Havlat blames McDonough for Tallon demotion

Martin Havlat, who reluctantly talked to the media when he was with the Blackhawks, now suddenly has a lot to say.

Havlat wrote on Twitter of his unhappiness with how his contract negotiations went with the Hawks in the days following the start of free agency, then Tuesday he Twittered how disappointed he was with Dale Tallon's demotion from general manager to senior advisor.

Havlat, on Wednesday, let loose further in an interview with TSN.ca. Havlat blamed Hawks president John McDonough for his departure from Chicago and for Tallon's firing.

"My negotiation with Chicago was not between Dale and my agent, it was between Dale and McDonough," Havlat told TSN. "Why? Because McDonough couldn't stand that Dale was so successful and getting the credit for building the Hawks from a last-place team to making the conference final in three short years. Remember, we were also the youngest team in the NHL last year.

"I was too closely identified with Dale. McDonough knew long ago he was going to fire Dale. He wanted someone he could claim as his own. He wanted to stand up at the convention and claim credit for signing this guy or that guy."

Havlat called Tallon "like a second father" to him.

"Dale and I were very close and I stand for loyalty," Havlat said. "The players loved Dale and they are with him. Every single player on that team is with Dale. I still talk to the guys all the time. Hockey players know a phony when they see one.

"I was part of a very special team but that team doesn't exist anymore. I am really disappointed that Rocky Wirtz would let something like this happen."

Tallon, speaking on a conference call with reporters on Wednesday, disputed Havlat's version of how the negotiations were handled.

"The contract negotiations went on as they do with every player, between the agent and myself, no one else," Tallon said.

McDonough, appearing on WSCR 670-AM, defending himself for the second day in a row from accusations he has gotten involved in player personnel decisions such as the one to choose Marian Hossa over Havlat in free agency.

"I am a big fan of Marty Havlat and unfortunately things didn't work out here to extend him," McDonough told the Score. "He's a classy guy and where that came from, I have no idea. I have never talked to Marty Havlat or his agent about a contract extension. I empower people to make those decisions.

"For anybody to intimate or infer that I, a civilian, would be making decisions on Marian Hossa over Marty Havlat, it's preposterous. I don't know what Marty was told. Marty certainly is entitled to write whatever he writes and I respect him and like him a great deal. He may be misinformed."