Havlat’s view on Tallon firing hard to swallow

July 15, 2009   ·   Derek Felix   ·   Jump to comments

Is Martin Havlat telling the truth? That’s what must be asked following the former Hawk star forward’s burial of Chicago Team President John McDonough.

In light of Dale Tallon’s recent demotion while the son of Scotty Bowman, Stan was elevated to Blackhawks’ GM, Havlat spoke out against McDonough thru Twitter touching on a number of curious topics including why he wasn’t retained.

“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,” he continued in a TSN story written by Darren Dreger. “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.“

Strong words from Havlat, who indicated that for three months, Tallon wanted to re-sign him. Instead, Marian Hossa wound up replacing the Hawks’ leading scorer who landed on his feet in Minnesota supplanting Marian Gaborik. It almost reads like a domino of Eurostars.

Regarding Tallon, the 28 year-old Czech went out of his way to heap praise continuing:

“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 was part of a very special team but that team doesn’t exist anymore. I am really disappointed that Rocky Wirtz would let something like this happen.”

This is awfully hard to ignore. Is something wrong in Blackhawk Land? They just came off a great season finally seeing serious hockey again making a run to the Final Four before falling to old Norris rival Detroit. I felt Havlat would stay but from the look of things, perhaps McDonough had too much power.

A recent Sunday piece from respected Boston Globe columnist Kevin Paul Dupont accused McDonough of delaying the mailing out of the qualifiers for seven Hawks including Cam Barker and Kris Versteeg, who Tallon had to scramble to keep further damaging their cap for the foreseeable future. Next summer, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith all turn restricted. Now, the Chicago organization expects Stan Bowman, who’s only 36, to fix this mess.

McDonough denied Havlat’s accusations in a morning appearance on The Score 670 earlier today. More on the awkward situation from Puck Daddy’s Greg Wyshynski.

It’s hard not to believe that there’s some semblance to what Havlat’s gone on the record with. The way the Tallon firing came down was odd even if somewhat predictable. It had been rumored for months despite the Hawks’ meteoric rise. Finally, Havlat finished with a bang delivering this line:

“It’s up to the fans now to be heard on this. If you care about the direction of the team, do something about it.”

How can any of this be good for the club moving forward?