Bowman's presence should benefit Tallon and Savard
Scotty Bowman is not coming to take Dale Tallon's job, but he certainly should help make the Blackhawks' general manager's life easier.
The Hawks hired the legendary Bowman on Thursday to be another voice in the front office as senior adviser. He will be there for Tallon and assistant general managers Rick Dudley and Stan Bowman to use as a sounding board on all matters of personnel, just as Red Wings GM Ken Holland did with Bowman in Detroit.
"My capacity will be just about the same as with the Red Wings," said Bowman, who was a consultant with the Stanley Cup champs.
The 75-year-old Bowman still is vital, knows the league and has good ideas that should prove invaluable to a team trying to join the ranks of the NHL's elite. If anyone knows how to win it's Bowman, who captured nine Stanley Cups as a coach and owns the NHL record for coaching victories in the regular season.
"He'll take us where we need to go," Tallon said.
Bowman could benefit Hawks coach Denis Savard the most. Is there anyone in the world better for Savard to seek out for advice than the greatest hockey coach of all time? Let's hope Bowman has a few tips for the power play right off the bat.
Red Wings coach Mike Babcock regularly sought Bowman's advice, and look how that paid off.
The Red Wings hated to lose Bowman, who signed a three-year contract with the Hawks, but Holland understood the Hall of Famer's desire to work with son Stan.
"I'm disappointed he's going, for me personally and for us professionally," Holland said.
Hiring Bowman is another bold stroke by chairman Rocky Wirtz and president John McDonough, who continue to show the hockey world that the days of the Hawks thinking and acting like a small-market franchise are over.
In less than a year the Hawks have put all their games on television, some on powerful Channel 9, and worked a deal with WGN radio, the voice of the city. They have signed one of the best free agents on the market in defenseman Brian Campbell, added the top free-agent goaltender available in Cristobal Huet, and persuaded the NHL to award them the 2009 Winter Classic, which will be played Jan. 1 at Wrigley Field against Detroit.
Now, the Hawks have brought in Scotty Bowman, one of the greatest thinkers in the game, to be part of the front office.
"I don't know of another franchise in sports that's had a better 12 months than this one," Hawks winger Adam Burish said last week.
The only thing missing is a Stanley Cup. The way things are going, that might not be too far off.
tsassone@dailyherald.com