Tallon faces tough off-season decisions
Surely everyone has noticed the Blackhawks making a strong push for a playoff spot without Nikolai Khabibulin and Martin Havlat, their two highest-paid players.
What does this mean for next season? Maybe something, maybe nothing.
General manager Dale Tallon listened to offers for both players at last month's deadline but couldn't pull the trigger. Now, with Khabibulin and Havlat injured, it's only going to be more difficult for Tallon to move them this off-season.
If it were up to me, I would keep Havlat at this point, hope for a full recovery from shoulder surgery and gamble that he produces big in what will be a contract year in 2008-09. The Hawks don't have enough offense now as it is to simply give Havlat away.
Khabibulin poses a tougher problem. Do the Hawks bring him back when it appears Corey Crawford might be ready to shoulder the load? And if it is the tandem of Khabibulin and Crawford next season, will it be healthy for the kid to sit more than he plays?
Tough calls for Tallon.
Figure this out: Let me see if I have this straight.
Vancouver's Matt Pettinger goes after Jonathan Toews' head with his elbow, helps open up a 50-stitch cut around the Hawks rookie's mouth, knocks out a tooth, puts Toews out of the game and receives no punishment from the NHL.
Hawks defenseman James Wisniewski cross-checks Detroit's Mikael Samuelsson around the face Tuesday at Joe Louis Arena, receives a match penalty and is suspended Wednesday for one game despite Samuelsson never missing a shift.
Wisniewski and Samuelsson both used their sticks, but because Wisniewski's rode up and clipped the Detroit player in the face, he gets suspended even though it was an apparent spear by Samuelsson that started it all.
All anyone wants is for the NHL's officiating and its handing out of discipline to be consistent, and it is not.
Wisniewski complained earlier in the season about a double standard. after he got his face plastered into the glass in Vancouver by Matt Cooke.
Cooke wasn't penalized or suspended, with Wisniewski saying that if he were Nicklas Lidstrom, the league might have reacted differently.
Sounds about right.
Advantage, Hawks? It all keeps falling into place for the Hawks. Now even the Bulls are helping turn the attention back to the NHL around here.
The recent actions of spoiled brats Chris Duhon and Tyrus Thomas are making kid Hawks Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and others even more likable.
How quickly it can turn. A year ago the Bulls were the team filled with promising fresh faces, gutting it out each night to reach the playoffs with nothing but a bright future ahead.
Now, many of those same Bulls appear greedy, selfish, unprofessional and plain stupid. Maybe the day is coming when the Bulls play before 8,000 people in the United Center.
Campbell watch: A source close to the Sharks thinks the team will make a major attempt to re-sign defenseman Brian Campbell before he becomes an unrestricted free agent. The contract offer could be similar to the six-year, $40 million deal Dan Boyle just received in Tampa Bay.
That's not good news for the Hawks, who hoped to land either Campbell or Boyle this summer.
tsassone@dailyherald.com