Havlat and Tallon Speak

It was another eventful day in “As the Blackhawk World Turns”.  Ex-Hawk Martin Havlat opened up in an interview with TSN’s Darren Dreger.  Havlat sprayed to one field, John McDonough’s. 

“Dale and I were very close and I stand for loyalty. The players loved Dale and they are with him. Every single player on that team is with Dale. I still talk to the guys all the time, hockey players know a phony when they see one.”

I really don’t understand the backlash that Havlat is receiving from Hawk fans on this one.  He’s giving you an inside look at the inner office politics of your team and people are somehow outraged by this.  There’s no reason for anyone to be upset with what Havlat is saying; Dreger asked him for his side of the story and he’s giving it.

The real anger should be directed at the team president for allowing this type of ridiculous distraction to take place just days before the fan convention. 

We already covered the interview John McDonough did with the Score in the previous post.  Not exactly Frost vs. Nixon considering McDonough’s hand puppet conducted one half of the interview.

Then later in the afternoon, Dale Tallon held a conference call with reporters.  Not surprisingly, Tallon took the high road so he can still get paid for the next three years.  Nevertheless, he still came off as pure class in this interview.

“It’s not about position or title. It’s about the team. It’s about the Chicago Blackhawks, period. I’m comfortable with the decision. I’m still with a very good organization.” 

Unless you’re related to Billy Gardner or Trent Yawney, there’s no reason to feel any ill will towards Dale Tallon.  This is why there are plenty of people upset about this re-assignment, my (website) partner included.

With today’s drama and the Blackhawks Fan Convention now just hours away, this has to be an absolute nightmare for John McDonough.  No matter how many media puppets try to cover his arse, this thing stinks worse than Cam Russell’s elbow pads. 

If there’s any fanbase that is terrified of cloak and dagger operations from it’s front office, it’s Blackhawk fans.  After having 19 months of pure ecstasy, the last couple days of seeing the front office deficate all over themselves are reminding fans what things used to be like.  For those that weren’t around, they weren’t happy memories. 

That’s why it will be extremely interesting to see what kind of reaction John McDonough gets when he’s announced to the capacity crowd.  My guess is it will not be too pleasant…..for anyone. 

Consider the honeymoon officially over.

McD Fields Toss-Up Questions on the Score

Oh, man.

Interesting that, in a media full of people questioning the reasoning behind what is – at the very least – a very poorly-timed decision, John McDonough finds two people who support him in this ongoing debate to interview him on the radio.

Puck Daddy has a great breakdown of the interview up.  Lots of good little nuggets in there.  If he only knew the real relationship of Rozner and McDonough….

Busting Myths and Removing Tallon

If you’re keeping score during this off-season, so far the Chicago Blackhawks have:

• Completed their draft by selecting all centers and defenseman
• Re-signed every one of their restricted free agents
• Nearly had an embarrassing investigation by the Players’ Association due to a mailing flap that everyone in the front office is begging to take the blame on
• Held their Prospects Camp at one of the worst facilities in the state
• Reassigned their General Manager to an office job that he will probably never spend a day working at (more later on that)

Oh yeah, they also signed the best free agent on the market to a very cap friendly deal and locked up two third/fourth line centers.  Anyone who said this off-season would be fairly boring is obviously an idiot.

The biggest news in all of that, though, is the replacement of Dale Tallon on Tuesday.  No, it wasn’t surprising.  If you’ve followed the team for more than a couple weeks, the tension between John McDonough and Tallon was as obvious as the Indian Head at center ice of the United Center.

Before we dive into this head-first, let’s clear up a couple of myths that are permeating from this on-going development.

1. Dale Tallon being re-assigned was the final extermination of the old regime.  Any guesses on who has been with the Blackhawks longer than Tallon?  That’s right, your new general manager Stan Bowman.  Bowman has held a position with the Hawks since 2001.  I’m not very smart, but I’m pretty sure that Bill Wirtz and Bob Pulford were still calling the shots back then.  So while some people (see Columnist who shall remain nameless) try to tell you this was the final removal of the old guard, that’s pretty much a bunch of b.s.
2. This move will be successful because the Hawks replaced Denis Savard with Joel Quenneville and that turned out to be peaches.  The only thing similar about these two moves is how predictable they actually were.  Other than that, this is two completely opposite front office shuffles.  In replacing Savard with Quenneville, the Hawks got an experienced coach who knew exactly what he was stepping into.  Coach Q wasn’t going to need too much time to adjust.  This was his third head coaching position and he brought over 10 years of experience.  This will be Stan Bowman’s first shot in the big chair.  Essentially, this move is more like firing Joel Quenneville and hiring Denis Savard to take his place.  Not the most reassuring feeling in the world.

Now that we cleared that up, let’s get down to the nitty gritty.

First of all, people who are much more business savvy than yours truly told me that Dale Tallon’s contract extension is nothing more than a buyout.  If that’s the case, he won’t be around for very long.  Essentially he gets to collect checks for the next three years without contributing a single ounce of useful information.

Why fire him now?

Well it appears, at least according to John McDonough, that the ‘Qualifying Offers Fiasco’ played a pretty big role in this.  For whatever reason, everyone from McD to Tallon to Stan Bowman has confessed it was their sin, yet only Tallon had to pay for it with his job. 

This was much more than that, though.  The Pres and GM have butted heads for quite some time now.  This may have just brought everything to a collison course.  The change was going to be made; this may have just accelerated it.

All that being said, this could have been planned for awhile.  The Hawks didn’t want to give off the impression around the league that they were a front office in turmoil.  They let Tallon draft players trusting his eye for talent; they let Tallon do his thing in the recruiting process trusting his sales skills; then when all that was left was to fix the salary cap, they brought in their supposed ace in the hole, Stan Bowman.

Is this the right move?

I must admit, this is probably the first time since Rocky Wirtz took over that I’m very uneasy about what the future holds.  John McDonough came off as very smug and unlikeable during the press conference.  Stan Bowman sounded like he was going to break out into a full-on Milton from ‘Office Space’ impression. 

“I was told I could listen to the radio at a reasonable volume.” 

“Have you seen my red stapler?” 

Let’s just hope his tenure doesn’t end with him burning the United Center down.

Back to the question, though, it all depends on the reasoning for the move. 

If the front office brass made this move because they believe they have all the pieces in place, thanks to Tallon’s superb scouting and recruiting abilities, and only need a ‘cap expert’ to get them back in shape, then this move is justifiable.  For now, that’s what I’ll believe they made this move for.

Stan Bowman did score some extra points in my book today.  When asked about the potential headache going into next off-season, Bowman answered the same way I have been since the Hossa signing.  That is, basically, everything will look a whole lot different in a year because of trades, releases, buyouts, etc.  How can anybody say with any certainty what everything is going to look like then?

However, if they made this move because of old fashioned nepotism, then maybe some things will never change.

Someone Didn’t Read the FF Dale Tallon Report Card…

In a move that should surprise no one, the Blackhawks are apparently set to fire Dale Tallon, now former General Manager.  He will be replaced with – no drum roll necessary – Stan Bowman.  The interesting parts of this story, I’m sure, will come out in the next few days.  Until then, let the rampant speculation begin!

Stay tuned.  We’ll have plenty more as things continue to develop.

Update-10:56 am-  Dale Tallon will not be fired as originally speculated, just re-assigned within the organization.

Update-3:21 pm- John McDonough just announced Dale Tallon was signed to a 2-year extension in his new role.  Very interesting.

Linkin’ Logs

First off, I hope everyone had a nice Chicago weekend.  As you’ve likely inferred from the absence of recent posts, John and I had separately glorious weekends.

Though we find ourselves squarely within the boring NHL month of July – unless you count prospect camps and suicide threats stemming from the Blackhawk salary cap situation – there have been a couple recent news stories worthy of review.  Let’s have at them…

- Dale Tallon is apparently taking the heat for John McDonough’s mailing mistake, according to “Chicago insiders.”  It’s still hard to imagine what the team’s president had to do with the mailing of what are perfunctory offers, but I’m no “Chicago insider.”  And, Tallon’s no mailman, as he admitted last week. 

- Speaking of, most of the scuttlebutt surrounding the failed mailings includes the charge that the Blackhawk restricted free agents did not receive their qualifying offers in time.  (In fact, look no further than the Boston Globe piece linked above, which incinuates the late receipt of the offers by the players was the underlying problem in the fiasco.)  The fact is, however, that the NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement (the “CBA”) fails to state when notices mailed pursuant to the CBA are effective, as most large contracts typically do. 

For example, many formal contracts will have language similar to the following: “All notices and other communications hereunder shall be in writing and shall be deemed duly given (a) on the date of delivery if delivered personally, or by facsimile, upon confirmation of receipt or (b) on the first business day following the date of dispatch if delivered by a recognized next-day courier service.” 

As no such language appears within the CBA, it’s likely – in my opinion – an arbitrator would have considered the notices “duly given” on the day mailed, so as not to write more restrictive language into the CBA where none existed before.  Alas, as everyone and their brother has previously reported, the Hawks were late to mail and/or failed to send the offers via overnight mail to the players as is required under the CBA, so this practice in contract construction would not have been relevant.

- Yet another take on the salary cap effects of the Hawks’ recent mailing blunders; this one states the Hawks “will not have enough space to remain in tact while accommodating Kane, Toews and Keith (next summer).”  And, while I don’t disagree with this statement, it’s unlikely the $1 million per year the Hawks arguably overpaid to retain Kris Versteeg – Barker certainly got nothing exceeding market value, in my opinion - has thrown off management’s plans for personnel in future years.  The reality, given the handful of breakout performances last season and the timing of certain contract expirations, is that this group was doomed for break-up since the beginning of the offseason independent of any mailing snafus.

- Morever, from this seat, it appears the Hawks’ third and fourth lines are essentially set with Madden, Kopecky, Ladd, Brouwer, Eager and Burish with Fraser hanging on as filler.  That leaves seven forwards for the top two lines: Toews, Kane, Hossa, Sharp, Bolland, Byfuglien and Versteeg.  Point is: with or without qualifying offer difficulties, there’s no room at the inn for all 14 NHL forwards currently on the roster – not to mention possible spots for Kyle Beach or Akim Aliu.  Sharp, Byfuglien and Versteeg are the three that may not belong.

Tallon says ‘Cap is Fine, Get off my back people’

As fans, there are some things we’ll never know about the teams we follow.  How the Blackhawks roster currently fits under the salary cap is one of those things.  According to Dale Tallon, everything fits.

Tallon added the signings didn’t put the Blackhawks over the NHL’s salary cap, set at $56.8 million for 2009-10.

“We’re in good shape and we’re legal,” he said “We’re under the cap.”

So as long as he is correct in his statement, then I think the chance is strong to quite strong that this might be the team you see come training camp.  The only move to be made would be trading Byfuglien for a depth defenseman in, basically, a straight up salary dump.  Even then, I’m still not convinced it wouldn’t be better just to play out the year with this group and see what happens. 

I will not be breaking down the Hawks lines because it’s still way too early, but let me say one thing about them: since the Blackhawks signed Marian Hossa, a lot of people have penciled him into Havlat’s spot with Bolland and Ladd. 

It will probably take all of 10 minutes during the team’s first practice before the temptation is far too great for Quenneville and staff to put Hossa and Kane on the same line together.  Kane’s playmaking abilities and Hossa’s sniping make these two a match made in Blackhawk heaven.  Since Hossa’s signing was announced and the thought first popped in my head of those two playing together, let’s just say, it’s been going from 6 to midnight quite often.

For a bit of perspective, if Kane helped Patrick Sharp transform from a fringe NHL player with a ceiling of a 20 goal scorer into a legit 40 goal threat (and he did), just think about what would happen if he was paired with Hossa.  50 goals would be the benchmark for those two.  

Then, think about how much better Dave Bolland will become playing in between two world-class players, instead of just one as he did last year.  The Hawks would essentially have two number one lines.  The days of Q worrying about line matching would be over.  

–In other news, Dale Tallon is trying to put the ”Qualifying Offers Fiasco” behind him as quickly as possible.  He made his most public statements today, essentially admitting they made a mistake and going in front of an arbitrator would have been a Doomsday scenario.   

“We were late filing this year.  It’s something we haven’t done in the past but for a couple of reasons we were a little bit later. Our intent the whole time was to sign our eight restricted free agents, and we were able to do that to continue to develop our core together.”

Dale Tallon insists that they paid market value for Kris Versteeg and Cam Barker.  He’s right, they did.  They didn’t overpay like the local media keeps suggesting.

The whole point of the mix-up though, was it left management no choice but to sign them.  By screwing the qualifying offers up, they lost the whole advantage of having restricted free agents in the first place.  Instead of waiting to see if some team wanted to swoop in and give Barker or Versteeg a silly contract, the Hawks had to give them a fair market contract so they wouldn’t lose them for nothing. 

That’s not overpaying; it’s called covering your ass.

You can put Versteeg on the board

It’s becoming readily apparent that Blackhawks realized the error in their ways with the “Qualifying Offers Fiasco” and are doing everything in their power to remedy the situation.  After signing 6 restricted free agents yesterday, Kris Versteeg appears to be the last domino to fall.  According to Tim Sassone, Versteeg is on the verge of signing a 3-year, $9 million deal with the Hawks.

What this does in the short term is help save face for the Hawks franchise as losing any young players for no compensation because of a clerical error would be a real big black eye.  Any kind of arbitration hearing is now moot as the Hawks have come to agreements with all of their restricted free agents. 

So if you’re scoring at home, the Blackhawks have replaced Martin Havlat with Marian Hossa; Sami Pahlsson with John Madden; Matt Walker with Brent Sopel, Aaron Johnson, and Jordan Hendry; Nikolai Khabibulin with Corey Crawford; then returned the rest of last year’s team with Tomas Kopecky added to the mix.  Still, it’s very likely that someone will be traded in a salary dumping transaction.  Hell, it could be more than one guy.

The only salaries that appear to be immovable right now are Sopel, Cristobal Huet, and Brian Campbell.  There will be a market for everyone else. Patrick Sharp, Dustin Byfuglien, Kris Versteeg, Cam Barker, we’re looking right at you. 

However, assuming the Hawks still fit under the cap after this signing (and I really have no idea who to believe at this point) it also could be very likely that this will be the team you’ll see come training camp.  They could be preparing for one big bang, then selling off parts immediately after next season ends to get their payroll back to a reasonable level in order to lock up the ‘Big 3′.  In fact, this may be the most logical thing to do.

If there’s anything positive that can come out of the ”Qualifying Offers Fiasco”, at least the front office made the mistake this summer, and not next, when it will be absolutely imperative for them to mail out the qualifying offers overnight.  Here’s hoping they learned their lesson.

UPDATE– Versteeg signing official.  3 years, $9.25 million with an annual cap hit of 3.08.  Same as Barker.

Strange Days Have Found Us

What a bizarre 24 hours it has been for the Blackhawks. 

On Sunday evening, the NHL predictably found nothing wrong with what the Blackhawks did in the ‘Qualifying Offers Mailing Fiasco’. 

Early Monday, they announced the signings of restricted free agents Ben Eager, Troy Brouwer, Colin Fraser, Corey Crawford, and Aaron Johnson.

Monday evening, the NHLPA decided to file a grievance on behalf of Kris Versteeg and Cam Barker because of the Blackhawks inability to get the offer sheets to them in a timely enough manner.

Then, later Monday evening, Cam Barker agreed to a 3-year, $9.25 million deal with a 3.08 cap hit with the Blackhawks.

So the cheese -Kris Versteeg- now stands alone.  So how in the name of Franistek Kucera did we get to this point and what exactly is the Hawks’ defense going to be in this case?  Thankfully for you (and me), one half of the Fifth Feather writing staff (Bobby) has a law degree and can break down the Collective Bargaining Agreement with the ease of Patrick Kane carving through the Canucks defense.

Here’s his take on the whole situation:

_______________________________________________________________

Given last week’s signing of Marian Hossa and our analysis regarding how it affects Kris Versteeg (Hint: He gone!), as well as Monday evening’s three-year extension for Cam Barker, the grievance filed by the NHLPA Monday has essentially become the battle for compensation in return for Versteeg.  There is, of course, much at stake. 

In the event the grievance reaches an arbitrator (which appears highly likely at this juncture), the runner-up for the Calder Trophy could become an unrestricted free agent, where the Blackhawks will have no more rights to the winger than any other team.  If an arbitrator determines the opposite, the Hawks, at the worst, stand to receive a small handful of picks as compensation for losing the restricted free agent. 

The issue, of course, centers around whether the Blackhawks’ restricted free agents – now, only Versteeg – appropriately received the qualifying offers necessary to make each player a restricted free agent, as opposed to an unrestricted free agent.  As an initial matter, it would be important to note that Versteeg may have very little to lose in waiting until the grievance is settled. 

After all, it would seem unlikely Versteeg will be a Blackhawk when the season begins in Finland later this year, and gaining access to the open market could mean an extra $1 million or $2 million per season for him. 

So, what went wrong last week with the qualifying offers? 

Section 10.2(a)(ii) of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (“CBA”) between the League and its Players Union states the following: “In order to receive a Right of First Refusal … with respect to a Restricted Free Agent, the Prior Club of a Restricted Free Agent must tender to the Player, no later than 5:00 p.m. New York time on … the first Monday after the Entry Draft of the final year of the Player’s (Standard Player Contract), a “Qualifying Offer.” 

The same Section goes on to explain, “A Qualifying Offer will be deemed to have met the above requirements if the Prior Club timely provides the Player a completed copy of the notice attached as Exhibit 19 hereto, in accordance with Exhibit 3 hereto.” 

Exhibit 3, which governs all notices under the CBA, states that the delivery of a notice to a Player must be delivered in the following manner: “From the day after the conclusion of a Player’s Playing Season until the commencement of the Player’s subsequent Playing Season, notice(s) shall be sent via overnight delivery to the Player’s off-season address which the Player provides to the Club.”  However, Exhibit 3 also goes on to say the following: “If no method of service is specified in this Agreement, service of the required notice shall be effectuated by either facsimile transmission or overnight mail delivery by an established nation-wide delivery service.” 

While it’s not clear whether the “method of service is specified” within the CBA for the delivery of a qualifying offer, it’s quite clear that a qualifying offer must be, among other things, either faxed or mailed overnight to the player. 

According to numerous sources, Dale Tallon and the Blackhawks neglected to do either: they admittedly did not fax the qualifying offer and overnight mail last Monday would have arguably found the mailing in the players’ hands on Tuesday.  As the players apparently did not receive the qualifying offers by last Saturday, it stands to reason the mailings indeed were not sent via overnight mail. 

Thus, at quick glance, it certainly appears the Blackhawks failed to follow the formalistic process required to issue a qualifying offer to make the players, Kris Versteeg including, restricted free agents. 

So, what can be done? 

What’s interesting is the apparent “catch-all” at the bottom of Exhibit 3, which reads, “In the event the method of service specified is not available (e.g., overnight delivery to a specified address), the next most reasonable and efficient service available shall be utilized, provided such service provides a written verification or other record of delivery (e.g., certified or registered mail or overnight delivery).” 

The clause begs the questions: When is a method of service “not available” and what is the “next most reasonable and efficient service available”?

If the grievance reaches an arbitrator, it’s possible the Blackhawks and counsel could base an argument around this last clause, arguing that the upcoming Canadian holiday – Wednesday, the first, is Canada Day – gave the organization concerns about whether an overnight mailing sent Monday would actually reach its destination during the next day.  Thus, as the argument could go, the team considered the overnight service to be “not available” and chose “the next most reasonable and efficient service available,” which they considered to be standard mail coupled with some sort of written verification. 

Alternatively, if the grievance reaches an arbitrator, the Hawks could also make a policy argument, as a decision against the Blackhawks would be antithetical to the policy underlying restricted free agency.  As the policy seeks to reward teams for good drafting and player development, allowing a promising young player to escape restricted free agency due to a formalistic gaffe would not serve such a policy. 

Ultimately, Kris Versteeg may have ideas to wait this process out and perhaps find himself in unrestricted free agency when all is said and done.  What happens in the end depends almost entirely on internal politics and perhaps the decision of an arbitrator.  At that point, all bets are off.

___________________________________________________________

So there you have it. 

With Cam Barker agreeing to a contract, the pressure of these hearings for the Hawks has eased up considerably.  Losing Versteeg’s rights will sting; Losing Barker AND Versteeg’s rights because of a clerical error could have been downright devastating.

Really quick, I’d also like to nix this popular theory out there that there’s an elaborate scheme within members of the Hawks front office to make Dale Tallon look like a buffoon and subsequently, get him fired in the process.

First of all, Monday is not “GM walks the mail to the Post Office” Day at the United Center.  Tallon, like everyone else in a position of power and responsibility, has assistants and secretaries who take care of arbitrary things such as mailing documents.  He doesn’t fill out slips for FedEx or DHL.  Very likely, someone who you never heard of, made a very bad mistake.

Now, this theory that someone under him would concoct this scheme to make him look bad; that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense either.  Since October, there’s been whispers that John McDonough and Tallon do not get along. 

If McDonough really doesn’t like him, then there’s no need for someone to put on this big dog and pony show to prove Tallon’s incompetence.  What’s the point of putting on this long drawn out operation for someone who isn’t that crazy about the General Manager to begin with?  Not to mention, putting the franchise in a very dangerous position and making their job that much more difficult if they were to take over for Tallon.  Doesn’t make one bit of sense.

If anything, this whole big conspiracy (it was Scotty Bowman with the letter opener in the visitor’s dressing room) would prove that McDonough and Rocky Wirtz were actually head over heels in love with Dale Tallon this whole time.

And I don’t think anyone really believes that.

Barker Signs, Too

Per TSN.ca, Cam Barker gets a new deal worth $9.25 million over three years.  That leaves only Kris Versteeg as the last man standing on the RFA/UFA island.

Plenty more on that later this evening.

What Investigation?

Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune is reporting the Blackhawks have to come to terms with restricted free agents Colin Fraser, Troy Brouwer, and Ben Eager.  Each player was rumored to be part of the ‘Chicago Five’.  So while the rest of Hawk Nation waits breathlessly for the NHLPA to conclude its investigation, the Hawks front office is proving maybe it’s not in disarray as some people like to think.