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 its 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 convention’s capacity crowd. My guess is it will not be too pleasant … for anyone.
Consider the honeymoon officially over.
July 16, 2009 at 6:07 am
IMO, I think people are tired of the chirping by Havlat and some may even wonder if his agent is doing it while havlat is grooming himself. Regardless, again IMO, enough is enough move on to your next destination. Havlat needs to stop acting like a jilted girlfriend.
Dreger is doing his job of sensationalizing just like he is supposed to until the next big story comes along. We’ll never know the truth from the Hawks front office and, at this point, Tallon is gonna continue to take the high road. There is a lot more to the true story and it will never get told. But what is real cool is it is July and everyone is talking about the BlackHawks. Isn’t like Bears camp starting soon?
Sure the guys may be loyal to Dale but they played after Savard left to his new role. At the end of the day, these guys are paid to play and that’s what the good ones do. We don’t have an Avery on this team. And if I remember correctly, I think one of the big three lived with Stan Bowman in his rookie year.
I think the on ice product will be better and we need to look forward to that. I also don’t think this move will drive Toews and Kane and Keith to other teams. An organization is made up of a collection of entities, owners, coaches, teammates, and FANS. I am pretty sure, Rocky knows this and so do the players. If Rocky, doesn’t he knows what happens to the attendance.
I couldn’t agree more that the focus needs to be solely on McD. He cooked his own goose. The smartest thing he can do after the convention is take his much deserved heat and move into the background for a long while. If he continues to be smarmy and aloof (some may call it arrogant), he will drive a wedge further into the rift he created with his evasive weaseling.
Hawks fans are NOT Cubs fans. They left when the old man didn’t do the right things, if McD doesn’t heed this, they could leave again. Rocky knows this and if he has to, he can pull the trigger on McD. McD has a lot to learn about the hockey business and the fan base. The UC isn’t Wrigley where it is a big summertime party win or lose.
July 16, 2009 at 7:28 am
I disagree with what you said about Havlat and Dreger. There is no sensationalizing from Dreger. The guy has been on the money all summer long. He broke the RFA fiasco and this latest thing, he just gave Havlat an outlet to speak his mind.
I don’t think Havlat sounds like a jilted girlfriend. He sounds like a guy who just wants to get something off his chest. Can’t blame him for that.
I would much rather have the media talk about the Bears than covering this mess on West Madison. Like I said, it just brings back bad memories of mix-ups, screw-ups, and lies.
July 16, 2009 at 8:13 am
Great statement and I respect yours and will clarify mine a little bit.
I did say Dreger is doing his job. There are worse columnists than him. He is, IMO, sensationalizing this story but that’s what gets readers. I feel that he just tends to focus too much on one thing for too long. TSN surely has other things to report than the Hawks RFA and personnel change sagas. Heatley’s story is as big a fiasco as anything and it is second page news. The Bergevin move is an excellent move and is getting no press. Hence my point of view.
Havlat has had more than ample time to get things of his chest. He also had more than ample time to sign sign a contract. We heard about that all spring long. What is he trying to accomplish? What is he going to achieve? I really wonder if it is him or his agent doing the spouting. Again, he had plenty of time to sign and never did especially if it was as close as we heard.
And frankly, he is a huge risk if he gets hurt again. He got his big contract in Mineesota. He isn’t going to sway our entire fan base because he is pouting or emptying the skeletons. It makes me question his intentions all along. He wasn’t the most popular Hawk or the most active in the community. I would say he wasn’t top five and venture he wasn’t top ten. Yes, he had a great season and maybe wanted to be back. But we all have things in life we don’t get and most of us don’t get contracts like him…and we don’t get to get it off our chest for weeks. We pick ourselves up and move forward. I think it is time for him to do the same. Hence the jilted girlfriend analogy.
I am going to throw a curve ball here. If he was so loyal, and such a Hawks guy, then why didn’t he take what they offered and say, I am going to make you pay pay me because I earned it again. I remember a guy playing for McD old team that wanted to be a Cub so bad he said sign me for what you want to pay me. A lesson to be learned from Andre Dawson.
I also do not think this will be the return of the Pulford-Mike Smith- Pulford eras. I too have many of those bad memories. We’ll be alright and the Home Opener is 10/2!!!!!!
July 16, 2009 at 9:15 am
I understand why people would paint Havlat as the “jilted girlfriend,” but I won’t do that. There is an incredible lack of transperancy to this organization right now – above and beyond the typical sports franchise – and if Havlat wants to shed some light on a decision that has yet to be explained, I’ll listen. In that way, I think he’s providing something of a service to Hawk fans.
Of course, everything he says should be read with a critical eye, but so too should comments from Blackhawks management.
July 16, 2009 at 10:00 am
The only caveat in listening to Havlat, is I don’t think the Hawks are going to refute anything he throws out. It will just propogate the issue. So you have to wonder how much truth there is or is not to anything he says. And I am not sure if the Hawks come out and say something it helps them in fact it may hurt them. So silence is golden might be prudent here.
I think the best thing to have happen will be some fishing trips while we figure out the final roster. We have a good team and are better with Hossa than Havlat. Hossa plays a complete two way game that Havlat did not.
July 16, 2009 at 10:10 am
No one’s arguing we’re not better off with Hossa. That’s not even an issue IMO.
The biggest thing this whole thing has done is put egg on McDonough and the Chicago media’s collective faces. Since he took over, there hasn’t been one negative thing written or said about him. Now we’re hearing he isn’t the Mother Teresa that everyone has painted him out to be. That’s the issue and that’s why Havlat and Dreger should be commended.
July 16, 2009 at 10:44 am
Absolutely, Hossa is not the issue to us but to Marty it might be. We have a great team and a lot of options that we didn’t have before. The big three will be signed, SeaB will be extended and a trade will utlimately take place making us even better.
I think Dreger is doing his job. Maybe too much onus on us but that is better than years past. Good or bad it means we got someone’s attention. McD needed to get egg on his face better earlier in his time than later too. He put himself in that position. How he responds to this in the future will be how he is viewed. Winning cures all sins.
At a certain point, I think Havlat has to just move on. We can agree to disagree on his pulitzer. I think he is pissed and is acting out. Whether or not he was happy with how it played or it wasn’t the way he wanted or something else, it is only gonna be one-sided info from him. I just don’t see McD or the Hawks saying anything new. Short of the release of taped conversations, the front office will repeat the same broken record.
I think the best lesson that Hawks front office and especially McD need to learn is that when you want to play with the elite franchises in your sport, you are gonna be under the media scrutiny much, much more than you were when no one really cared about you. Ask NYI, other than Taveres, does anyone care on the national front? It should be obvious but this is a real, real good lesson and now time to focus on improving these areas.
July 16, 2009 at 11:09 am
Read the Herald today. Interesting comments on the cap and signing challenges by Bowman.
July 16, 2009 at 1:11 pm
I’m ready to put this all behind us. I will miss Havlat, but you can make the argument that Hossa should work out better for about the same cap hit they would have had with Havlat. Whether Hossa was an option that whoever was calling the shots on the Havlat negotions had in mind the whole time, or they just got lucky, we will never know, but I suggest that it doesn’t really matter any more ‘cus Hossa is here and Havlat is not. The switch in GMs was not a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention – it was inevitable unless Scotty or McD got their walking papers first. Yes, Dale was a great guy, did a fairly decent job, and is Blackhawk royalty, but so was Savvy, and I was able to get over that because his replacement was no slouch and the product on the ice was great. I’ve listened to Stan on many HawkCasts, and in my opinion, he is no slouch either. Yes, I cringe everytime McD opens his mouth, and he comes off as a real Bozo on his handling of the change in guard, and the RFA fiasco, but I suggest that all doesn’t matter now ‘cus Stan was going to replace Dale at some point anyway, and the RFAs are signed. It’s time to move on from all this and start getting excited about the great product we are going to see on the ice this year, and that’s a lot more fun then taking pot shots at McD.
July 16, 2009 at 1:49 pm
At least Quenneville had a track record to go on. Stan has always been second fiddle and now is inheriting, what has become, an enormous mess. Not exactly the type of situation you want to see a first time GM step into the first days on the job.
July 16, 2009 at 1:52 pm
He has a good bloodline, been in the business for a while too. Challenge and he better be up to it or they are all done. I think he will be fine
We do have to remember that we have (or so i have read) like 14M coming off the cap. We also have some guys under contract that will be able to move up too. So a smart trade or two and we are in good shape relatively quickly. I don’t think this is the final team just yet. A forward may be going for a pick or an expiring contract type deal.