Dale Tallon's long NHL road started here

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Before Dale Tallon was a Blackhawk, he was a Canuck.

In fact, he was one of the very first Canucks when they joined the NHL in 1970.

The Hawks' general manager was the first player taken by the Canucks (second overall) in the 1970 entry draft that was memorable in that the first player to go was center Gilbert Perreault, who went on to have a Hall of Fame career with the Buffalo Sabres.

Tallon was a pretty good player in his own right, though, a big and skilled defenseman, who had 14 goals and 42 points as a rookie with the Canucks in 1970-71 and went to the All-Star Game.

Little did Tallon know the path his life would take as a result of the May 14, 1973 trade that saw him to go from the Canucks to the Hawks in exchange for defenseman Jerry Korab and goalie Gary Smith.

Tallon finished his 10-year NHL career with 98 goals and 336 points in 642 games with Vancouver, the Hawks and briefly Pittsburgh.

After retiring as a player in 1980, Tallon returned to the Hawks as color analyst for radio and TV broadcasts, forming one of the best and most popular tandems in franchise history with Pat Foley.

After 16 years in the broadcast booth, Tallon became the Hawks' director of player personnel in 1998, a gig that led ultimately to him becoming GM in 2005.

Tallon gets criticized maybe more than any GM in town, but he is the architect of what has become one of the best and most entertaining teams in the NHL. Time to give credit where credit is due.