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Think again.
Rozner has been an unabashed shill for all things McDonough for years.
Tallon loses his job because of Stan's mistake, and Rozner prints exactly what McDonough wants him to. Absolutely pathetic.
From Sports Illustrated: Allan Muir
It didn't take long for the letters to start rolling in about the dismissal of Chicago Blackhawks GM Dale Tallon. Let's take a look at that hot topic, and a few more that showed up repeatedly in the mailbag.
Do you think that Dale Tallon was set up so that Scotty Bowman's son could take over as GM in Chicago? It seems to me that Tallon is being made a scapegoat for someone else's mistake with those RFA offers.
-- Michael Koltuniak, Plymouth, MI
I remember wondering what led Rick Dudley to leave a position as Chicago's assistant GM for an associate GM job in Atlanta late last month. Men with his experience rarely make lateral moves. I guess all those beer-league concussions finally caught up to me. Seems pretty obvious now in hindsight, doesn't it? Dudley could hear the whispers, and he was gettin' while the gettin' was good.
Dudley's departure was just one bit of evidence pointing to a classic internal power struggle in a crowded front office. And barring a surprise Stanley Cup, it was a struggle that Tallon was destined to lose. It was reported on Monday night that he'd been dismissed and replaced by long-time assistant GM Stan Bowman.
A lot of the speculation about this firing will center on the improperly-filed qualifying offers that failed to reach eight of the team's restricted free agents in time. Tallon fell on his sword for that screw-up, and rightfully so. He's always been a buck-stops-here kind of guy, even if he wasn't personally responsible for that particularly embarrassing, and ultimately costly, episode.
But no one should think that a GM is actually licking stamps and dropping off contracts in the mail . . . and that's why this imbroglio has led to speculation that maybe whoever was responsible for moving those offers along might have applied the brakes on purpose. Not usually a fan of conspiracy theories myself, but this incident was so inexcusable that it is hard to imagine an experienced executive making that mistake.
But even the botching of a simple exercise isn't as telling as is the fact that aspects of the story were leaked to the press on at least two occasions from what had to be internal sources. Sure seems as though someone in the Hawks organization had an ax to grind. Whether that was for personal gain, the perceived betterment of the franchise or managerial homogeneity is wide open for speculation, but I think it might have been the latter.
Tallon, like Stan Bowman, was a rare holdover from the Bill Wirtz era. But Bowman the younger had his connections to the new group thanks to the hiring of his father, Scotty, as a senior adviser last summer. Tallon? He had no ties to the new regime. And you know how those scenes usually play out.
It could certainly be argued that there was basis for staging a coup. Tallon made his share of questionable decisions, including a pair of failed coaches (Trent Yawney and Denis Savard) and some brutal free agent signings, from Theo Fleury and Adrian Aucoin to the recent extravagances of Brian Campbell and Cristobal Huet, and the crippling Marian Hossa deal at the opening of this year's free agency bonanza.
Sure, Tallon had his share of wins along the way (hiring Joel Quenneville, trading rolls of hockey tape for Kris Versteeg and Patrick Sharp), but it's impossible to overlook the potential impact of those last three free agent deals.
Although there's been speculation that the Campbell and Huet signings were the brainchild of club president John McDonough, they still came on Tallon's watch and contributed to an onerous financial load on the books that may prevent the team from re-signing young cornerstones Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith after this season. And if you make those decisions, or don't have the power to fend them off, you're wide open to internal attack.
So the RFA scandal may have led to Tallon being pushed out the window, but he clearly put himself on the sill. It'll be interesting to see how Bowman goes about addressing the team's issues. He's generally well thought-of, but hasn't been in this position before. Having dad Scotty's experience to call on will help, but the Hawks' precarious financial position calls for some particularly bold strokes.
Hopefully, Stan already has a few ideas in place. No doubt the thousands gathering for the annual Blackhawks fan convention this weekend will be all ears.
_________________ Joe Orr Road Rod wrote: The victims are the American People and the Republic itself.
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