydeLee]

Thankful for the Cup but he can go **** himself.

He cost us valuable players.

Mhmmm, that cup win sure isn't better than having Kopitar too equal no guaranteed success or having no overpriced Campbell.

The Cup sure is a lot better than having held onto Versteeg, Ladd, and Buff.

 

[JTalarico328]

Thankful for the Cup but he can go **** himself.

He cost us valuable players.

Another sports thought, brought to you by Joe Schwenn.

He can go **** himself? Really?

This team lost valuable players more because of the bonuses this offseason than anything. Their money situation will be phenomenal this summer. Every team has to reload after stacking a team in the salary cap era. Deal with it.

 

[Everyday I'm Byfuglien]

Love Dale. Great eye for talent and a cool guy.

 

[southern_cross_116]

Ah yes the bubble that is forgetting about William W Wirtz...

while I have no doubt the man had a passion for hockey and for the Blackhawks -- one could say he horribly mismanaged the team (in fact a lot of people, and sportswriters did).

This team was really dying; and no amount of success in the last 3 or so years can ever really take that legacy away from the team. I know guys that followed the team, or dropped off because they just refused to take it anymore ... and then to read the johnny come lately's queuing up and making some really incredible statements about "supporting the team" etc -coming off as lecturing people that had been through that.

Plus add to that Danny Roan - the king of the "only 20,000 hockey fans in Chicago" acting like somehow he was like some sort of super-fan .... oh, yes ... I think hockey fans in Chicago over a certain age sure have paid their dues.

I imagine it is a lot like Leafs' fans that had to endure Harold Ballard (and they are still recovering from that).

Can't ever underestimate that ... but I guess the fact of the matter is; is that Dale got lucky enough to be a part of the team at, in strictly dispassionate terms, was an opportune time. He would have performed exactly as the rest of them with good old Bob Pulford looking over his shoulder. . . make no mistake about that... WWW had a very short leash.

That being said... I had no problem with Tallon.

 

[AddisonStation]

Tallon was great except for the Campbell contract. I like Campbell but not for the price.

As for Skille over Kopitar... Sometimes its a roll of the dice.

 

[southern_cross_116]

Tallon was great except for the Campbell contract. I like Campbell but not for the price.

As for Skille over Kopitar... Sometimes its a roll of the dice.

Was it really that bad? I think it shows that they decided they desperately needed a proven puck moving defenseman. It gives me the idea that at the time they weren't necessarily completely sold on Duncan Keith's development.

Considering he was the first actually sought after (by other teams that is), big name that signed in Chicago since .. well, Khabibulin and (relatively speaking) Adrian Aucoin.

I think that you can't really look at Campbell's situation in retrospect, but also have to lllok at the context with which he was signed.

 

[Everyday I'm Byfuglien]

As overpaid as he is, Campbell's contract just doesn't bother me as much as Davey Bolland's.

I think it's mainly because I've come to grips with the fact that Campbell is a good player even though he's not going to produce the point totals I had hoped. Davey on the other hand, has seriously pulled a fast one on this organization.