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Tuesday, July 14, 2009 1:18 AM

Are Tallon's Chicago days numbered?

Eric Duhatschek

Is Dale Tallon on his way out as the Chicago Blackhawks’ general manager? Seems implausible, given that the Blackhawks just completed their finest season in a decade, largely with a team that Tallon built, but two sources indicated Monday night that a change could come as early as this week; that Tallon was never president John McDonough’s first choice to run the team; and that last week’s problems filing offer sheets to six of the team’s restricted free agents was a turning point in their relationship.

Tallon, it is said, will be offered another position in the organization, but that a new GM would be appointed in his place. The two primary candidates for the position would be Stan Bowman, son of hockey legend Scotty Bowman, and Al MacIsaac, the team’s senior director of hockey administration and assistant to the president.

Tallon has been GM of the team since June, 2005, and this past season, it managed 104 points, most since the 1992-93 season and advanced to the Western Conference final, where it lost to the Detroit Red Wings. Tallon drafted, among others, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews and made one-sided deals to acquire Patrick Sharp and Kris Versteeg for the team.

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Globe On Hockey Contributors

Eric Duhatschek

Eric Duhatschek

Eric was the winner of the Hockey Hall Of Fame's Elmer Ferguson award for "distinguished contributions to hockey writing" in 2001. A graduate of the University of Western Ontario's grad school of journalism, he began covering hockey in 1978 and after spending 20 years covering the NHL and the Calgary Flames, joined The Globe in 2000. Eric has covered four Winter Olympics, 19 Stanley Cup finals, every Canada Cup and World Cup since 1981, plus two world championships.

 
Allan Maki

Allan Maki

Allan joined The Globe in 1997 after spending 19 years as a reporter and columnist at the Calgary Herald. Born in Thunder Bay, he graduated from the Ryerson School of Journalism in 1977. A past president of the Football Writers of Canada, Allan has covered every Grey Cup since 1980. He's been to seven Olympic Games and covered everything from rodeos to the World Series to the Super Bowl.

 

James Mirtle

James Mirtle joined The Globe as an editor and reporter in the sports department in 2005 and now covers the Toronto Maple Leafs. A graduate of Ryerson University and Thompson Rivers University, he has written about hockey from junior on up the past decade and has a background in new media, statistical analysis and blogging. You can follow him on Twitter here.

 

Matthew Sekeres

Matthew is The Globe's national sports correspondent in B.C., covering the Canucks, Lions and other sports happenings on the west coast. Montreal-born and Ottawa-raised, Matthew is a graduate of Carleton University's School of Journalism. He has worked at four metropolitan dailies and for TSN. Matthew has covered the Beijing Olympics, three Super Bowls, the NBA Finals, nine Grey Cups and the Stanley Cup playoffs.

 

David Shoalts

A native of Wainfleet, Ont., David joined The Globe in 1984 as a layout and copy editor in the sports section. He attended the University of Waterloo and Conestoga College. After graduating in 1978, he worked at the Calgary Herald and the Calgary Sun, and later the Toronto Sun. He has covered the Toronto Maple Leafs and the NHL since 1990 and became a hockey columnist in 2003.

 

Darren Yourk

Darren is the editor of globesports.com and host of the Hockey Roundtable podcast.