Dale Tallon

Dale Tallon
Born	October 19, 1950 (1950-10-19) (age 61) Noranda, Quebec, Canada
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight	195 lb (88 kg; 13 st 13 lb)
Position	Defence
Shot	Left
Played for	Vancouver Canucks Chicago Black Hawks Pittsburgh Penguins
National team	Canada
NHL Draft	2nd overall, 1970 Vancouver Canucks
Playing career	1970–1980

Dale Tallon (born October 19, 1950) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman and current General Manager for the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League (NHL).

He began his career as a junior ice hockey player with the Oshawa Generals and later, the Toronto Marlboros, both of the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA). Drafted in the first round, second overall by the Vancouver Canucks in the 1970 NHL Amateur Draft, Tallon spent parts of his ten-year NHL career with the Canucks, the Blackhawks, and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Tallon is also a distinguished golfer. He won the 1969 Canadian Junior Golf Championship and was formerly the head professional at Highland Park Country Club in Chicago. He also played on the Canadian PGA Tour. He is a member at Conway Farms GC

Playing career

Tallon was the Vancouver Canucks' first-round selection and the second player chosen overall (behind Gilbert Perreault) in the 1970 NHL Amateur Draft. In his rookie season, he scored 14 goals and led the Canucks with 42 assists. His 17 goals for Vancouver in 1971–72 was a career high. Tallon appeared in the 1971 and 1972 NHL All-Star Games.

In 1972, Tallon was selected to Team Canada's roster for the Summit Series.

Tallon was traded to the Blackhawks on May 14, 1973. His best season in Chicago was in 1975–76, when he scored 15 goals and had a team-high and career-high 47 assists. In five seasons with the Blackhawks, he scored 44 goals and added 112 assists. On October 9, 1978, Tallon was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a second-round choice in the 1980 NHL Entry Draft. He played two seasons with the Penguins, scoring 10 goals with 33 assists.

In his ten-season injury-plagued NHL career, Tallon scored 98 goals and had 238 assists for 336 points in 642 games played. He retired following the 1979–80 NHL season, after which he went to work for the Blackhawks as a broadcaster. Tallon spent 16 seasons as an analyst for Blackhawks radio and television broadcasts. Tallon also served the same role in the 2002–03 NHL season, between his two stints in the Blackhawks front office.

Front office

Tallon was named the eighth general manager of the Blackhawks on June 21, 2005. Tallon had served as the assistant general manager since November 5, 2003, assisting then general manager Bob Pulford. Tallon had previously served as the director of player personnel for the Blackhawks from 1998 to 2002.

Tallon's first season as the Blackhawks general manager was a busy one. The 2004–05 NHL season was lost to a labor dispute, and the new collective bargaining agreement between the owners and players was signed in July 2005. Between the new financial structure and many rules changes intended to produce a higher scoring game, Tallon was challenged to build a new team. Tallon signed many free agents, including Nikolai Khabibulin,^[1] Adrian Aucoin,^[2] and Martin Lapointe,^[3] which led to raised expectations. The Blackhawks finished Tallon's first season with 26 wins, 43 losses, and 13 overtime losses, for 65 points, ranking the Blackhawks 14th in the 15-team Western Conference, and with the third least points in the NHL.

He has since turned the Blackhawk franchise around by drafting young talents Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and with the acquisitions of Patrick Sharp and Kris Versteeg, among others. He has also brought in free-agent defenseman Brian Campbell to improve the team's powerplay. For the 2008-2009 season, the Blackhawks finished the season with a 46-24-12 record for 104 points to finish 4th in the 15 team Western Conference. The team made it to the Western Conference Finals, where they were eliminated in 5 games by the Detroit Red Wings, which then went on to lose in the 2009 Stanley Cup Finals to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Since then, Tallon has added to the team by signing star winger Marián Hossa and Selke Award-winner John Madden.

In early July, Tallon and the Blackhawks management came under fire when the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) claimed the team did not submit offers to their restricted free agents before the deadline.^[4] In the worst case scenario, the team's unsigned restricted free agents at the time, including Calder Memorial Trophy finalist Kris Versteeg, would have become unrestricted free agents.^[4] Tallon was able to sign Versteeg and all of their restricted free agents to resolve the situation, although at a cost of millions.^[5]

On July 14, 2009, the Blackhawks demoted Tallon to the position of Senior Advisor. Stan Bowman, son of Scotty Bowman, was promoted to general manager.^[6] The following day, Martin Havlat, who played for the Blackhawks during the previous season, criticized the team's management and defended Tallon.^[7] He stated, "Every single player on that team is with Dale. I still talk to the guys all the time, hockey players know a phony when they see one."^[7] He specifically berated John McDonough, the team's president, commenting "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 Finals in 3 short years."^[7]

The Hawks went on the win the Stanley Cup in June 2010. In September it was revealed that Tallon's name had been engraved on the Cup.^[8] He received his Stanley Cup Ring on his 60th birthday.

Tallon was hired on 17 May 2010, by the Florida Panthers as General Manager, replacing Randy Sexton.^[9]

Awards

• 1971 – Played in NHL All-Star Game
• 1972 – Played in NHL All-Star Game

Career statistics

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1967–68	Oshawa Generals	OHA		50	12	31	43	88		—	—	—	—	—
1968–69	Toronto Marlboros	OHA		48	17	32	49	80		6	6	2	8	8
1969–70	Toronto Marlboros	OHA		54	39	40	79	128		18	12	17	29	13
1970–71	Vancouver Canucks	NHL		78	14	42	56	58		—	—	—	—	—
1971–72	Vancouver Canucks	NHL		69	17	27	44	78		—	—	—	—	—
1972–73	Vancouver Canucks	NHL		75	13	24	37	83		—	—	—	—	—
1973–74	Chicago Black Hawks	NHL		65	15	19	34	36		11	1	3	4	29
1974–75	Dallas Black Hawks	CHL		7	1	4	5	14		—	—	—	—	—
1974–75	Chicago Black Hawks	NHL		35	5	10	15	28		8	1	3	4	4
1975–76	Chicago Black Hawks	NHL		80	15	47	62	101		4	0	1	1	8
1976–77	Chicago Black Hawks	NHL		70	5	16	21	65		2	0	1	1	0
1977–78	Chicago Black Hawks	NHL		75	4	20	24	66		4	0	2	2	0
1978–79	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		63	5	24	29	35		—	—	—	—	—
1979–80	Syracuse Firebirds	AHL		6	0	1	1	4		—	—	—	—	—
1979–80	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		32	5	9	14	18		4	0	0	0	4
NHL totals				642	98	238	336	568		33	2	10	12	45

References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ [2]
3. ^ [3]
4. ^ ^{a b} "NHLPA files grievance against Blackhawks over free-agent glitch". Associated Press (Sports Illustrated). 2009-07-06. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/hockey/nhl/07/06/blackhawks.nhlpa.ap/index.html. Retrieved 2009-07-14. ^{[dead link]}
5. ^ "Blackhawks replace GM Tallon with Bowman". CBC Sports (The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). July 14, 2009. http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/story/2009/07/14/sp-hockey-blackhawks-tallon.html. Retrieved 17 May 2010. 
6. ^ "Blackhawks Promote Stan Bowman To General Manager". blackhawks.nhl.com. 2009-07-14. http://blackhawks.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=442603. Retrieved 2009-07-14. 
7. ^ ^{a b c} Wyshynski, Greg (2009-07-15). "Havlat finally blasts Blackhawks in more than 140 characters". Yahoo! Sports. http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Havlat-finally-blasts-Blackhawks-in-more-than-14;_ylt=AqzZsEmspRJNuBnlEoEeArV7vLYF?urn=nhl,176712. Retrieved 2009-07-15. 
8. ^ Kuc, Chris (September 28, 2010). "Tallon honored with name engraved on Stanley Cup". Chicago Tribune. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-09-28/sports/ct-spt-0929-bits-blackhawks-chicago--20100928_1_stan-bowman-puck-possession-dale-tallon. 
9. ^ http://panthers.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=529397

http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/nhl/news/story?id=5702879&campaign=rss&source=NHLHeadlines

External links

• Dale Tallon's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database
• Dale Tallon's biography at Legends of Hockey
• Dale Tallon's NHL player profile

Preceded by None	Vancouver Canucks first round draft pick 1970	Succeeded by Jocelyn Guevremont
Preceded by Bob Pulford	General Manager of the Chicago Blackhawks 2005-09	Succeeded by Stan Bowman
Preceded by Randy Sexton	General Manager of the Florida Panthers 2010–present	Incumbent

Persondata
Name	Tallon, Dale
Alternative names
Short description	Ice hockey player, NHL executive
Date of birth	October 19, 1950
Place of birth	Noranda, Quebec
Date of death
Place of death