Ottawa is such a small town sometimes....just walk around downtown for about 15 minutes like I do every day and you'll run into someone you know....because of that, we sometimes fall into the trap of living in the Ottawa bubble and we lose perspective of what's happening around us....
When it comes to hockey talk around here, all anyone can talk about is the on-going saga of Dany Heatley and the highly-debated signing of Alex Kovalev...but just look outside the bubble for just a second and you'll see a franchise that's could be on the verge of going in a much worse direction than predicted only two months ago....
Just when you thought that the Sens might be having a tough off-season, it's becoming very clear that it could be a lot worse.....Just talk to a Blackhawks fan these days and you'll see someone with steam coming out of their ears....the news and stories happening within that organization are perfect fodder for the media in that town...
With that in mind, take a look at the news stories just from the first 22 days of July involving the Blackhawks:
July 1st - Hawks sign Marian Hossa to a 12-year, 62.8 million dollar deal that will conceivably lock up the winger until he's 42 years old....They also sign John Madden to a 1 year deal for 2.75 million dollars....The Hawks lose Marty Havlat to the Minnesota Wild when he signs for 6 years, 30 million dollars
July 3rd - Reports come out that then-GM Dale Tallon may have incorrectly filed qualifying offers to several Hawks players by using standard mail instead of overnight delivery or direct fax....As written on tsn.ca, "Overnight delivery via courier and direct fax to the players agent is preferred and certified or registered mail is acceptable only if the other means are unavailable"
Tallon says the qualifying offers were mailed to the players in time, on June 29th, but says because of the July 1 holiday, some of the players didn't receive them in time....
July 6th - The NHLPA files greivance against the Hawks over the mishandling of the qualifying offers and intends to fight for those who remain unsigned to become unrestricted free agents....this list includes 7 players (Kris Versteeg, Cam Barker, Ben Eager, Colin Fraser, Aaron Johnson and Troy Brouwer)
July 6th to 8th - Tallon manages to sign all seven players in question to a contract, but fans and people in the hockey world alike start to wonder how much the Tallon mistake cost the franchise as far as overpaying the players is concerned....
July 14th - The Hawks replace Tallon with assistant general manager Stan Bowman, who just happens to be the son of Hall of Fame coach and Blackhawks senior advisor Scotty Bowman....Tallon is reassigned and named a senior advisor of hockey operations
July 15th - TSN's Darren Dreger writes a great insider report on the Tallon move by getting great insight from Martin Havlat, who signed with Minnesota on July 1st....it's a must read!
http://tsn.ca/nhl/teams/story/?id=284740&hubname=nhl-blackhawks
The Coles Notes version: Team President John McDonough was looking to make this change for a long time and pulled the trigger after the contract mixup.....Marty Havlat tweets that the fans should know the truth and tells tsn.ca that McDonough hated how Tallon was given full credit for the turnaround of the team and wanted the spotlight for himself
July 15th - Tallon expresses "comfort" in his new position as an adviser and denies that he had to overpay for his error with the contract mixup...
Rocky Wirtz indicates that age was a factor as the younger Bowman is 36 years old and Tallon was 58....
July 22nd - The news breaks that recently signed winger Marian Hossa is rehabilitating a shoulder injury he suffered during the Stanley Cup playoffs while with Detroit....this news coming three weeks to the day that he signed a 12-year, 62.8 million dollar deal....
Like I said Sens fans, it could be a lot worse for the franchise..... :-)