It didn’t take long for the Hawk Convention Buzz to die down before we Blackhawks fans get unfortunate news on the upcoming season.

Blackhawks Down
It was announced that today, Marian Hossa underwent successful surgery to repair a small tear in his right rotator cuff. The anticipated recovery time for this procedure is 4 months, making Marian available in last November. This recovery time could see him missing 22 games.
The Hawks have said they knew of the torn rotator cuff when they signed the top free agent, but consider it a minor injury. There are reports that the Hawks did not have Hossa take a physical before inking him to the 12 year deal. Somewhat concerning, but I don’t think it would have changed anything regarding the shoulder. The word out of Detroit from GM Ken Holland regarding Hossa’s injury is that “He was hurt when we got him. Our doctors looked at him and we had conversations about whether to have surgery. Our doctors recommended he should have something done at some point but it’s something he can play with.” This conflicts with reports that he had injured the shoulder during the 2009 playoff game. Holland said Hossa had a slightly torn rotator cuff when the Wings signed him on July 2, 2008, but it wasn’t anything significant. If that is true, Hossa skated in 74 regular season games and 23 playoff games with a bum shoulder. I am looking forward to seeing what Marian can do at 100%. Here’s to a speedy recovery Mr. Hossa.

Lame Duck?
As the Tallon saga continues, reports have been circulating through NHL front offices, that Dale Tallon essentially had been operating as the Blackhawks’ lame-duck GM since late November or early December, when he agreed to trade netminder Nikolai Khabibulin to Washington for center Michael Nylander. That ill-advised deal was nixed by club president John McDonough, who then bided his time until he could come up with a reason/excuse to dismiss Tallon. The opening came when the Blackhawks were tardy delivering qualifying offers to a handful of Group II free agents, a costly blunder.
As the dust settles, the Sun Times reported that “A team source confirms that Tallon had a ‘heated meeting’ with McDonough on Monday, which ended with Tallon storming out.” Tallon has stated on ESPN.com that ““We had a cordial discussion, John and I. He wanted to take the team in a different direction, and I was fine with it.” McDonough has denied any friction between the two, but admitted that he and Tallon had different sytles of management … and continued, “I might be characterized as aggressive, assertive, but at the same time, calculated. Dale’s was every bit as effective, it was just a different approach.” Was the 2 year contract extension just a pay off? What role with Dale have with the Hawks organization if the President of the club has lost faith in your effectiveness?
In light of this, as well as the bitter “Tweets” from Martin Havlat, more will likely surface and draw out the saga.

Time to move on . .