Salary cap key issue in move

Chairman Rocky Wirtz believes the hiring of 36-year-old Stan Bowman as general manager to replace Dale Tallon is exactly the kind of new blood the Blackhawks needed to move forward in the NHL's salary-cap era.

"I don't say Dale was in the way. It's just that we are going to be in a better position by promoting Stan," Wirtz said.

Tallon was demoted after five years as GM on Tuesday but will stay in the organization as a senior advisor.

Tallon declined to comment about Tuesday's events when contacted by the Daily Herald.

"This is good for Dale, too, in my humble opinion," Wirtz said. "Stan is 36 and there are a lot of teams that would like Stan to be their general manager, and why wouldn't they? He's a very qualified person. In eight years he demonstrated that he deserves this job. It was just a matter of when that time would happen.

"He's 36 and Dale is 58, and we always want younger people," Wirtz said. "What he brings is a system in place to get better. That's something Dale was doing, but also Dale is at the tail end of his business career.

"Stan will be a world-class general manager, and time will tell he'll show you that."

Bowman is the son of legendary coach Scotty Bowman, now a Hawks advisor. Team president John McDonough insisted that Stan Bowman's hiring had nothing to do with appeasing his dad.

"We've heard about the Bowman factor, that Scotty is making decisions on personnel here," McDonough said. "Although we consult him, there was never a conversation about his son being the new general manager of the Chicago Blackhawks."

Bowman said he planned to use his dad for advice, just as he did last season as assistant GM with the Hawks.

"It's amazing to have him on my side," Bowman said. "I've been interested in hockey since I was a little kid because of my father. When I spoke to him he was just a great resource for me to bounce ideas off of.

"He's seen it all and been through every situation you can imagine. I have talked to him a lot and I will continue to. I would be crazy not to use his experience."

Bowman is a methodical thinker who won't be prone to making hasty decisions.

"My strength would be to try to not make rash decisions, collecting as much information as possible to insure you are going to make a good decision," Bowman said. "You can never guarantee anything, but if you take that type of approach and you have a process in place, you're more likely to get it right."

If Hawks management had any worries about Tallon's ability to navigate the organization through the difficult salary-cap issues that lie ahead in the next year, they are confident Bowman is the right guy for that job.

"I don't know if it makes him better qualified, but it's a very complicated system," Wirtz said. "Stan came from an accounting background; he's a finance major and Stan has negotiated contracts under Dale's direction for the last two years.

"Certainly Stan and his ability to do that is something that Dale hasn't done that much in his career."

Wirtz didn't come out and blame Tallon for the mistake of failing to qualify the team's restricted free agents on time.

"It cost us some money on the front end," Wirtz said, "but we would be paying this money eventually."