The original architect of the Blackhawks dynasty is the best GM the team has ever had

Stan Bowman was the general manager of record when the Chicago Blackhawks won three Stanley Cups last decade. Those championships were won with a core of players that were acquired by his predecessor, Dale Tallon.

Tallon's moves took the team from being completely irrelevant to being on the cusp of a dynastic run when he was unceremoniously stripped of his power in 2009.

Tallon acquired an impressive group of talent

The only significant mistake he ever made was his inability to handle paperwork effectively. He missed a deadline for sending qualifying offers to some restricted free agents. Former team president John McDonough used that as an excuse to strip Tallon of the general manager role in 2009. Some players at the time felt McDonough was looking for any reason he could get to elevate Bowman to the top job.

Otherwise, there was really never a reason to dump Tallon.

He was already working behind the scenes in 2003 as the assistant general manager. Some believe deserves credit for the franchise's greatest draft class that year.

Tallon was responsible for the team's draft strategy during 2002 through 2004. Those drafts started the collection of players who would be integral in the team winning three Stanley Cups.

Franchise icons Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, and Corey Crawford were drafted during that stretch. Dustin Byfuglien, Bryan Bickell, and Dave Bolland were also taken during that time. Those three played huge roles in the dynasty days.

Tallon got the general manager job on June 21, 2005, and things really took off when it came to acquiring the players that would go on to win multiple titles the next decade.

This is the list of players Tallon drafted, signed, or acquired via trade...

Drafted center Jonathan Toews third overall in 2006.
Drafted winger Patrick Kane first overall in 2007.
Drafted defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson in the fourth round in 2005.
Signed goalie Antti Niemi as a free-agent rookie.
Acquired forward Patrick Sharp via trade from Philadelphia in 2005.
Acquired forward Kris Versteeg via trade from Boston in 2007.
Acquired forward Andrew Ladd via trade from Carolina in 2008.
Signed forward Marian Hossa as a free agent in 2009.
Signed forward Tomas Kopecky as a free agent in 2009.
Signed defenseman Brian Campbell as a free agent in 2008.
Signed defenseman Brent Sopel as a free agent in 2007.

Talk about a run.

He drafted two Hall of Famers and franchise icons in Toews and Kane. He also pulled off the greatest free agent signing in Chicago history by adding Hossa.

Sharp and Hjalmarsson were core players on those Stanley Cup-winning teams. Niemi was huge in goal during the run to the 2010 Stanley Cup title.

It took him some time to put together a great roster, but things were so dire because of then-owner Bill Wirtz's penny-pinching ways and Bob Pulford doing Wirtz's bidding. The Hawks had become completely irrelevant in Chicago's sports landscape. It was going to take almost an entire decade to construct a roster that would dominate the first half of the next decade. Tallon's patience and shrewdness paid off.

He also shrewdly fired Denis Savard in 2008 and hired Joel Quenneville, who was the head coach the team needed to steer it toward being a champion.

Stan Bowman did just enough to allow the Hawks to officially win those Stanley Cups, but the team decayed under his misguided decisions toward the end of his tenure.

The Hawks have had some general managers who had success. None had the run like Tallon.

Tommy Ivan was the general manager during the Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull glory days of the 1960s. Pulford's first stint as general manager, from 1977 to 1990, was impressive.

Mike Keenan nearly won the Stanley Cup when he ran the team from 1990-1992.

Ivan and Tallon both became general managers when the team was in a lowly state. However, Tallon built a dynasty, and that is why he goes down as the team's greatest general manager.