Blackhawks GM admits mistake on late offers

After what he deemed "a hectic week," general manager Dale Tallon took responsibility for a paperwork foul-up that put the Blackhawks in a bad light and could have cost them a number of key players.

[Jesse]

All i can say is that the Blackhawks better find a solution to the mess their in. Hey, more power to them for being able to keep all 7 guys, most importantly Barker and Versteeg. The fact of the matter is that they have created a hole for themselves not only for this season but for next season as well.

They are now left with a microscopic $1.7-$2.0mill cap space, thats the least of their problems. They have to look at the possibility of trying to unload Campbell and his ridiculous salary, he's a nice D-men and quarterback for the powerplay but i would not consider him "Elite" and not worth $6mill+ IMO.

Toews, Keith, Kane are ALL up after the 2009-2010 season. Toews and Kane would be looking for $6mill+ and Keith about $4mill, thats a possible $16mill cap hit on three players.

If your a die-hard Blackhawks fan you would want them to tie up Toews / Kane no matter what. A deal that would make sense would be long-term deals with those two budding youngsters. Give them both 8yrs -$40mill-$43mill. Esier said then done my friends...

Here's a fixable solution:

Trade Versteeg =$3mill, Barker=$3mill+ & dump Campbell $6mill+

I'm sorry but the way i look at this is that Hockey-Fever is back in Chi-Town and the only way the flame is going to stay lit it's if Toews & Kane remain your cornerstone.

C'mon, let's be realistic which three players would you rather have? Toews/Kane/Keith or Barker/Campbell/Versteeg?...No brainer people!!!

[Adolfo Popovich]

Tallon is a standup guy who is an asset to any hockey management. I like it when people are accountable unlike Mayor Daley.

[Not a practical solution]

Contracts in hockey are guaranteed; hence, they cannot dump anyone (their salary still counts) and as you point out Campbell's salary is ridiculous--who is going to trade for him with an expected salary cap reduction for '10-'11?
Trade a top young defenseman (2004 3rd overall pick) and the rookie of the year candidate (23 yrs old)? Other GM's will jump to take those contracts...unless you try to package Campbell's contract. Regardless it won't help eliminate the 7.143M cap hit from Campbell (not 6M+).
Since he is over 26 yrs old, Campbell's buyout against the cap would be 2/3 the contracts remaining value over double the years left (a cap hit of 3.57M in dead space)...that too is not going to happen...
Not only that but the cap next year is probably going to be in the 50M range...and Chicago's commitments are 42.5M with an additional potential dead space carryover from 09-10 bonus awards of 3.6M. That's with 12 players under contract. That would mean 3.9M to sign 8 players including the RFA's. Not a good job of managing the cap...Chicago mortgaged the future to play for the cup this year only...

[olduffman]

Jesse wrote:

All i can say is that the Blackhawks better find a solution to the mess their in. Hey, more power to them for being able to keep all 7 guys, most importantly Barker and Versteeg. The fact of the matter is that they have created a hole for themselves not only for this season but for next season as well.
They are now left with a microscopic $1.7-$2.0mill cap space, thats the least of their problems. They have to look at the possibility of trying to unload Campbell and his ridiculous salary, he's a nice D-men and quarterback for the powerplay but i would not consider him "Elite" and not worth $6mill+ IMO.
Toews, Keith, Kane are ALL up after the 2009-2010 season. Toews and Kane would be looking for $6mill+ and Keith about $4mill, thats a possible $16mill cap hit on three players.
If your a die-hard Blackhawks fan you would want them to tie up Toews / Kane no matter what. A deal that would make sense would be long-term deals with those two budding youngsters. Give them both 8yrs -$40mill-$43mill. Esier said then done my friends...
Here's a fixable solution:
Trade Versteeg =$3mill, Barker=$3mill+ & dump Campbell $6mill+
I'm sorry but the way i look at this is that Hockey-Fever is back in Chi-Town and the only way the flame is going to stay lit it's if Toews & Kane remain your cornerstone.
C'mon, let's be realistic which three players would you rather have? Toews/Kane/Keith or Barker/Campbell/Versteeg?...No brainer people!!!

Hey we got them all right now so live for the moment anythink can happen between now and 14 months from now.Like a CUP the HAWKS have a great team this year lets be happy and cross the cap bridge when we get there. Be happy everythink will work out in the end.

I don't think the HAWKS are going to lose there great young players.This is not your fathers HAWKS anymore they are commited to winning you can see it.

I think these players know they are on the verge of something special and they want to stick around GO HAWKS !!!!!!!!!!

[pucinni]

olduffman wrote:

<quoted text>Hey we got them all right now so live for the moment anythink can happen between now and 14 months from now.Like a CUP the HAWKS have a great team this year lets be happy and cross the cap bridge when we get there. Be happy everythink will work out in the end.
I don't think the HAWKS are going to lose there great young players.This is not your fathers HAWKS anymore they are commited to winning you can see it.
I think these players know they are on the verge of something special and they want to stick around GO HAWKS !!!!!!!!!!

This little over-site end up costing Hawks few millions this season. Barker and Versteeg alone would be paid a lot less in 2009/10 season if not for the urge to save couple of dollars on USPS vs FedEx delivery. Tallon admitted the mistake and took it like a man but is he in such good standings with the owners that they will let it slide?

[olduffman]

I think Dudley had something to do with the foul ups "oh ya I mailed them see ya" off to Atlanta

[dcd]

Dudley left for Atlanta on June 18th...that left the 'hawks 12 days to double check with the players and agent and resend the info via overnight delivery if necessary...sounds like they didn't mail it out until the last minute.
I think Dudley handled these responsibilities in the past and they were overlooked when he left or Tallon failed to take over and oversee his workload. Or possibly watch some assistant get fired because he told him/her, "to mail these out" (without telling them how or why they needed special handling.
It took him a week to admit a mistake and cost millions to correct. Ultimately that falls on the supervisor (unless millions mean nothing to him). Trade paperwork is just as complicated...hope he doesn't screw that up.

[Mike Smiths Ghost]

Whats up with Tallon getting snappy with the Press lately for just asking him questions about this fiasco? He reminds me of Mayor Mumbles Daley--cutting people off, not letting them finish the question, making faces, and noises...you screwed up Tallon, you or whomever is under you and in your OrganIzation---McDonough will fire him sometime AFTER the upcoming Convention is over. Look what he did to Savvy, and he didnt make a mistake that cost them real money, and embarrassment. No ambassadorship,scouting or office roles for Tallon---out the door...the real world would never settle for such costly oversight, no matter past accomplishments--and particularly when you have a Bowman with a Senior Bowman as advisor to him, waiting in the wings. Kind of like Q taking over for Denis...Bowmans are better than Tallon..Tallon screwed up, he's done. But not until the Fan Convention is over.

And please no cries of "loyalty counts" for saving Tallon---tell that to Savvy.

[Tony]

Wasn't Dudley suppose to stop by the post office on his way out? Doh!

[Jack Miehoff]

Stop the blame game,Da' Hawks are just fine.Give Campbell a break,he played better than most the first year after signing a big contract.
The team is heading in the right direction for the first time in almost a century!Sit back and enjoy all you armchair G.M.'s.

[paul]

even if the offers had been sent out on time Versteeg and Barker were due for raises and were signed for market value.the crunch will come next year when Toews and Kane and Keith are due to re-up. in the meantime I plan aon enjoying watching what will be an outstanding team have a great year. GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!

[Tim - Hockey Rules]

The Hawks are going to probably trade someone this year, like a Sopel, or maybe Barker or even Versteeg. Look last year Coach Q teamed up Campbell with Hjalmerson. They took one of the top offensive defensemen in the league and paired him with a rookie. Why do you think there were defensive laps when that pair was on the ice?

But that did not really hurt them, when they were in the conference finals against Detroit Keith and Seabrook were on the ice when Detroit scored alot of goals.

The Hawks are going to be able to re-sign Toews, Kane, and Keith. They will find a way no doubt about it. They can give them a LTD like Detroit did with their players.

At least Tallon had the gump to admit he made an error.

[Jacqueass]

How would you like it if people were calling for you to be fired because one of your underlings screwed something up once? Give Tallon some credit for fixing the problem before it blew up (if it would have - my experience with arbitration makes me believe that Bloch would not have made the players UFAs if there were any grounds to avoid it). That said, he should get the boot if it happens again.

The Hawks may actually have avoided future problems by locking Versteeg and Barker up for three years with contracts that are not unreasonable and which other teams would be interested in trading for. Do you really think that not one other team would have offered Versteeg more than $600,000, which the Hawks would have had to match or lose? A team well below the cap could have structured an offer sheet that the Hawks could not have matched (i.e. a larger than necessary cap hit). These types of shenanigans have been happening in the NFL.

Also, Versteeg and Barker are both 23. I'm not sure, but wouldn't both still be RFAs after the 3 year contracts expire? I don't know whether Barker's one game in 2005-06 counts as a year of NHL experience.

I'm sure the management will find a way to lock up Toews and Kieth. Kane needs to be more consistent this year and show that he can take punishment. He's small, but so was Theo Fleury.

[Rod from Tennessee]

Got to love those "for some reason" explanations. All's well that end's well i suppose, but that was something that should never have happened even once. Obviously people will wonder if Tallon ended up having to overpay just to cover his rear end, but what's done is done, so i guess it's time to move on. After a positive season, fans really don't like to see the GM almost have the apple cart upended, because of "for some reason" though, so the Blackhawks are fortunate they were able to clear up a possible fiasco very quickly.

[Section 313]

Assuming no other team was planning on tendering offers to Barker and Versteeg as RFAs, then yes, the Hawks overpaid for them for THIS season. The qualifying offers would have kept these guys in the fold for one more year and then to get these guys back would have most likely cost more money than what they were signed for. TSN estimated Barker's worth as a UFA at upwards of $5 million per season. The Hawks signed him for $3 million per season for 3 years, after which he (and Versteeg) is still a RFA. I think this worked out ok.

[Section 313]

Not a practical solution wrote:

Contracts in hockey are guaranteed; hence, they cannot dump anyone (their salary still counts) and as you point out Campbell's salary is ridiculous--who is going to trade for him with an expected salary cap reduction for '10-'11?
Trade a top young defenseman (2004 3rd overall pick) and the rookie of the year candidate (23 yrs old)? Other GM's will jump to take those contracts...unless you try to package Campbell's contract. Regardless it won't help eliminate the 7.143M cap hit from Campbell (not 6M+).
Since he is over 26 yrs old, Campbell's buyout against the cap would be 2/3 the contracts remaining value over double the years left (a cap hit of 3.57M in dead space)...that too is not going to happen...
Not only that but the cap next year is probably going to be in the 50M range...and Chicago's commitments are 42.5M with an additional potential dead space carryover from 09-10 bonus awards of 3.6M. That's with 12 players under contract. That would mean 3.9M to sign 8 players including the RFA's. Not a good job of managing the cap...Chicago mortgaged the future to play for the cup this year only...

First off, the $50 million cap is at the extreme end of the estimated cap for 10-11. We'll see what it actually drops to.

I don't think the Hawks did anything to mortgage their future. They made their team better for this season. Obviously there are going to be some decisions to make going into next offseason, but Kane and Toews will be resigned. The team will have a different look to it, but Kane and Toews will be part of it. Other players such as Buff, Sharp, Versteeg, Barker, may not be a part of it, but the team is going to continue moving forward even after this coming season. The sky is not falling!

Lastly, everyone needs to keep in mind that although Kane and Toews current salaries may be under $1 million, their current cap hits are significantly higher ($3.725 M and $2.8M, respectively). Obviously there will be a significant increase in their cap hit after this season, but not as large perhaps as everyone thinks.

[kroeg49]

Jack Miehoff wrote:

Stop the blame game,Da' Hawks are just fine.Give Campbell a break,he played better than most the first year after signing a big contract.
The team is heading in the right direction for the first time in almost a century!Sit back and enjoy all you armchair G.M.'s.

Isn't it something. Every glitch apparently gives so called fans the right to bitch.

I agree, enjoy the ride and remember nothing last forever. Go for it when you can and by looking at Tallon's moves, they are going full ahead this year.

Start thinking positive and give up all of this negativity.

[Darren]

If I cost my company millions based on a misstake I'd be fired. Just saying.

[Section 313]

kroeg49 wrote:

<quoted text>
Isn't it something. Every glitch apparently gives so called fans the right to ****.
I agree, enjoy the ride and remember nothing last forever. Go for it when you can and by looking at Tallon's moves, they are going full ahead this year.
Start thinking positive and give up all of this negativity.

H*LL YES!!!! I can't wait for the season to start! What an exciting team we'll have on the ice in 09-10!

[Section 313]

Darren wrote:

If I cost my company millions based on a misstake I'd be fired. Just saying.

But would your boss be fired?

Although the responsibility ultimately lands in Tallon, somehow I doubt it was his specific job to send the paperwork to the players.