FanHouse DaleTallon

Dale Tallon made a tremendous blunder this offseason when the qualifying offers for Cam Barker, Kris Versteeg and the team's other restricted free agents didn't get sent out in time. Tallon admitted it was his responsibility, admitted he screwed up, and in the end, worked out contract extensions with the key players (Barker, Versteeg), assuring that they wouldn't hit the open market as unrestricted free agents, free to sign with the highest bidder with no compensation coming back to Chicago.

In the end, it appears that blunder cost him his job, as reports out of Chicago early Tuesday morning indicated that Tallon was removed from his position, and replaced by Stan Bowman.

The Minnesota Wild had quite the busy day in free agency on Wednesday, signing shot-blocker Greg Zanon from the Nashville Predators, and swapping one oft-injured, yet supremely talented forward (Marian Gaborik) for another oft-injured, yet supremely talented forward (Martin Havlat). There was also a report from Michael Russo of the Star Tribune that the team was working on a deal with Saku Koivu.

Havlat, 28, signed a six-year, $30 million deal in Minnesota late Wednesday night, and followed it up by voicing his displeasure with the negotiating process in Chicago ... via Twitter.

It's not exactly a national secret that hockey teams tend to go through coaching changes about as often as a high school kid goes through a change of clothes (speaking on personal experience, that's about once per year). As we begin the conference finals, it's probably worth pointing out that three of the four teams taking part -- the Pittsburgh Penguins, Carolina Hurricanes and Chicago Blackhawks -- experienced a change behind the bench during the regular season.

Late yesterday afternoon Kevin Schultz passed along the story of how the Chicago Blackhawks gave up an off day to travel to the funeral of the father of team general manager Dale Tallon over Thanksgiving weekend. Recently, the Blackhawks took a video camera back into the locker room to talk to the team about the experience.

Apparently, Blackhawks' GM Dale Tallon woke up this morning and swore to himself that he wouldn't go to bed tonight without a salary cap situation on his hands. After inking Cristobal Huet to a $5 million cap hit earlier today, he went ahead and picked up the most sought after defenseman on the market today by inking Brian Campbell. Campbell didn't come cheaply though, as it's going to take an eight-year deal worth a whopping $7.1 million per season to get him into black and red next year.

Campbell's a great pickup for the 'Hawks and he's a great offensive player and point man, but $7.1 million a year for a guy that's a bit of a defensive liability is a real indication of just how wild the market is running today. Plus, Campbell's already 29, so he'll be 37 at the end of this deal. The Blackhawks are getting a great player, but they're getting him at a high cost.

The other thing worth noting is that Chicago is now over the cap after the additions of Huet and Campbell. They're going to have to dump someone soon, and best bets are probably Nikolai Khabibulin. I don't know who's going to want a goalie with Khabibulin's price tag that plays like he has recently, but if Tallon can convince people that Havlat is healthy, he might make a nice consolation prize to whoever loses the Marian Hossa derby.

It looks like the Blackhawks have found a backup goaltender they are comfortable with, after having to go through the disaster that was Brian Boucher. Go figure that the Blue Jackets went and claimed Boucher ... What the hell? Doug MacLean's last laugh? 0.o

Anyhoo, The Hawks have signed Lalime to a 1-year deal, allowing him to continue to reclaim an NHL career of some sort.

From the official Blackhawks website:

Chicago Blackhawks General Manager Dale Tallon announced today that the Blackhawks have agreed to terms with goaltender Patrick Lalime on a 1-year contract.

Lalime, 32, 6'3", 189 pound netminder appeared in 12 games with the Blackhawks this past season posting a record of 4-5-1 with one shutout, a 3.07 goals against average and a .896 save percentage.

After suffering through a miserable post-lockout season with the Blues, Lalime started the year on the sidelines as he was recovering from a herniated disc and shell shock. I was at the game where he staged his comeback and shut out the Canucks at GM Place. He looked to have his agility back, and was hardly rusty behind a poor Hawks defence.

While he is highly unlikely to ever return to the level of a #1 goaltender, as he was with the Ottawa Senators, Lalime should provide the Hawks with a good backup to Nikolai Khabibulin, who has been fighting inconsistency and aches and pains during his tenure with the Hawks.