Give Tallon a pass for now ... but he has to deliver in summer

Those who expected Blackhawks general manager Dale Tallon to do more at Tuesday's trade deadline were understandably disappointed.

But there really wasn't much more to make happen than what Tallon did, which was swap Tuomo Ruutu for Andrew Ladd, one underachieving top-10 draft pick for another, and send Martin Lapointe to a contender for a sixth-round draft pick.

Tallon made an offer to Tampa Bay for Brad Richards but was told by the Lightning that the former Conn Smythe Trophy winner would only waive his no-trade clause to play in Dallas.

There were discussions about trading Martin Havlat and Nikolai Khabibulin, but those potential deals failed to materialize.

The Senators refused to take on the $6.75 million Khabibulin has left on his contract for next year.

"I talked about a goaltender, yes," Ottawa GM Bryan Murray told reporters. "The money, as happens too often in this business, gets in the way, with the salary cap going forward. They were just discussions. I don't know if we got into any depth or detail, but we did talk about it."

Tallon took a late call from Montreal GM Bob Gainey about Havlat after the Canadiens missed out on Marian Hossa. But when the Hawks asked that left wing Chris Higgins be part of the deal, Gainey said no thanks. Tallon wasn't going to just give Havlat away when his team is already short on offense.

Tallon would have been foolish to part with any of his top assets to trade for Hossa or defenseman Brian Campbell when both players will be unrestricted free agents this summer.

While the Hawks may or may not have an interest in Hossa come July, and let's hope they do, they definitely want Campbell in a big way to be the defenseman to run the power play from the left point.

Campbell was traded to San Jose, and now the Hawks must hope he doesn't get out there and either fall in love with Northern California or realize that playing with Joe Thornton for the next few years is not such a bad thing.

Campbell has insisted he will test the market as a free agent, where he could potentially command upward of $7 million a season. Would the Hawks go that high to get him? They might.

Keep in mind that Campbell has friends in the Hawks organization who are certain to lobby him hard when the time comes.

Tallon's building of the Hawks is going well. That can't be argued even by his critics.

But while getting little accomplished at Tuesday's deadline was OK for now, Tallon can't fail come free-agent season if the Hawks are going to make the jump in class to the elite.

This is an organization that for the longest time has been touting its young prospects. Well, the best of those prospects are all here now in Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Dustin Byfuglien, Dave Bolland and Cam Barker -- and it's time this summer to fill in around them, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Patrick Sharp and others.

Tallon believes the Hawks are three or four players away from taking it to the next level. Whether it's through free agency or trades, Tallon must find those three or four players before training camp. If he can't, then it's time to pile on.

The last thing Hawks fans want to read come July is Tallon saying, "We made him a substantial offer, but he decided to go elsewhere."