Havlat continues to speak out on 'Hawks

by James Mirtle on Jul 15, 2009 12:55 PM CDT Comment 19 comments

After expressing himself to the masses on Twitter yesterday, Martin Havlat chatted with TSN's Darren Dreger today about his thoughts on Chicago. More specifically, he talked about ex-GM Dale Tallon, John McDonough and the power struggle in the front office:

"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. "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."

Greg Wyshynski's all over this one today, including gathering McDonough's PR-infused response from a local radio session soon after Havlat's comments appeared.

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Chuck Fletcher must be wondering about Havlat just a little right now. Marty’s definitely trying to do the right thing (talking about looking forward to being a Wild, joking about arm-wrestling Boogie for number 24), but this could be a major distraction. There isn’t any way to resolve what amounts to hurt feelings. May this quickly fade.

by K Marshall on Jul 15, 2009 1:07 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

If all this is true, and there’s no reason to believe it isn’t, McDonough is gambling big there.

If it all works out and the Hawks win a Cup in the next 2-3 years, nobody will care what Havlat and his agent had to say on Twitter this summer. But if Stan Bowman crashes and burns (seems unlikely given his father’s permanent proximity but still…) and the Hawks lose some of their core due to mismanagement… boy oh boy will we hear about this ‘clique’ attitude from McDonough!

by Habs on Jul 15, 2009 1:57 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

…and the Hawks lose some of their core due to mismanagement…

But isn’t the short-term-thinking mismanagement Tallon’s fault? He’s set them up for HUGE salary problems NEXT YEAR. I figure they are throwing the proverbial kitchen sink at it this year because they won’t be able to retain some of the youthful talent the team is built around.

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by Mike @ MHH on Jul 15, 2009 2:28 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I agree that the cap situation they are currently in can mainly be attributed to Tallon.

However, canning him in favor of a guy who’s never been a GM, without giving him the chance to reap the benefits of the team he built himself, and without giving him a chance to execute the plan he probably had to retain his players, is unfair.
If Bowman can’t get the job done and some of the core leaves, I really don’t think the fans will blame Tallon for that.

by Habs on Jul 15, 2009 2:49 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

If I’m not mistaken, wasn’t Stan Bowman the main capologist for the team? If that is the case, there’s a lot of blame to go around with the self-inflicted mess that has surrounded Chicago. Another issue brought forward by all this is also the inordinate amount of information leaking that has been going around with the Blackhawks upper management lately. Still a lot of sorting out to be done.

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by bkblades on Jul 15, 2009 5:05 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

If I’m not mistaken, wasn’t Stan Bowman the main capologist for the team? If that is the case, there’s a lot of blame to go around with the self-inflicted mess that has surrounded Chicago.

“Hey Stan! How’s our cap situation going to look if I give a goalie almost 20% of our cap space and make him the highest paid goalie in the league while we’re rebuilding?”
“Broduer is a free agent this year?”

“Hey Stan! How’s our cap situation going to look if I give Brian Campbell 7 large a season?”
“You’re joking, right?”

“Hey Stan! How’s our cap situation going to look if I tie up 42 mil in 14 guys and we still need to get Toews, Kane and Keith signed?”
“Dale you’re a moron”

Sometimes you can blame certain people, sometimes you can’t. That’s how I imagine things went, anyways.

by Bosc Ulrich on Jul 16, 2009 9:18 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Bowman is not perfect and during the 1980’s, he bombed with the Sabres. He signed the wrong guys, he pissed of some good players, and he just never got going. He has a better nucleus in Chicago this time and a lot more experience, so I think this one will work out. And like Habs said, nobody will care what was posted on Twitter.

But Bowman has screwed up before and Bob Johnson is not around to give him another chance.

by Truth Serum on Jul 15, 2009 2:25 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

ummm

Wrong Bowman? Stan didn’t even graduate from college until 1995.

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by Original Six on Jul 15, 2009 7:44 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Make no mistake, Scotty is having a major impact on this organization.

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by James Mirtle on Jul 15, 2009 8:07 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

The way I read it made it seem like Scotty was the GM. Talking about him having a better nucleus and such. I guess from what I heard during the season, it sounded like Bowman just scouted some games in Florida and gave his 2 cents in a conference call every few weeks. Although, more recently it does seem like he is more involved.

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by Original Six on Jul 17, 2009 3:39 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Bowman’s one of the most successful head coaches in the history of the league. He won Cups with the Canadians, Penguins, and Red Wings… and you want to give him crap for some bad deals he made when he was with the Sabres? Talk about cherry picking a man’s career.

by RCheli on Jul 16, 2009 11:01 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Well, he isn’t coaching in this situation.

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by James Mirtle on Jul 16, 2009 12:08 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

It’s less about cherry-picking than looking at the experience that matters. How he coached doesn’t matter as much as how he was as GM.

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by PPP on Jul 16, 2009 6:23 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Player decisions should be made only based on if the player can help the team win games, not on who will get credit for bringing him in. That way lies very bad decisions, because they are based on ego and not on hockey.

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by Baroque on Jul 15, 2009 5:30 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs