Tallon churns trade waters

[Pierzynski 12]

He might not have sent a fax letting the rest of the NHL know he's willing to deal anyone on his roster, but Blackhawks general manager Dale Tallon said Thursday he will "listen to anything for anybody. That's just the way it is. I'm not going to sit still and put up with this."

 

Tallon did say he would not make a trade just to shake up a team that has endured back-to-back disappointing home losses and is far behind in the playoff hunt.

 

After being beaten decisively by Dallas and Nashville, the Hawks host the Detroit Red Wings on Friday night at the United Center. The Wings are tied for the overall NHL lead and have beaten the Hawks three times already.

 

"We're not making any desperation moves," Tallon said. "We're only going to do deals that are the right deals."

 

Though he said he would listen to offers for anyone, a deal involving Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook or Tuomo Ruutu probably would have to overwhelm Tallon.

 

That could leave goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin as the most marketable player on the roster.

 

Certain teams, such as Vancouver and Edmonton, may believe they are a No. 1 goaltender from winning the Stanley Cup. Tallon said it was unlikely he would trade his premier free-agent signing. Still, Tallon said Khabibulin—like the rest of the team—needed to be more consistent.

 

"The numbers tell the story," Tallon said. "He knows it. He's a professional."

 

Khabibulin's .877 save percentage is 42nd in the league among 46 goaltenders, and his 3.35 goals-against average ranks 35th.

 

Tallon said everyone, including himself, was accountable for the Hawks' 13-18-2 record. He said he had no problem with coach Trent Yawney or his assistants.

 

"They're frustrated like everyone else is," Tallon said. "I'm sure the players are frustrated. I don't think they're happy they played like this the last two home games."

 

The Hawks are closing in on the halfway mark of the season and are 13th in the Western Conference. Only the top eight make the playoffs.

 

Tallon said it probably would take at least 92 points to make the playoffs. To get there, the Hawks would have to play .653 hockey the rest of the way.

 

Is that realistic for a team that has played .424 in the first 33?

 

"It won't be easy, but it's doable," Tallon said. "The Houston Astros were 15 games below .500, and they came back and won."

 

Indeed, the Astros were 16-31 on May 27. But the baseball season is 162 games long, and Houston still had 71 percent of its schedule left. The Hawks have 60 percent of their schedule left and will be fighting six teams for the final playoff spot.

 

Echoing recent comments from Yawney, Tallon said the Hawks have scored enough goals recently to win some of the games they have lost.

 

"We scored enough to win those games on that [last] trip," he said. "We're just giving up too many."

 

Before Wednesday's one-goal outing, the Hawks had scored 18 goals in their previous five games, an average of 3.6. But in their last 10 games, including Wednesday's, the Hawks have scored just 29 goals, an average of 2.9.

 

Conceding the Hawks' margin of error is small, Yawney said, "We don't have that firepower that we can say, 'OK, we're down by two, we can come back.'"

 

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...hawks-headlines

[kapkomet]

It's the lack of discipline, not the lack of offense. And, their system sucks.

[NUKE_CLEVELAND]

Here it comes kiddies. Wirt$ aint happy with their record so a salary dump is imminent.

 

They're following the script to the letter.

[BabyJesus69]

It's the lack of discipline, not the lack of offense.  And, their system sucks.

 

exactly, s***ty teams with no offensive players like buffalo are winning. spacek, keith, and siebrook (even though he's hurt now) are all capable of moving the puck up the ice in a fast manner. they have wingers that can skate, and a few of them can even put it in the back of the net. the problem is that they're still f***ing up on the little things- little things that are taught to 10 year olds that start playing the game....like not dancing around at the blue line with the puck. that caused at least 5 off sides calls on wednesday. they've improved on the penalty kill, but one would assume that's expected since they're getting more practice at it than just about any other team in history. they're still taking retarded penalties, and in the rare even that they get a power play, they just look lost. there is absolutely no 'flow' to the hawks' game. like i said in another thread, it's sad when one of your best looking all-around players is matthew barnaby. yawney is a f***ing joke, he's lost out there.