Dale Tallon gone but not soon forgotten

You can take Dale Tallon out of Chicago, but you can't take him out of this Blackhawks playoff run.

It was difficult to not think of Tallon while watching Tuesday night's 4-2 victory in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals at San Jose.

Early it was goalie Antti Niemi, a Tallon signee, thwarting the Sharks' adrenaline rush. Then it was Andrew Ladd, a Tallon acquisition, scoring the game's critical first goal.

"We got better as the game went on," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said.

Just about all the players responsible for that and for the Hawks' entire playoff run reflect Tallon's influence.

Before, that is, he was dismissed last year from his job as general manager and the Florida Panthers hired him as their GM this week.

Tallon did draft, sign or trade for just about the Hawks' entire roster, from all-stars to grinders to grunts.

Did we mention the top line of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Dustin Byfuglien?

There also were some Tallon misses along the way, but as he said at his introductory news conference in Florida, "We weeded out the guys who didn't want to pay the price."

Remaining is a group that leads the Sharks 2-0 in the best-of-seven Western finals.

The Hawks have become mentally tough enough to win seven straight playoff games on the road, and physically tough enough to stand up to the frustrated Sharks during a last-minute brawl in Game 2.

"We go out and play loose and play hard," Toews said of the road streak.

Those are qualities Florida wants Tallon to instill in the Panthers. Maybe it'll work out this way: His old team wins a series of Stanley Cups, including this year's, and eventually his new team succeeds them as champions.

Tallon said Tuesday, "I just went through (a rebuilding) in Chicago and it isn't easy."

No, it's not, but a case can be made for Tallon being the person most responsible for the Hawks being in their second straight conference finals.

Before there was a Rocky Wirtz as Hawks chairman, before there was a John McDonough as club president, before there was a Joel Quenneville as head coach -

Before any of them assumed control after patriarch Bill Wirtz died two years ago, there was a Dale Tallon for more than three decades playing key roles in the Hawks organization.

Most significant, before there was a Stan Bowman as general manager there was a Tallon in that position mentoring him.

An organizational makeover left Tallon taking orders from relative strangers. That rarely works, especially when the leftover employee is an NHL lifer as Tallon is and the newcomer boss just came over after a quarter-century in baseball as McDonough did.

Their backgrounds were as diverse as skates and spikes, penalty boxes and bullpens, frozen ponds and sandlots.

While management appreciated that Tallon took the Hawks from Point A to Point B, it determined Bowman was more capable of taking them to Point C.

Maybe the Dave Mason song lyric sums up the situation: "There ain't no good guys, there ain't no bad guys, there's only you and me, and we just disagree."

Wouldn't it be something if the next time the Hawks and Tallon disagree it's in the Stanley Cup Finals some year?

mimrem@dailyherald.com