2009 NHL off-season trades, rumours, draft thread

I had a feeling this would be the infamous brawl where Murray Balfour got Carl Brewer down in the entrance to the player's bench and put it to him. Fuck Murray Balfour.

It was nice to see Duff hammer Fleming, wasn't it? After Bobby Baun slapped him around for a while, that is. Also interesting to see Larry Hillman of the Leafs battling Al MacNeil of the Hawks (yep, that Al MacNeil) while Larry's younger brother Wayne, of the Hawks, stood by watching.

Most interesting? The photographers right out on the ice, taking pictures of the carnage!!

All in all, a great video. That's not Brian McFarlane doing the commentary, is it? Toronto won most of the fights and probably won the game too. I do know the Leafs won the Cup that season!!

 

rumor going around that Chicago fired Dale Tallon and Stan Bowman is the replacement, anyone in Chicago hearing this?

I'm wondering if this is related to the huge screwups in the RFA offers or the screwups with Hossa and Campbell deals.

 

and this looks to be a credible report.

http://www.thefourthperiod.com/news/chi090714.html

 

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/07/chicago-blackhawks-dale-tallon.html

 

Huh? That's strange.

 

It's true -- Comcast SportsNet Chicago broke the story -- and that's why. Cost the Hawks millions extra for Versteeg and Barker. Tallon pays with his neck.

 

Yeah, well, he would eventually have paid for the Hossa deal. Tallon was brain-dead to ever agree to such outrageousness. It was bad enough when he paid through the nose for Campbell last year.

As I said before in noting Reg Fleming's passing, the list of guys who won a Cup in Chicago is and always has been a very short list. It ain't getting any bigger anytime soon. Sorry, Hawks fans. (Actually, I'm not sorry, you can all suck it )

 

Also, I think part of it is that they view Bowman as the guy who will be there long term. I think he has been given a sizeable push in recent years and with his Dad on board the last year or so they must feel he is ready for the job now -- the RFA signing sheet will just be an excuse, the Hossa deal would not have happened without approval from above either. Really they let the experienced Tallon do all the heavy lifting early in the off-season with Bowman watching and learning and giving his input, and are probably hoping for a smoother transition instead of a baptism by fire for Bowman by throwing him to the off-season wolves. It was a similar situation at the beginning of the year with Savard when a slow start (although just four games in) was seen as an excuse for a quick trigger and the installation of Quenville as HC. They had their guy for the long haul waiting for his marching orders.

 

And since they reached the WCF in 2003, the Wild haven't won a playoff round.

 

They've been looking for an excuse to sack Tallon for quite awhile.

 

He certainly made it easy for them to find the excuse.

 

What's wrong with the Hossa deal? The Campbell deal is awful, but I see nothing wrong with Hossa.