CSN's Josh Mora is reporting that the Blackhawks have fired GM Dale Tallon and an official announcement will be made on Tuesday. Tallon has recently come under fire when the team failed to get qualifying offers out in time to several restricted free agents including Kris Versteeg. Stan Bowman will replace Tallon as GM.

— Comcast Sportsnet Chicago

The photo at the top there dates July 31, 2008, less than 12 months ago when there were big smiles all around as one of the top coaches in NHL history joined his son, Stanley, with the Blackhawks' brain trust.

If it wasn't a ruse, looking back, it sure seemed like one.

In September of 2008, Joel Quenneville was hired as a pro scout by the 'Hawks. Four games into the season, he became the team's head coach when the front office tied a can to Denis Savard.

And, from that point on, we heard rumours, whispers and outright proclamations that Dale Tallon — smiling, at left — would be the next to go.

This is a team being run, first and foremost, by owner Rocky Wirtz, his hand-picked president in John McDonough and their prized front office free agent acquisition in William Scott Bowman — three undoubtedly brilliant men that are all aiming to win this formerly woebegone franchise its first Cup in a half century.

And soon.

They've all been successful, to varying degrees, and the turnaround in Chicago with this hockey team has been incredible since Bill Wirtz's passing. But Tallon's one of the few remaining ties to that awful era, a front office holdover from the franchise's dark ages that went from the ice, to the broadcast booth, to director of player personnel in 1998, to assistant GM under Bob Pulford in 2003 and finally GM in 2005.

Tallon was a lifer on what had become a loser franchise, a misfit among the outsiders who had been brought in to revolutionize the way business had been done for so long in the Windy City. And his mistakes, while not plentiful, were all over the roster, from the many millions committed to two netminders last season to the boat anchor of a deal given to Brian Campbell, who's fallen to a distant third on the blueline depth chart as the team's undervalued youth grew into their roles.

Chicago was the sixth-best team in the NHL last season and went all the way to the final four in the playoffs, accomplishing all that not two years after drafting Patrick Kane first overall. Tallon had helped haul this team up a heckuva mountain, but he was never viewed as the one to put him over the top, not with a legend peering over his shoulder with a son named after the trophy they were chasing at his side.

This was always going to be the Bowmans' ship, and now that it is, it'll be fascinating to see if they can pull it off. Tallon had his successes, sure, but what he needed was the pedigree, the "proof" of greatness that hangs around some like a cloud.

At 75, this is one last wild ride for Scotty — and I'm sure he's loving every minute of it.