I’m pretty sure it sucks to be in Chicago Blackhawks GM Dale Tallon’s shoes right about now.
TSN’s Darren Dreger tweeted the news on the Hawks last Friday. If you still don’t know what’s going on or need a refresher; the six RFAs that were supposed to recieve qualifying offers didn’t. Tallon said that they had been mailed and could have possibly been delayed due to the July 1 Canadian holiday. Apparently, QOs are not supposed to be mailed to players, rather faxed or delivered overnight via courier according to the Collective Bargaining Agreement. This blunder, snafu, situation, what ever you wish to call it, could cost the Hawks some of their players, which include Kris Versteeg, Cam Barker, Ben Eager, Colin Fraser, Aaron Johnson and Troy Brouwer.
If it was determined by the NHL and NHLPA that things were improperly handled, the Hawks could face a bad scenario for their team; six UFAs that could be difficult to resign for their asking prices because of the salary cap. Some think that if Tallon & Co. carelessly made this mistake, they should be punished this way. Dreger recalled a situation slightly similar where the New Jersey Devils forgot to file the necessary paperwork for Brian Rafalski and John Madden’s QOs. They eventually worked out deals with the players, but like I said before, the Hawks only have roughly $8.9 million to spread out amongst six players who could ask for multiple year deal worth a couple million a year.
As of yesterday, the NHL finished its investigation and turned over their findings to the NHLPA.
I’m thinkin’ maybe this Marian Hossapalooza caused for the Hawks management ’s neglect to properly send out qualifying offers to their RFAs. Too caught up in getting him that they forgot to correctly send out the QOs. Maybe they don’t mind losing some of these guys anyway.
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