Chicago Blackhawks Greatest 100- #61 Dale Tallon

There have been players that have done great things in Chicago Blackhawks history, and then there’s players like Dale Tallon that have built a Championship roster in another role.

Dale Tallon played for the Chicago Blackhawks in the mid 1970’s which is something most new Chicago Blackhawks fans don’t even realize.  Tallon was supposed to be the replacement for Bobby Hull which upset just about every Chicago Blackhawks fan.  The franchise incredibly gave him the #9 after Hull left for Winnipeg, but after one game of booing Tallon received a new number.

Tallon was an ok player scoring 44 goals and picking up 112 assists in 320 plus games, but of course no one could ever live up to the Golden Jet’s legacy.

After retiring from the NHL, he was in the broadcast booth with Pat Foley which is how I was introduced to Dale Tallon. Tallon and Foley always seemed to be having fun while still not being total homers on a nightly basis.

Tallon was a pretty good color man next to the young and loud Foley, and it wasn’t until we got cable that I actually knew what they looked like even though I had heard them broadcast 100’s of games.

Tallon after 16 years in the booth went into the Chicago Blackhawks front office in 1998, and it took him a decade to get the franchise turned around with them hitting slam dunks with the 2006 and 2007 first round draft picks in Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane.

Tallon had a good eye for talent and drafted well which set up the Chicago Blackhawks to make the run that they have been on since 2009. Tallon did have issue with sending qualifying offers to players on their entry level contracts which was is demise with the Chicago Blackhawks front office.

Who knows what would have happened if Tallon would have been the GM for the last 7 years, if the Hawks would have won 3 Cups or if the 2010 Cup would have been their only championship.

Either way, Tallon deserves a lot of the credit!

Next: The Best and Worst Summer Trades By Stan Bowman

Only 61 days until the Chicago Blackhawks kick off the 2017-2018 season.